creditshelf and Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh agree on cooperation

• Expansion of Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh's comprehensive product offering by introducing unsecured, digital creditshelf loans
• Cooperation illustrates focused commitment of Volksbank to digital solutions
• creditshelf expands strategic bank cooperations to the third pillar of the German banking system, gaining an important distribution channel

Frankfurt am Main, June 1, 2021 ‒ creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft and Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh enter into a comprehensive cooperation agreement to expand the financing offer for SMEs in East Westphalia. After cooperations with representatives from the private bank and savings bank segment, this marks the first cooperation with a cooperative bank for creditshelf.

Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh expands its product portfolio with the digital loan offer of creditshelf AG. For a variety of financing situations, the East-Westphalian SME sector now also benefits from unsecured loans with a term of up to 8 years and an amount of up to EUR 5 million. This enables Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh to offer its strong, regional clientele access to an additional modern financing option whereas creditshelf can strengthen its platform network with another sales partner.

Ulrich Scheppan, Member of the Board of Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh: "The cooperation with creditshelf is a logical step in our digital transformation strategy. Innovations are the key to success, and this naturally extends to corporate lending. By cooperating with creditshelf, we are opening up an additional opportunity for our customers to finance creative ideas and promising business opportunities combined with the service benefits at their local Volksbank."

Dr. Daniel Bartsch, founding partner and market board member of creditshelf: "We are very pleased to welcome Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh as another innovative bank partner in our network. This means that creditshelf is now not only present in the private banking and saving bank sectors, but also in the cooperative banking sector. Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh represents an ideal partner with its innovative and digitally driven strategy while maintaining strong roots in the SME sector of the East Westphalia region. We are proud to be able to support the financing of those SME customers."
 

Corporate Communications:

creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft
Jan Stechele (CPO)
Birgit Hass (Head of PR)
Mainzer Landstrasse 33a
60329 Frankfurt
Germany
Tel.: +49 (69) 348 77 2413
presse@creditshelf.com
www.creditshelf.com

Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh eG
Dennis Will (Pressesprecher)
Kesselbrink 1
33602 Bielefeld
Tel.: +49 (175) 265 0979
dennis.will@volksbank-bi-gt.de
www.volksbank-bi-gt.de

Investor Relations:

creditshelf Aktiengesellschaft
Fabian Brügmann (CFO)
Maximilian Franz (Investor Relations Manager)
Mainzer Landstrasse 33a
60329 Frankfurt
Germany
Tel.: +49 69 348 719 113
ir@creditshelf.com
ir.creditshelf.com

About creditshelf

creditshelf is the leading credit platform for digital SME finance in Germany. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, the company arranges bank-independent, flexible financing solutions via its constantly growing network. creditshelf caters to complementary needs: SME entrepreneurs gain easy access to attractive alternative financing solutions, institutional investors can invest directly in German SMEs, and the company's partners can support their clients as innovative providers of new credit solutions. creditshelf's business model revolves around its unique, data-driven risk analysis and unbureaucratic, fast digital processes. creditshelf covers the entire value chain: Its platform is used to select suitable credit projects, analyze potential borrowers' credit quality, perform credit scoring, and price risk adequately. The company receives fees from both borrowers and investors for these services.

creditshelf has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange's Prime Standard segment since 2018. The experts making up its team have many years' experience of SME financing and are trusted partners and visionaries for building tomorrow's businesses.
 

About Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh

Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh is a personal and digital financial services provider for companies and private individuals alike. It has more than 111,000 members and is a strong partner for SMEs in the East Westphalia region. The successful cooperative bank offers a comprehensive portfolio of intelligent and future-oriented services. The "DNA" of Volksbank includes innovative projects and investments. For example, the international mixed fund "Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh NachhaltigkeitsInvest", the investment in fintechs, the energy cooperative "GrünEnergie eG" and the novel concept of the Bielefeld Volksbank lobby with the integrated gastro concept "Green Bowl" or the "Bankery - Bank und Genuss" in Gütersloh. Being part of the regional middle class itself, the cooperative bank is successfully engaged as a strong partner of the East Westphalian start-up scene in local start-up networks. By participating in a venture capital fund, Volksbank also continues to invest in the future of the banking business. As recently as the beginning of 2021, Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh founded the wholly owned subsidiary "Klarwert GmbH", which has developed a fully digitalized solution for wealth management with the Berlin-based WealthTech platform Elinvar.

In 2020, Volksbank Bielefeld-Gütersloh achieved total assets of EUR 5.33 billion with more than 700 dedicated employees, making it one of the largest Volksbanks in Germany.

For more information, please visit: www.volksbank-bi-gt.de