Leading innovator for AI in financial services explores the role AI is playing in reshaping small business lending for financial institutions

TORONTO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / July 1, 2025 / Pat Reily, co-founder of Uplinq, the first global credit decisioning support platform for small business lenders, joined the Tearsheet Podcast for an episode covering 'The AI Lending Officer' alongside Jonathan Kolozsvary, Global Head of Small Business, Visa, on June 30 to discuss the evolving role of AI in financial institutions' approach to small business (SMB) lending.

The two executives explored a wide range of topics around AI and SMB lending, including AI's potential to eliminate human bias from lending decisions and foster greater inclusivity. Reily emphasized the complexity involved in approving loans, noting that banks must balance multiple interests simultaneously - those of the borrower, the credit underwriter, regulators, and shareholders - while also maintaining fairness and inclusion. These overlapping priorities can influence human decision-making in subtle ways.

'Human beings typically tend to want to optimize on one objective function, but unlike a human, the AI doesn't have to get emotional about it. It can continue to look and say, how do we uphold the interest of the regulator and how do we uphold the interest of the shareholder at the same time, and find that space in the middle where everybody's satisfied?' said Reily on the podcast.

The discussion also touched on AI's ability to incorporate alternative data sources into the model-building process, making lending more accurate and inclusive, particularly for thin-file or no-file borrowers. Traditional lenders often rely solely on applicant-provided data, but models incorporating alternative data can bolster, cross-reference and validate this information, enabling a broader and more accurate picture of a borrower's financial standing.

'We can see the connectivity between a new entrepreneur and the lineage of expertise that they have access to, and that allows us to lend much more effectively into a space, because they have a safety net, a social network of expertise around to help them succeed in doing what they're doing,' said Reily. 'This incorporation of information can be nuanced very quickly, to attenuate to various subcategories, various lender requirements and objectives, changing marketplace conditions, and that is one of the beauties of it.'

Reily's appearance on the Tearsheet 'AI Lending Officer' podcast highlights Uplinq's ongoing mission to make credit more accessible, particularly for underserved communities, and reinforces the company's belief in using sophisticated technology to transform lending for the better.

To watch or listen to the episode, visit Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and to learn more about Uplinq's mission to democratize small business lending visit uplinq.co.

About Uplinq:

As the first global credit and scoring assessment platform for small business lenders, Uplinq is a purpose-driven company with a mission to help small business owners gain access to fair and ethical credit, while enhancing SMB lending practices for all lenders globally. Uplinq's breakthrough technology empowers lenders to approve and manage risks on loans they would have otherwise declined based on traditional loan underwriting criteria, while incorporating environmental, market and community data to better understand the specific loan applicant. Its technology has served as a foundation for more than $1.4 Trillion in underwritten loans. Learn more about Uplinq at uplinq.co and connect with them on LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.

Media Contact:

Josh Eichenbaum
Caliber Corporate Advisers
[email protected]

SOURCE: Uplinq