Ned, a leading platform for modern small business lending, today released a new industry report titled Beyond the Breaking Point: How Lenders Are Navigating Volatility and Rebuilding for 2026. The report details how 2025’s turbulence reshaped the economics, workflows, and risk dynamics of small business lending, and it outlines the technologies lenders are prioritizing as they move into 2026.
Drawing on market data from the Federal Reserve and FDIC, reports from Equifax, BILL, and Jack Henry, and conversations with lenders nationwide, the Ned report reveals that 2025 was a singularly disruptive year that is forcing structural change in small business lending. Both borrowers and lenders were hit by forces that moved faster than legacy systems and backward-looking financial models could respond.
“Lenders told us that 2025 exposed blind spots their systems were never built to handle,” said Dave Silverstein, Founder and CEO at Ned. “Current solutions are built to show what goes wrong, but they can’t forecast what’s coming. As we move into 2026, the priority is foresight and early intervention. Technologies that give lenders the ability to see ahead and act early will define the next generation of small business lending.”
A Lending System Stretched to Its Limits
The report shows that rising costs, stricter credit standards, and stress on small businesses created a loop of strain across the ecosystem. With manual workflows and outdated technologies, lenders lacked the real-time visibility needed to catch issues early. Borrowers faced similar opacity: sixty-two percent of small business owners could not access a current view of their cash position. This disconnect is shifting lending from a sequential process to a continuum where borrower health, repayment behavior, and portfolio exposure are always in motion. Lending operations now need to catch up.
Five Operating Shifts That Will Define 2026
Despite the turbulence, lenders began adapting and modernizing. The report outlines five operating shifts as lenders head into 2026:
- Portfolio management shifts to real-time performance monitoring, replacing static, backward-looking models.
- Relationship management becomes a transparency mandate, with borrower trust hinging on clarity and connected communication.
- Fund management turns capital-aware as rising funding costs force lenders to link repayment flows directly to their sources.
- Talent realigns so human judgment is focused where it matters most.
- Strategic foresight becomes a daily discipline, moving institutions from reactive planning to focus on adaptability and preparedness.
“The challenge is less about accessing data and more about orchestrating signals,” said Mayur Motgi, Chief Product Officer at Ned. “Data sits in origination, servicing, and portfolio tools, but it rarely drives action. Technologies that come out ahead will be those that detect risk early, trigger action, and bring lenders and borrowers together around real performance rather than procedural tasks.”
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