Experian says its new Experian Cashflow Attributes for commercial lenders turns business bank transaction data into more than 500 analytics-ready attributes designed to give financial institutions a fuller picture of small business health, particularly where traditional credit histories fall short.
The product, announced on 30 September 2026, draws on first-party transaction data, either from an institution’s existing business checking account relationships or permissioned commercial bank account data, to generate signals covering liquidity, revenue trends, operating expenses, debt exposure and repayment capacity. Those attributes are intended to sit alongside, rather than replace, conventional commercial credit data.
What Experian Cashflow Attributes for commercial lenders is designed to do
Experian’s stated rationale rests on a familiar tension in small business lending: lenders need enough information to make a confident decision, but many small businesses have limited commercial credit histories. Molly Poppie, chief product and analytics officer for Experian Financial Services and Data, framed it this way: ‘Commercial credit data is critical to understanding business risk, and Cashflow Attributes for commercial lenders adds another powerful dimension by providing an automated and current view of how a business is operating.’
The company’s preliminary analysis claims the product is particularly useful for thin-file businesses, delivering ‘up to a 24% lift in predictive performance’ when paired with traditional commercial credit data. That figure is Experian’s own, from its own preliminary testing, which is worth bearing in mind. Independent validation from lenders using the product at scale has not yet been presented.
According to the Federal Reserve Banks’ 2026 Small Business Credit Survey, 60% of small businesses sought financing in the prior 12 months, most commonly to meet operating expenses (56%) or pursue an expansion or new business opportunity (46%). Yet just 42% of applicants received all the financing they sought, and more than 1 in 5 received none. Experian is positioning the product squarely against that gap.
Slope’s role and the broader cashflow push
The product leverages technology from Slope, described by Experian as a specialist in business decisioning and commercial bank account data. Lawrence Lin Murata, co-founder and chief executive officer of Slope, said: ‘Small businesses generate valuable financial signals through their daily operations and banking activity. By combining Slope’s expertise in transforming business transaction data with Experian’s industry-leading commercial credit data and analytics, we’re helping lenders gain a deeper understanding of business performance.’
Experian frames the launch as part of a continuing expansion of cash flow capabilities across both consumer and commercial markets. On that front, the Experian Global News Blog notes that the company has also integrated its Cashflow Attributes into Experian Activate, its consumer marketplace, to help connect consumers with credit offers that better reflect their financial circumstances. That parallel consumer-side deployment suggests Experian is treating transaction-based signals as a horizontal capability rather than a product built for one market segment.
The commercial launch also follows an earlier move on the consumer side. According to Celent, Experian announced the Experian Credit + Cashflow Score on 10 November 2025, a product that combines consumer-permissioned bank account data (including income, balances, card payments, bank fees and loan transactions) with traditional credit scoring. The commercial product announced this week extends that logic into business lending.
Jerry Silva, vice president of IDC Financial Insights, offered an endorsement in Experian’s announcement: ‘Modern decision platforms need access to multiple alternative data sources, and having commercial transaction information will give those institutions that leverage it a competitive leg up.’ That is an opinion worth noting, though Silva was quoted in Experian’s own announcement materials.
Experian states the more than 500 attributes can be used across underwriting, portfolio management and model development. Whether lenders find that figure practically useful or find themselves navigating attribute overload is a question the product will face in deployment. Separately, Experian cites estimates that open banking is on course to create more than $120 billion in global opportunities by 2031, a projection the company is plainly using to contextualise its investment here, though the source and methodology behind that figure are not detailed in its materials.
Experian is an Event Partner of Open Banking Expo UK & Europe 2026, scheduled for 13-14 October at the Business Design Centre in London, where the commercial lending product is likely to feature in discussions.
