Stream Working Capital: CommBank’s digital cash flow solution for businesses

Commonwealth Bank has unveiled a new digital invoice financing service called Stream Working Capital, which will let businesses access funds using outstanding invoices as loan security.

Business owners will be able to nominate at least $15,000 in monthly invoices to borrow against, with funds expected to arrive in accounts within 72 hours.

CBA’s executive general manager of business lending, Clare Morgan, said there is a perception of invoice finance as being slow and manual, which is why the bank prefers the moniker ‘digital working capital’ for its new product.

“Stream Working Capital sees us effectively lending against invoices, so businesses are seeing credit limits adjust in real time based on the value of current outstanding invoices,” she said.

“As the solution is digital end-to-end and integrated with cloud based accounting software such as Xero, a lot of customer pain points are removed.”

Research from Commonwealth Bank revealed that 76 per cent of businesses believe their ability to operate efficiently is stifled by uneven cash flow, while three in five business owners feel they are at the mercy of their customers paying on time. 

At the same time, many business owners are unlikely to turn to invoice financing to address these problems, with 71 per cent of businesses admitting to being largely unfamiliar with the process.

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Through a partnership with fintech lender Waddle, CBA hopes to address these concerns and deliver a more customer-friendly service that puts cash in businesses' hands faster.

“Having access to consistent cash flow is vital for every Australian business and we wanted to simplify and digitise the process in order to offer greater flexibility and support for those who need it,” said Morgan.

“Using invoices to access credit provides peace of mind for businesses who can now access cash locked up in their invoices, assisting them to pay suppliers or hire employees.”

Stream Working Capital is available to new and existing small business customers for use on business to business (B2B) transactions. CBA is also looking to expand the service to let businesses to secure funds against inventory and stock.

To compare financing solutions, head over to our business loans comparison page, or browse the selection below.