- Key insight: Fintechs are preparing for impacts on SMB lending from new rounds of global tariffs.
- Supporting data: A Pitchbook report said that loan prices fell by 19 basis points in response to the new tariffs.
- Forward look: Some lenders and businesses expect less volatility compared to April due to the tariff being universally applied.
Fintech lenders serving small and medium sized businesses are, once again, feeling the effects of changes in U.S. tariff policy.
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The U.S. is the largest market for Irish fintech lender Wayflyer, and as a firm that primarily services consumer brands it has been navigating the impacts of American tariff policy since last April’s “Liberation Day” announcements.
“We definitely knew it was going to have a huge impact on our business,” Wayflyer CEO Aidan Corbett told American Banker.
The Supreme Court recently ruled in a 6-3 decision that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
President Trump responded by signing an executive order that would impose a global 10% tariff, with some exemptions, effective Feb. 24. He then threatened to increase the rate to 15%, but it took effect on the designated day at the originally announced 10% rate and is scheduled to expire after 150 days. The
Ben Johnston, chief operating officer for small business lending fintech Kapitus, told American Banker that tariff volatility makes it difficult for lenders to assess the future cashflow of a business seeking capital.
“As a result, lenders may be forced to lend more conservatively, reducing overall offer size and increasing price to compensate for the increased risk presented by the uncertainty in cost of goods and demand,” he said.
A Pitchbook report
However, Corbett is less concerned about this round of tariffs due to their consistent application.
“Despite the President’s reaction to the Supreme Court with this new tariff, it’s still a net positive because it removes the risk of one country seeing a huge spike in a tariff,” Corbett said. “It’s likely to be less volatile.”
Over the last year, the number of originated loans for Wayflyer decreased for several months after the April 2025 tariffs went into effect.
“There were a lot less requests for funding because they couldn’t, at the time, tell how much an order was going to end up costing them when it arrived at the port,” he said. “It’s very hard to make an order when you don’t know how much you’re actually paying for it until you find out later on.”
Overall, however, many of Wayflyer’s business customers were able to successfully negotiate with suppliers and adjust their margins to manage tariff costs.
“We were impressed with the way our customer base rallied through it,” Corbett said. “The impact was reduced orders, as opposed to increased delinquencies, which I will take any day of the week.”
Overall, Wayflyer is expecting less volatility this time around.
“Removing that volatility allows people to plan more,” Corbett said. “What’s good for the borrower is good for us as well.”
Crew Supply Co., a veteran-owned restaurant supply store in Ohio specializing in barware, sources most of its manufacturing from China. The business has had to absorb most of its tariff costs directly over the last year due to long-term pricing agreements with the large hospitality groups that make up its primary customer base.
“We are still a relatively small business, so we encounter volatility across the board in ways that large companies maybe don’t,” Crew Supply CEO Marshall Sterling told American Banker. “We’re a little more flexible and nimble, so we are working aggressively to find ways to maintain predictability with our pricing.”
As a loan client of Wayflyer, Sterling has reached out to the fintech lender on multiple occasions when the business needed to adjust its production schedules, and therefore its working capital needs, due to changing tariff policy announcements.
“In real time we’re chatting with someone at Wayflyer, revising an offer and executing something new in a very nimble way,” he said. “That’s not always the case with more conventional loan products.”