A development partnership powered a fintech client's expansion in the UK

The Software House was brought in to help build a cloud-based loan platform that could process business loan applications in minutes instead of months.

A UK fintech company wanted to compete with traditional banks by offering business loans with a completely digital application process. The goal was ambitious: applicants should see their indicative loan offer in just 5 minutes, compared to the industry average of 60-90 days.

The client

This fintech company creates loan solutions for SMBs in the UK, offering better terms and faster service than traditional banks. Their digital product allows businesses to receive loan approvals completely online at speeds that traditional lenders simply can't match.

INDUSTRY

Fintech

COUNTRY

United Kingdom

SERVICE

Team augmentation, Product design & development

Challenge

Traditional business lending is slow by design. Banks and financial institutions typically need 60 to 90 days to process a business loan application because of extensive background checks, data verification, and auditor reviews.

The client wanted to flip this model on its head. Their vision was a fully automated loan process where applicants could receive an indicative offer in just 5 minutes.

The company's development team had built an MVP, but scaling it to handle real market demands required expertise they didn't have in-house. They needed cloud automation, faster development cycles, and a robust architecture that could handle growth while maintaining security and compliance.

Key requirements:

-> Fully automated background checks with multiple financial institutions

-> 5-minute turnaround for indicative loan offers

-> Secure cloud infrastructure meeting fintech compliance standards

-> Scalable architecture to support rapid user growth

-> Seamless integrations with banking systems and credit agencies

-> Modern frontend that makes complex financial applications feel simple

Solution

The Software House assembled a team of specialists who integrated directly with the client's existing developers. Rather than starting from scratch, we focused on refining the 3-year-old codebase and preparing it for the integrations and cloud services needed to scale.

The solution centered on building automated systems that could handle what traditionally required human auditors. We created a background-check service that pulled data from multiple sources, verified it automatically, and delivered decisions in minutes instead of weeks.

The team rebuilt the client's website with a focus on user experience, ensuring that complex loan applications felt simple and intuitive.

On the backend, we implemented serverless architecture on AWS to handle variable loads efficiently and keep infrastructure costs manageable as the platform grew.

With the help of a software partner, the product turned from an MVP into a popular loan platform that acquired 150+ business clients

Process

Team Composition

The Software House filled critical talent gaps with a team of 14 specialists:

• 8 Developers (Frontend and Backend)

• 3 QA Engineers

• 2 DevOps Engineers

• 1 Senior Project Manager

The team worked under the client's Product Owner but maintained direct communication with the CTO, CEO, and PM to ensure alignment.

Technology Stack

• Frontend: React

• Backend: Node.js + Python

• Cloud Infrastructure: AWS (Serverless Framework)

• Communication Tools: AWS Connect

• Version Control & CI/CD: BitBucket

• Integrations: Salesforce, banking APIs, credit check services

Timeline & Methodology

The 17-month partnership (August 2020 - January 2022) followed Agile methodology with two-week sprints. Each sprint included planning, development, and retrospective meetings to maintain momentum and quickly address any blockers.

Development Process

The first step was refining the system's 3-year-old code to prepare it for integration with new cloud services. To make this happen, The Software House introduced planning, sprint meetings, and retrospectives.

Next came the core automation work. The team built a comprehensive background-check service that integrated with multiple financial institutions and credit agencies. This system had to handle cross-referencing data from multiple institutions while verifying business legitimacy and assessing repayment capability.

The frontend redesign focused on making the loan application process faster and simpler. We streamlined the interface so business owners could complete applications quickly while providing all necessary information for credit decisions.

Key Technical Implementations

Pipeline Optimization: The team migrated from Buddy to BitBucket for deployment pipelines, reducing deploy time from 1.5 hours to just 10 minutes. This acceleration meant developers could ship features faster and respond to issues immediately.

Communication Infrastructure: We replaced Twilio with AWS Connect for the call center, integrating it directly with Salesforce. This gave the client's team complete visibility into customer interactions and automated much of the customer communication workflow.

Custom Panels: We built separate admin and user panels that gave each stakeholder the exact information they needed. Loan officers could review applications efficiently, while applicants could track their status in real-time.

Cloud Migration

As the partnership progressed, The Software House transfered the company's services onto multiple AWS clouds to meet resilience and security requirements set by investors. This multi-cloud approach ensures that the platform can handle failures gracefully and meet enterprise-grade security standards.

Outcome

The platform acquired 150+ business clients and facilitated over £10M in loans while maintaining a 4.7-star rating on Trustpilot.