Case study
CLEAR boosts due diligence efficiency for ApplePie Capital
ApplePie Capital achieves 98% SLA adherence and improved criminal record detection by automating policy reviews with Thomson Reuters CLEAR
Executive summary
Based in San Francisco, ApplePie Capital is a specialty finance company dedicated exclusively to franchise lending. With a team of 83 employees and partnerships with over 200 franchise brands, ApplePie has facilitated more than $3 billion in loans since its founding in 2014. The company offers strategic financing solutions — including growth capital, SBA loans, and refinancing — to help franchisees scale efficiently.
To modernize its credit review process, ApplePie implemented Thomson Reuters CLEAR alongside its migration to nCino. Previously, exception handling relied on manual workflows and dispersed background reports, often missing key criminal indicators. CLEAR now automates report generation for applicants and entities, flags risk items, such as liens, judgments, criminal matters, and routes exceptions for compliance review. This integration has improved accuracy, centralized access, and contributed to approximately 98% SLA adherence.
98%
SLA adherence rate
$3 billion +
facilitated in loans since its founding in 2014
200+
franchise brand partnerships
The opportunity: Manual workflows and incomplete data slowed franchise lending due diligence
Before migrating to nCino and CLEAR, the loan applicant due diligence process was manual. Tom Friedrich, Chief Compliance Officer for ApplePie Capital shared, "Prior to the implementation, documentation was somewhat scattered," and policy exception clearance was done very manually, with sales or underwriting emailing reports for compliance to review. ApplePie used a different provider and, when needed, open-source search via Google or other government websites.
The pain points were clear — dispersed documentation, email-based document sharing, and incomplete detection of criminal charges. Compounding the challenge, ApplePie operates under a bank sponsor model. Friedrich noted, "We are beholden to a lot of parties external to our internal people." Sponsors demanded thorough, documented resolution of items, increasing the need for centralized, defensible findings the team could present with confidence.
The solution: Integrating CLEAR into loan management platforms increases efficiency
As ApplePie migrated its loan management to nCino, CLEAR was selected because it was easily integrated, making it a much easier transition than spending extra money on development work to integrate the prior tool. Now multiple departments throughout the organization, such as the legal and compliance and credit and underwriting teams, use CLEAR. ApplePie has used the integration to their advantage by configuring it so that most of the workflow is automated. When an online application is submitted through nCino, a CLEAR report is now automatically generated for the applicant and any beneficial owners. ApplePie configured CLEAR-driven flags in nCino so when a subject is flagged, they are immediately routed to compliance via a dedicated dashboard. CLEAR integrated with nCino also changed how evidence is retained and shared. "All of the information is available in one readily accessible place," and exemption narratives are now captured in-system, improving auditability for internal stakeholders and bank partners.
Along with the automation provided by seamless integration, another key reason for choosing Thomson Reuters was CLEAR's data depth and feature functionality. Friedrich says, "CLEAR is certainly superior in terms of identifying the criminal matters," providing a more complete picture even when underlying documents are hard to retrieve. A favorite feature of the team is the CLEAR Risk Inform score. Friedrich states, "Our settings are such that we have a minimum threshold score of 70. If the score is below 70, then it's incumbent upon compliance to address whatever risks are presented."
The outcome: Faster reviews, stronger detection, and better auditability
ApplePie Capital saw measurable improvements in its due diligence process after implementing Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions. One of the most impactful changes was an improvement in how fast it takes them to complete due diligence on a subject. Per Friedrich, “I think that the most obvious result is the fact that since it's integrated into our new management system, things are far more readily accessible and available when you need to cross-reference things.” The time savings from jumping back and forth into two different platforms was found to be beneficial. The legal and compliance team is measured on their ability to complete due diligence on a new applicant in a certain amount of time.
“On a monthly basis, we tend to stay within about 98% of meeting the SLAs overall, and I think CLEAR has contributed to that.”
Tom Friedrich
Chief Compliance Officer, ApplePie Capital
Another key result was an improvement in the breadth and depth of the data. Friedrich shared. “About two weeks ago, we had a borrower that we had previously cleared using the prior solution. The original application had lapsed because they didn't provide enough supporting documentation and they reapplied and what ended up happening was with CLEAR we were able to identify two additional DUI’s is that were not identified in the previous report.” This was against ApplePie’s policy, and had it not been for CLEAR the applicant would have been approved.
By integrating CLEAR within nCino, ApplePie Capital centralized document handling, improved criminal-record detection, and maintained high SLA performance, giving compliance the confidence and documentation needed to support credit policy and bank sponsor expectations.
At a glance
Industry
Banking and financial services
HQ region
San Francisco, California, United States
Solutions
CLEAR
Year founded
2014
Additional case studies
Helping Berkshire Bank make informed judgements about risk
Modern risk management solutions improve efficiency, strengthen fraud controls, and accelerate decision-making for secure client and vendor onboarding.
Bringing kids back to school
Using CLEAR to locate an unhoused family in need of educational support.
Palmar Forensics leverages CLEAR for unmatched fraud and risk prevention
Empower organizations to onboard vendors with confidence and uncover hidden risks for stronger business relationships across health care education and more.
Risk & fraud
To learn more about how Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions can improve your due diligence processes, contact your Thomson Reuters representative or learn more
Thomson Reuters is not a consumer reporting agency and none of its services or the data contained therein constitute a "consumer report" as such term is defined in the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. sec. 1681 et seq. The data provided to you may not be used as a factor in consumer debt collection decisioning; establishing a consumer's eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, government benefits, or housing; or for any other purpose authorized under the FCRA. By accessing one of our services, you agree not to use the service or data for any purpose authorized under the FCRA or in relation to taking an adverse action relating to a consumer application.