Liberty Bank Taps Fintech to Overhaul Small Business Lending

ARLINGTON, Va. – April 28, 2026 – In a strategic move to bolster its support for local enterprises, Liberty Savings Bank has announced a partnership with Lenders Cooperative to modernize its commercial and Small Business Administration (SBA) lending operations. The collaboration will see the community bank adopt an integrated, cloud-native lending platform designed to streamline the entire loan lifecycle, from application to servicing.

As financial institutions face increasing pressure to digitize, this partnership signals a deliberate effort by Liberty Savings Bank to enhance efficiency and accelerate funding for businesses in Florida's Sarasota and Manatee counties. The core of the initiative is to replace fragmented, manual processes with a unified digital infrastructure, a shift that leaders at the bank believe is critical for future growth.

“Commercial and SBA lending are critical components of how we serve our business community,” said Scott Holmer, SVP – Commercial Lending, at Liberty Savings Bank. “We were looking for a solution that could adapt to our processes—not force us into a rigid model—and Lenders Cooperative gives us that balance of control and efficiency.”

A Strategic Shift for Community Banking

For community banks like Liberty, the decision to invest in advanced financial technology represents a larger trend of leveraging innovation to maintain a competitive edge. While the bank has a strong local reputation and total assets of over $1.1 billion as of late 2025, its loan portfolio has historically been dominated by residential real estate. Public filings from recent years showed that commercial and industrial loans constituted less than one percent of its net loans, indicating a significant opportunity for growth.

This partnership is a clear strategic pivot to aggressively expand that commercial segment. By adopting a modern platform, the bank aims to scale its lending operations without the corresponding increase in manual overhead. This allows it to compete more effectively with large national banks and agile online lenders that have long used technology to offer faster approvals and funding. The goal is to level the playing field, combining the bank's core strength of local decision-making and relationship banking with the speed and convenience of a fintech-powered process.

Beyond Silos: The Power of an Integrated Platform

The technology at the heart of this transformation is Lenders Cooperative’s end-to-end platform. Unlike traditional banking software, which often consists of multiple, disconnected “point solutions” for different tasks like origination, underwriting, and servicing, an integrated platform unifies these functions into a single, seamless environment. This eliminates data re-entry, reduces the risk of errors, and provides a holistic view of the borrower relationship.

Developed with a “by bankers, for bankers” philosophy, the Lenders Cooperative platform is designed to be highly configurable. This directly addresses the concern raised by Holmer, allowing the bank to tailor workflows to its specific credit policies and operational procedures. The platform’s unique client-owned cooperative model also gives participating financial institutions an equity stake and a voice in future technology development, fostering a community of shared innovation.

“Liberty Savings Bank has a clear vision for how they want to grow their lending business, and it centers around responsiveness and service,” said Chris McClinton, President of Lenders Cooperative. “Our role is to provide the infrastructure behind that vision—helping them move faster, operate more efficiently, and continue delivering the level of experience their customers expect.” By handling the technological heavy lifting, the platform frees loan officers from administrative burdens, enabling them to dedicate more time to advising clients and nurturing relationships.

Streamlining the SBA Gauntlet

Nowhere is the need for efficiency more apparent than in the realm of SBA lending. While SBA-guaranteed loans are a vital source of capital for small businesses, the application and compliance processes are notoriously complex and paper-intensive. This partnership is poised to directly address that challenge.

The regulatory landscape for SBA lending has become increasingly stringent. Following a period of relaxed rules, the SBA reverted to heightened pre-pandemic underwriting criteria in 2025 to ensure the financial health of its flagship 7(a) loan program. These stricter standards, combined with new rules around business acquisitions and ownership recertification, place a heavy compliance burden on lenders.

An automated, compliant-by-design platform like Lenders Cooperative’s becomes a critical asset in this environment. By embedding regulatory checks, automating document collection, and streamlining workflows, the system helps ensure that loans are processed accurately and in accordance with SBA guidelines. For small business owners, this translates into a simpler, more transparent application experience and, most importantly, faster access to the capital they need to grow, hire, and invest in their operations.

Fueling Growth on Florida's Gulf Coast

Ultimately, the impact of this technological upgrade will be felt most by the small and medium-sized businesses that form the backbone of the economy in Sarasota and Manatee counties. By reducing the time it takes to approve and fund a loan, Liberty Savings Bank is positioning itself as a more agile financial partner for local entrepreneurs.

The partnership reflects a broader commitment to investing in tools that enhance, rather than replace, the human element of banking. With a more efficient back-end process, the bank’s lenders can focus on their role as trusted advisors, providing personalized guidance that algorithms alone cannot offer. This fusion of high-tech efficiency and high-touch service is how Liberty Savings Bank aims to not only grow its commercial loan portfolio but also deepen its commitment to the communities it serves, building a lending operation designed for long-term scalability and regional impact.