Another theme evident in the fintechs stream at CeBIT was a clear focus on the SME market.Louise Long, head of human-centred design at NABLabs and moderator of many panel discussions, pointed out that the majors were creating their own "fintech" type teams and coming up with products for their own small business and self-employed customers. She cited several examples that had been highlighted by her boss, National Australia Bank CEO Andrew Thorburn, at a recent CEDA event.Top of the list was a tax app which NAB had built in "partnership" with PWC to allow SMEs and freelancers to meet their GST needs. It was premised on the fact that start-ups "needed reassurance that a human was checking their GST in the background." NAB labs also designed a "different looking" Visa card to distinguish from a customer's personal credit card and therefore make it easy to separate expenses.Long said that the hundred customers had worked with the bank before the launch in a "co-designing" process. She declined to indicate how many were now using the service, though.One of those on the same panel was Beau Bertoli ,founder of Prospa, said that he was not competing with the banks nor working with them but was taking advantage of opportunities in dysfunctional markets: "We see ourselves as innovators, not disruptors."By way of example: it could take six weeks for a small business owner to be assessed for a loan, even though they were often only asking for $20,000 to $30,000 - and even so, the bank would request the security of a $1 million home.Bertoli said the reason his firm was able to seize market share, lending up to A$120 million to date, was because it was clear that time-poor SMEs wanted: an easy application process; fast approval process; and flexibility of end product.And another point of difference claimed by Bertoli: "Typically, to a major bank, a small business is someone looking to borrow $200,000, or $300,000 or more."He also noted that Prospa could take advantage of feedback loops to keep improving: "Our product today is not the same as it was in, say, March this year."This provoked a response from Toby Norton-Smith, Commonwealth Bank head of partnerships and fintech, who pointed out that his bank had developed the tablet based and fintech sales register Albert that was now used by 15,000 merchants. Albert users currently have access to 19 apps with another 50 in development.Norton-Smith conceded, however, that banks needed to be humble and prepared to go into partnership with the fintech sector. He noted that CBA had signed up the Australian branch of the US marketplace lender On Deck and "we're very happy with how that's going so far," he said.