One month after bringing its loan origination platform to $5.6-billion North Carolina-based First Bank, Baker Hill is back in the news. The fintech is teaming up with West Texas State Bank (WTSB) to support efficient loan growth with its NextGen Loan Origination for Commercial and Consumer Lending platform. The technology, in the words of West Texas State Bank Chief Lending Officer and COO Les Robbins, will help the bank “streamline the origination process with … roles-based, intuitive lending solutions.”

WTSB will leverage Baker Hill’s technology to standardize both its commercial and consumer lending processes, and automate many otherwise manual tasks. In addition to making the underwriting process more efficient, the platform enables bank professionals to access customer data across loan types to create the kind of comprehensive financial portrait that makes risk management easier and more accurate.

“By providing tools to improve lending efficiencies and capturing the data needed to make quality credit decisions, Baker Hill NextGen empowers financial institutions, like West Texas State Bank, to maximize their growth and profitability potential,” Baker Hill President and CEO John M. Deignan said. “Additionally, our team’s industry expertise and consultative approach ensures that our clients get the most value possible out of their technology investment. We look forward to working with West Texas State Bank and helping this institution drive speed, efficiency, and accuracy within its lending operations.”

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, and Beaverton, Oregon, Baker Hill demonstrated its NextGen Small Business Online Loan Application & Auto Decisioning Solutions earlier this year at FinovateSpring 2018. Baker Hill serves 500 financial institutions, including more than 20% of the top 150 U.S. banks and 20% of the top 25 U.S. credit unions. The company was acquired by Riverside Company in 2015 for $100 million.

North Carolina-based First Bank, with 102 branches and assets of $5.6 billion, has partnered with loan origination platform provider Baker Hill, and will leverage the fintech’s consumer lending and online loan application solution to support its continued growth.

“Our goal at Baker Hill is to help community financial institutions, like First Bank, generate efficient and profitable growth,” President and CEO of Baker Hill, John M. Deignan said. “With the support and expertise of our team, combined with the intuitive design of our solutions, First Bank is positioned to maximize its growth potential and more importantly, best serve its customers by providing a positive lending experience.”

Baker Hill VP of Marketing Mike Horrocks and Sr Product Manager Eric LaPlante demonstrating NextGen Small Business Online Loan Application & Auto Decisioning Solutions at FinovateSpring 2018.

Baker Hill leverages 30 years of industry experience to provide banks and credit unions with cloud-based loan origination and portfolio management solutions for business and consumer lending. The company’s NextGen loan origination, risk management, and analytics solution makes it easier and faster for businesses to apply for loans, and conforms to the specific credit policies of each individual institution to provide sound creditworthiness determinations based on application data, credit scores, and other calculated information.

More than 20% of the top 150 banks in the U.S. and 20% of the top 25 credit unions use Baker Hill’s technology. The company’s commercial lending clients manage more than $1.3 trillion in commercial loan opportunities, while Baker Hill’s small business lenders have submitted  almost $153 billion in SME loan applications via its platform.

George Lewis, SVP for Credit Administration for First Bank, praised both the support Baker Hill provided during the onboarding process as well as the company’s “longstanding reputation within the industry.” Calling it a “valuable partnership,” Lewis aded “We look forward to the benefits these implementations bring to both our customers and our employees.”

Baker Hill demonstrated its NextGen Small Business Online Loan Application and Auto Decisioning Solutions at FinovateSpring 2018. Last month, the company announced an agreement with Virginia’s Old Point National Bank, which will deploy Baker Hill’s loan origination technology to support both commercial and consumer lending. In addition to the company’s return to the Finovate stage this spring, Baker Hill upgraded its omni-channel marketing suite in April, and teamed up with Built Technologies in March to recommend each company’s solutions to the other company’s clients.

With offices in both Carmel, Indiana, and Beaverton, Oregon, Baker Hill was founded in 1983. The company was acquired by the Riverside Company, a $4.6 billion global private equity firm, in a 2015 leveraged buyout.