Automating small business underwriting when identity isn’t straightforward

Why is underwriting small businesses so much harder than underwriting individuals? In this episode of The Lending Link, host Nathan George sits down with Michael LaSala from Baselayer to unpack one of the most persistent challenges in small business lending: verifying identity when businesses do not fit clean, predictable profiles. 

They discuss why matching business names, owners, and entities is much more complicated than verifying consumers. Fragmented data, thin files, and unstructured information make things harder for lenders, leading to more risk and manual reviews. Michael explains how lenders can use AI to organize messy data, identify useful behavioral signals, and better distinguish real businesses from fraud. 

They also talk about how automation speeds up decisions, helps more applicants finish the process, and lets underwriting teams focus on more important tasks. The conversation looks ahead to new trends like Know Your Agent and more applications, and to what lenders should do as AI continues to change small-business onboarding and credit decisions.

About Baselayer 

Baselayer is a fintech company transforming how financial institutions and lenders understand and manage business identity, risk, and fraud. Its AI-powered platform unifies data from public records, the web, proprietary sources, and a shared intelligence network so teams can verify business legitimacy, detect fraud, and make confident decisions in real time. Baselayer’s tools go beyond traditional credit or Know Your Business (KYB) checks by tapping cross-institution patterns and behavioral signals to spot risky applications and identity inconsistencies early in the onboarding process — helping banks, fintechs, and government agencies accelerate approvals, reduce manual reviews, and protect portfolios from emerging threats. Trusted by over 2,200 institutions, Baselayer’s suite includes identity verification, fraud prevention, risk scoring, lien filing, portfolio monitoring, and AI-driven risk signals that keep decisioning both fast and secure. Learn more here. 

About GDS Link 

GDS Link makes modern lending simple. Our real-time decisioning platform integrates over 200 data sources with advanced analytics, enabling lenders to make fast, data-driven credit decisions while mitigating risk. From loan origination to collections, GDS Link provides seamless automation, policy monitoring, and AI-powered insights to help financial institutions optimize lending strategies, stay agile in a competitive market, and drive better outcomes. GDS Link was recognized as the Leading SaaS Decisioning Platform 2025 and Real-Time Policy Monitoring Innovators of the Year 2025. Follow GDS Link on LinkedIn here.