AI is changing how lenders work. It hasn’t changed what borrowers want.
The rise of AI is changing how lenders process information, but It isn’t changing what borrowers value most which is a lender who understands their business and can be reached when it matters.
What we’re seeing
Most businesses that come to us have already been through a process somewhere else. When we ask what didn’t work, the answer is rarely price or product. Usually, they couldn’t get a straight answer, couldn’t reach anyone with the authority to make a decision, or had to re-explain their business at every stage. That is the consistent theme in why businesses choose to partner with us: a relationship-led approach, with the accessibility, responsiveness and personal understanding of a business that is difficult to replicate inside a larger institution.
It also tells us something about where the market is heading. As more of the credit process becomes automated, the parts that can’t be automated: judgement, context, and accountability for a decision stop being the baseline and start being the difference between lenders.
Why AI matters
The efficiency case of AI in lending remains important for productivity. In 2025 research from McKinsey and the IACPM found that 52% of the selected financial institutions surveyed ranked generative AI adoption a priority, with productivity the most cited driver. The more interesting question is what a lender does with the time it gives back.
Used well, AI compresses the administrative heavy workload where It summarises large volumes of documentation, speeds up drafting and checking, helps surface early warning signals across a portfolio, and removes the manual handling that slows a deal down.
Why relationships still matter
The greater adoption of technology doesn’t diminish the importance of human relationships in commercial finance. Accenture’s 2024 commercial banking research found that 71% of business customers considered the relationship manager to be the most influential factor when selecting a bank and deciding on lending products.
While AI can reduce manual work and improve efficiency, lending decisions still involve judgement, context and trust: Areas where human relationships remain critical.
A model can tell you what a set of financials looks like, though it can’t tell you why last year’s revenue dipped, whether the owner has traded through a downturn before, or what the business will actually do with a facility once it’s drawn. In commercial lending, that context often is the credit decision.
Final thought
Our aim isn’t simply to increase the volume of deals we process, but to build long-term relationships with the businesses we choose to partner with. Efficiency serves that aim. It doesn’t replace it.
Technology can help lenders process information faster, but genuine relationships remain at the centre of commercial finance. For us, AI isn’t replacing human interaction but It’s helping create more time for it.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts.