Bizcap, New Zealand's most open-minded lender, has announced the promotion of Tony Truong to the role of Chief Credit Officer and the doubling in size of its Credit team, as the company works to meet the rapidly growing demand for its lending solutions.

The developments will ensure Bizcap maintains the speed, rigour and open-mindedness of its credit assessment process and continues to provide exceptional service to its adviser partners and SME customers across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Truong brings more than 15 years of experience in both secured and unsecured finance, with a focus on commercial credit underwriting. Having worked in large multinational companies through to startup fintechs, he has a proven track record in weighing risks and rewards to make solid commercial lending decisions and develop open-minded lending strategies.

He joined Bizcap as Head of Credit in November 2021, after the Covid-19 pandemic had brought small businesses across Australia and New Zealand to their knees. Bizcap was leveraging its unique approach to risk assessment, pioneered by Co-Founder Zalman Blachman, to support SMEs at a time when most, if not all, other lenders had closed their doors at one point or another. Truong skilfully adopted Bizcap’s risk evaluation ethos and successfully trained the Credit team to embody the lender’s strategy, scaling the implementation of its unique approach to credit assessment. In doing so, Truong played a pivotal role in expanding Bizcap’s loan book and, importantly, supporting SMEs to thrive, not just survive the economic downturn and changing environment of the pandemic.

Since then, Bizcap, with Truong at the helm of its Credit team, has gradually increased its maximum loan size from $1 million to $5 million and more than doubled both the number and size of monthly loans extended to SMEs.

Truong’s elevation to Chief Credit Officer recognises these achievements, as well as his success in maintaining a very healthy and sustainable loan book for Bizcap.

“When assessing a small business’ loan application, we focus on their current cash flow and, though we do take their history into account, we don't let past blemishes like defaults or low credit scores automatically disqualify them,” said Truong of Bizcap’s unique approach to credit assessment. “Instead, we assess real-time potential, and believe in giving businesses a chance to rebuild."

He also commented on Bizcap’s open-minded lending: “Being privately funded, Bizcap can assess risk on its own terms, without the constraints of institutional money. This provides us with great freedom and innovation when making decisions on SME lending. The autonomy we have here is truly empowering, and key to our success in supporting businesses to thrive."

With his promotion, Truong joins the Bizcap senior leadership team of Co-Founders and Joint Managing Directors Abe White and Zalman Blachman, Chief Revenue Officer Rebecca del Rio and Chief Operating Officer Adam Szental.

On Truong’s appointment, Blachman said: “Tony brings a trifecta of capabilities to his role as Chief Credit Officer: a deep understanding of the risks and challenges faced by SMEs, the ability to adopt and scale Bizcap’s unique lending ethos and strategy, and exceptional team leadership skills. This trifecta is key for driving Bizcap’s success in providing fast and flexible lending solutions to a diverse range of small businesses, and helping Bizcap to scale globally.”

Szental added: “As Bizcap experiences rapid growth, Tony’s promotion and the expansion of Bizcap’s Credit team allow us to process a larger volume of loan applications at the speed for which we are known and dedicated to. We welcome Tony to Bizcap’s senior leadership team and are confident that under his direction, the Credit team will excel in supporting more SMEs, ensuring their financial success.”

At a time when other lenders are unwilling to support businesses amid tough economic conditions – with increased cost of living, inflation and large-scale insolvency impacting industries such as construction, retail and hospitality – Bizcap, as always, remains willing to assess and support good businesses across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.