With £478 million processed through SmartPay since launch, including £418 million in the past 12 months, faster payments are gaining momentum across the UK freight industry. In an exclusive interview, Fintech Business Asia speaks with Lyall Cresswell, CEO and Founder of TEG and Trustd, about how embedded finance is helping hauliers overcome cash flow pressures, access payments in minutes and take on new business opportunities. He also discusses the role of digital verification in reducing fraud, the benefits of financing completed work rather than relying on traditional credit assessments, and why integrated payment infrastructure could transform the future of freight finance, particularly for smaller carriers and sole traders.

Q. SmartPay has processed £478 million since launch, with £418 million handled in the past 12 months alone. What has driven that acceleration, and what does it tell you about demand for faster payments among UK hauliers?

The figures are clearer than any description I could give. Of the £478 million SmartPay has processed since launch, £418 million moved in the last 12 months. Nearly nine in every ten pounds came in a single year. And the pace of adoption is still rising.  

I’d point to how SmartPay was built. It sits inside the workflow carriers already use. A carrier accepts a load on TEG, completes it and requests payment from the same dashboard. There’s no application to a bank and no separate finance provider. Once a payment is released, funds land in the carrier's account in under four minutes on average. When payment is part of the work itself, it becomes the natural way to be paid.

The economics of the sector matter too. Average haulage operating margins sit at around 2%. The Road Haulage Association's 2025 cost survey found non-fuel operating costs rose 5.91% year on year. Standard payment terms run from 30 to 90 days. When margins are that thin, waiting months for money already earned isn’t an administrative irritation. It’s a constraint on the whole business.

As for demand, I’d be careful not to speak for hauliers. What I can say is that the need for faster payment in this sector isn’t new. What was missing was a way to meet it safely and at scale, for the smallest operators as well as the largest.

Policy in the UK is moving in the same direction. The UK government set out late payment reforms in the King’s Speech. They include a 60-day cap on payment terms and mandatory interest on late payment at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, the UK’s central interest rate. The cost of slow payment to small businesses is now recognised at government level. A cap is welcome. But 60 days is still 60 days for a sole trader who paid for fuel this morning.

Q. The platform was designed around smaller carriers that can struggle with 30 to 90-day payment terms. How has access to same-day payment changed the way these businesses manage cash flow and take on new work?

Consider how a small haulage firm runs. Fuel is paid at the pump. Drivers are paid weekly or monthly. Insurance, vehicle finance and maintenance come out on fixed dates. Income arrives 30 to 90 days after the work is done. Every time the firm completes a load, it’s in effect lending money to its customer, interest free. 

That gap shapes every decision. A firm with stretched working capital has to think twice before accepting another load, even a profitable one. Each new load widens the gap before it closes. Growth costs money before it makes money.

SmartPay changes the sequence. When a carrier completes a load and supplies proof of delivery, it can request payment from the same dashboard where it accepted the load. Funds are available on the day the invoice is approved. The cash from one load can fund the next.

Take a small courier, a one-person business with a single van. They complete a load, upload proof of delivery and can be paid the same day. The cash from that one load covers fuel and costs for the days ahead. They don’t have to turn down the next piece of work while they wait to be paid. For a small business focused on growth, that changes what’s possible.  

With our Embedded Finance products, payments are made on a non-recourse basis, which means carriers are protected from late or unpaid invoices. Carriers still need to complete the load and supply proof of delivery. Once they have, the question of whether they’ll be paid is settled. 

This matters beyond individual firms. Thousands of SMEs and sole traders make up the UK haulage sector, and road carries around 80% of UK freight journeys. Faster payment isn’t a favour to one side. It makes the whole network more resilient. 

SMEs can take on contracts they would previously have turned down because they couldn’t afford to wait 60 days for payment. That’s how payment data drives growth at an industry level, not just at a company level.

Q. SmartPay finances against a completed booking rather than relying on traditional credit-based invoice finance. How does that model change who can access funding, particularly among sole traders and smaller haulage firms?

Traditional invoice finance asks a question about the business. How strong is the balance sheet? How long has it traded? What’s its turnover? For a sole trader with one vehicle, the answer is often not enough. 

SmartPay asks a different question. Has the load been completed satisfactorily?

Traditional invoice finance is credit-based, and its minimum thresholds have always excluded the smallest operators. SmartPay finances against the completed load instead. The verified carrier, the accepted order, the delivery and the proof of delivery all sit on the platform already. The carrier requests payment from the same dashboard where it accepted the load. It does not apply to a bank or a separate finance provider. 

That’s why SmartPay reaches businesses that have never previously had access to this kind of finance.

There’s a wider point. Credit-based finance tends to reward businesses that are already established. Finance against completed work rewards businesses that do the work. In a sector made up of thousands of small firms, that’s a fairer measure of who should be paid promptly.

Our test from the start was simple. Make it work for the smallest operators, not only the largest. If it works for a sole trader, it works for everyone.

Q. TEG combines carrier onboarding, verification, payment and reconciliation in the same workflow, with Trustd supporting verification. How important has that integration been in reducing fraud and administrative costs while keeping payments fast?

Integration is the reason the model works. You can’t safely pay a carrier faster unless you know who they are.

In freight, onboarding, verification and payment have traditionally been separate tasks. A new carrier is onboarded through forms and emails. Someone checks the operating licence. Someone else checks the insurance. Bank details arrive by email and are typed into an accounts system. Each handover is a cost. Each handover is also a point where something can go wrong. 

On TEG, those steps happen in one workflow. Every SmartPay transaction runs through verification with Trustd, an independently certified digital identity platform. Checks cover identity, anti-money laundering, VAT status, operating licence and insurance credentials. Bank details are stored centrally rather than passed around by email. Both sides can see the order history and proof of delivery. TEG is the ultimate closed loop system. 

When a payment is released, remittance and reconciliation happen automatically. Orders are marked as paid, and both sides have a clean audit trail. There’s no remittance to match and no invoice to chase.

The payment itself is rarely the hardest part. The pain point is usually the admin around it. Bringing onboarding, verification and payment into one system removes that work rather than speeding it up. Speed never comes at the expense of assurance. 

It raises the bar for the entire industry. Enterprises can confidently expand their supplier networks because the verification layer gives them assurance. Small carriers can work with businesses they’ve never worked with before. That’s what collaboration looks like when the infrastructure supports it.

Q. SmartPay payments are made on a non-recourse basis once the load is completed and proof of delivery is supplied. How do you manage the credit and payment risks behind that model as transaction volumes continue to grow?

It’s worth being precise about scope. With our Embedded Finance products, payments are made on a non-recourse basis, which means carriers are protected from late or unpaid invoices. Carriers must still complete the load and supply proof of delivery. The risk sits with the platform not with the carrier. 

Managing that risk starts before any money moves. Every carrier paid through SmartPay has already been verified, so we know who we’re paying. Each payment is made against a completed load, with the order, the delivery and the proof of delivery recorded on the platform. We’re not financing an invoice from a supplier no one has checked. Credit control is proactive too. We don’t wait for members to report problems. Late payments are flagged within days.

TEG has operated for 26 years. More than 10,000 transport businesses use the platform, moving 3 million loads a year. SmartPay is built on that foundation.

As volumes grow, those disciplines matter more, not less. The aim has always been to make the platform safer as well as faster.

Q. You have described SmartPay as becoming financial infrastructure for the freight industry rather than simply a faster payment tool. What additional financial services or embedded finance products could TEG introduce for carriers and freight businesses next?

I think about this less as a list of products and more as a question. What becomes possible once payment, verification and settlement sit in the same place?

We’re already most of the way there for our members. Average settlement is under four minutes. But the real vision is broader. When payment infrastructure is truly invisible, the barriers that currently prevent businesses from collaborating disappear entirely. 

That’s the direction. A shipper can work with a carrier it’s never met. A small carrier can work for a large enterprise without worrying about how long payment will take. 

The model also travels. Freight isn’t the only sector made up of thousands of small suppliers waiting to be paid by larger customers. Verification, settlement and finance built into the operational workflow can transfer to other fragmented B2B sectors. It doesn’t need to be reinvented for each one.

For as long as this industry has existed, the smallest operators have done the work and then waited months to be paid. What began as a faster way to get paid is becoming the financial infrastructure this industry has never had. 

Whatever comes next, the test won’t change. Make it work for the smallest operators, not only the largest.