Can Trust Be Automated? Rethinking Credit and Compliance in the Age of Real-Time Finance
Trust has always been the invisible architecture of B2B finance.
It underpins every onboarding, every credit decision, every trade. But today’s financial landscape is evolving too fast for trust to remain a static checkpoint. With embedded finance scaling across ecosystems and global supply chains becoming increasingly digital, the way we establish and maintain trust is overdue for a rethink.
Reliance on paper-based and manual processes remains one of the biggest barriers to access trade finance, especially for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In fact, 74% of rejected trade finance applications globally are due to perceived credit risk or lack of verified information.
The result? A $2.5 trillion trade finance gap that’s effectively locking out the very businesses that need support the most.
The question is no longer whether trust can be digitised. It’s whether we can build it in real time, and at scale.
Why Traditional Trust Frameworks Are Falling Short
Today’s trust frameworks are mostly point-in-time.
- KYC checks at onboarding.
- Periodic Anti-Money Laundering (AML) reviews.
- Credit scores updated once a quarter.
In many cases, these verifications are done in silos, across different systems and jurisdictions, often with significant human intervention.
It’s not hard to see the cracks.
A supplier in Indonesia waiting weeks to be onboarded by a global buyer. An SME in Nairobi rejected for financing because their credit file lacks formal documentation. A fintech in Europe forced to manually verify directors across multiple registries before issuing even a small working capital line. These are some of the many current issues.
Even digitally mature financial institutions aren’t immune. Although some banks now onboard 80% of clients digitally, many still take 30–50 days to complete due diligence, depending on the client’s complexity and geography.
Mr. Satyam Agrawal, MD – Global Head of BaaS, SME and Analytics at CredAble, highlights: “In a working capital ecosystem, slow onboarding doesn’t just create administrative delays—it creates liquidity gaps. When Customer’s due diligence remains legacy-driven, financing cannot be accessed when it’s needed the most. We’ve seen first-hand how these lags limit supplier inclusion, particularly for SMEs and long-tail of vendors.
A New Model: Perpetual, Programmable Trust
A growing number of financial innovators are now building what can best be described as automated trust—a system that moves away from episodic verifications to continuous, dynamic assessment.
This emerging model combines a few key ingredients:
- Automatic sourcing of company data and documents from trusted sources
- Digital identity verification for directors and UBOs
- Perpetual KYC and AML monitoring using real-time alerts and regulatory technology
- Embedded credit underwriting leveraging alternative data and predictive scoring using DPI
Mr. Agrawal explains:
“Perpetual verification enables us to rethink how business due diligence and credit decisions are made. Instead of relying on past data and static documents, we can leverage AI to integrate real-time signals, unlocking finance for those previously excluded due to outdated assessments.”
In the context of supply chain finance, this means suppliers can be onboarded in minutes instead of weeks offering better experience and scalability. Due diligence becomes a living profile, not a static document and risk managers gain a real-time lens into what’s happening.
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Highlighting this shift toward continuous and contextual compliance, Mr. Pascal Nizri, Co-founder & CEO at Chekk, notes:
“Many institutions still treat compliance like a checkbox. At Chekk, we’re helping our partners evolve from that mindset, by enabling a programmatic approach to KYB & KYC through automation, dynamic policy management, real-time risk assessment, end-to-end workflows and UBOs discovery.”
These systems are powered by a smart configurable Multi-Sources Engine connected to live company registries and reputable data providers around the world (530 million businesses across 220 countries & territories).
“It’s about shifting from compliance by checklist to compliance by design,” Nizri adds.
Challenges Ahead: Balancing Automation and Oversight
Of course, no system is flawless.
With automation comes new risks—data silos, regulatory fragmentation, algorithmic bias, and the temptation to blindly trust “black-box” decisions. Recent controversies around AI in credit scoring and fraud detection serve as a reminder that technology, without governance, might amplify old problems rather than solve them.
Mr. Nizri highlights:
“The speed of AI advancement is impressive, and it's important for businesses to define a balanced strategy. To support this, Chekk offers smart automation and configuration options which can be tailored and evolve over time, adapting to internal policies, regional laws, and use-case nuances, so that onboarding can take place without manual intervention.”
Mr. Agrawal reinforces this with a lender’s perspective:
“There’s a balance to strike. While automation enhances reach, it must never come at the cost of transparency. At CredAble, we embed ethical oversight into every layer—ensuring every credit decision remains auditable, adaptable, and human-informed.”
The Road Ahead
Automated trust is not a buzzword. It’s a fundamental shift in how financial systems engage with the world around them. And it’s not just for FinTechs. Banks, insurers, trade platforms, and credit agencies all stand to gain from a model where trust is built into the rails, not bolted on at the end.
One thing is clear: the future of global finance will be won by those who can balance speed with scrutiny, scale with safety, and technology with transparency.
As Mr. Agrawal summarises:
“To unlock the next frontier of embedded finance, we need to embed trust—not as a post-facto verification step but as a programmable infrastructure that flows through every credit and compliance interaction.”
Closing thought from Mr. Nizri:
“Fast, efficient, and compliant B2B financing can only happen with streamlined processes and systems, requiring a balanced, controlled approach and smart automation, to enable digital trust and shape the future of cross-border finance and compliance innovation.”
As financial ecosystems evolve, so must the mechanisms that power them. By embedding real-time, perpetual trust into onboarding and credit workflows, institutions can unlock faster decisions, wider inclusion, and scalable growth. The future belongs to those who don’t just verify trust—but automate it.
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