Playter releases AI-based risk tool for brokers

Finextra

4 days ago

Most small businesses never make it past their first funding rejection.
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They go to their bank, get turned down, and give up — not knowing there are other, better options out there. That's where brokers step in. Quietly, behind the scenes, brokers play a crucial role in helping SMEs access the capital they need to grow.
But there's a problem. For every deal a broker wants to submit, they have to wade through messy bank statements, complex financial accounts, and inconsistent formats — manually pulling together a picture of risk, affordability, and lender fit. It's slow, draining, and often takes 30 to 60 minutes just to figure out if a deal is even fundable.
This bottleneck means fewer applications, more errors, and missed opportunities for the very businesses that need help most. Brokers want to help more clients, but they're stuck doing admin. And in today's tighter lending market, every minute counts.
Ari is an AI-powered risk tool built specifically for brokers. It instantly interprets company financials and bank data to surface what matters — turnover trends, net profit, debt levels, bounced payments, tax position, cash flow, and more. What used to take up to an hour now takes under 60 seconds.
No guesswork. No spreadsheets. Just clear, actionable insights that help brokers decide: is this fundable, which lenders should see it, and what are the risks?
James Arbon, Director of Greenwood Capital, says:
"Ari has completely transformed how we work. It's saved us huge amounts of time and taken the heavy lifting out of every deal. We're faster, sharper, and more confident in the way we place clients. It's not just a game changer — it's going to change the industry for good."
Jamie Beaumont, CEO of Playter, adds:
"We've always believed in building technology that adds real value to brokers — not just tools for lenders. Ari is the next step in that journey. We want to help brokers automate the heavy, manual parts of their process so they can focus on what they do best: finding the right funding for their clients. By enabling brokers with AI, we're creating a market that works better for everyone — especially the SMEs who need capital the most."
Ari helps brokers move faster, submit stronger applications, and guide their SME clients to the right funding partner — first time. It's a simple idea with massive impact: reduce admin, increase clarity, and ultimately, get more money into the hands of good businesses.
There has also been large interest from traditional lenders to onboard with Ari, with more and more businesses looking to invest in AI to augment their internal processes.
Playter built Ari for internal use to underwrite thousands of deals. Now, for the first time, it's available to brokers as part of the Playter Broker platform.