Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

The current COVID-19 crisis presents a massive challenge to the financial industry. And like every crisis, it also presents an amazing opportunity to service customers in an entirely new way. In the US, the CARES Act and its Paycheck Protection Program means banks will need to process approximately 50 times their normal annual loan volume in the next 30 to 60 days.

On today’s podcast, we talk to UK lending platform OakNorth’s CIO Sean Hunter. Sean and his team have designed an end-to-end solution —from application and document collection to pre-screening and forgiveness — to help regional and community banks process this insane volume.

Sean takes us through the requirements of the various government assistance programs, how banks are dealing with the strain, and how OakNorth built its new capabilities through a process of running its own loan book for its UK challenger bank.

Sean Hunter is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.