The partnership between the Portuguese Bank and the crowdfunding platform will allow Banco BNI Europa to be present on the Nordic and central European consumer and SME loan markets.

Banco BNI Europa's new partnership follows its recent agreement with Funding Circle to support SMEs in Germany.

“Investing via Fellow Finance in consumer and SME loans offers us a great opportunity to easily expand our operations and we are very satisfied with the analytical and professional approach of Fellow Finance in credit intermediation,” said Pedro Pinto Coelho, executive chairman at Banco BNI Europa (pictured above).

Banco BNI Europa has developed 14 fintech partnerships with European fintech companies and reported growth of 141% by the end of 2017, taking its total assets to more than €500m.

Jouni Hintikka, CEO at Fellow Finance, said that modern banks expanded and grew by partnerships and its platform offered an easy route to invest and lend in the Nordic and central European consumer and SME loan markets.

“Through their investment account at Fellow Finance, Banco BNI Europa is able to diversify [its] balance sheet investment into Finnish and German loans easily and cost effectively.

“This is an example that [shows] banks don't need to set up their own expensive operations on [the] ground, but can effectively enter markets through marketplace lending platforms.

“It is also an example [of] how banks can also utilise the presence of fintech [with] their core business.”