The first major German bank Commerzbank has developed a new financing platform for small- and medium-sized enterprises, said Commerzbank in a statement.

The so-called peer-to-peer lending platform bears the name Main Funders. With this financing marketplace clients of Mittelstandsbank are able to present concrete investment projects to potential investors and thus acquire these for financing. As a rule the financing volumes are between EUR200,000 and EUR10 million.

"High investment requirements, for example in the wake of digitalisation and Industry 4.0, contrast with a high level of liquidity as a consequence of the ongoing low interest rates for deposits - now more than ever. This leads to a fresh need for additional offerings to conventional financing and investment business. We are addressing these with Main Funders," says Michael Kotzbauer, divisional board member Corporate Banking at Commerzbank. "At the same time, as a platform Main Funders is an important basis in the framework of our digitalisation strategy," adds Kotzbauer.

"Main Funders combines the competencies and long-standing experience of an established bank with those of an agile and innovative start-up," explains Birgit Storz, Founder Director of Main Incubator and divisional head Segment Management and Development for Mittelstandsbank at Commerzbank. "We are utilising our client network, our banking know-how, and our tried-and-tested processes - which also have supervisory authority approval. At the same time, Main Funders is based on a user-friendly platform, which is easily accessible through the corporate client portal," adds Storz.

The development of the new platform took place in close cooperation between Commerzbank and Main Incubator. The specialists from Commerzbank are active in the "backroom" at Main Funders. They also assume responsibility for the review and assessment of clients and projects - thus guaranteeing fair conditions thanks to risk-adjusted pricing depending on differing creditworthiness classes. The cornerstone for successful transactions is always a convincing project description.

Further information on this topic is to be found in the interview with Birgit Storz on the Commerzbank blog: https://blog.commerzbank.de/produkte-und-service-nutzen/16q2/mainfunders.html