It’s About More Than Just a Business Bank Account
In the world of banking for an SME or freelance until now, the best you could hope for was to open a business bank account, get an SME loan and cross your fingers. Financial literacy was a long shot and the financial, and overall success of your company was little more than a case of the luck of the draw.
Topics: BFM, Financial Management for Small Business (BFM), business finance, SME banking, small business
During 2017, we have seen numerous advances in technology and the introduction of new regulatory policies that are reshaping SME Banking. Despite still being an underserved segment of sorts, digitalisation, machine learning and open APIs have opened up previously unimaginable opportunities for banks to get closer to the SME customer.
While no one can see the future, we asked SME Banking experts to share their predictions with us. Here’s a preview of what the best in Fintech have to say about the coming year in SME Finance Management.
Topics: BFM, business banking, SME Finance Forum, SME banking, small business, business finance, Financial Management for Small Business (BFM)
Brazilian Guga Stocco is an advisor and board member of companies like B3, the biggest stock market in the world. He co-founded Domo Invest, a fund that raised R$ 100 million for investments in Internet and Fintech. Guga was also responsible for the creation of the first fully digital bank in Brazil with more than 300,000 clients and projects such as online bank account opening and open banking platform, allowing fintechs to access APIs easily and explore Brazilian Market.
As the fourth part of our SME Finance Forum interview series, we asked Guga about the key initiatives in the digital transformation taking place in Brazil, and how banks or financial institutions can take advantage of this opportunity.
Topics: digital banking, SME banking, business banking, business finance, SME Finance Forum, SMEs
2018 will bring exciting change in the banking sector. This will be a year in which new regulations and new ideologies will cement their presence in finance, and the customer will continue to rule the roost. A year of optimizing experiences, revamping our digital offering and taking banking to the underserved segments of the world.
Not for the faint of heart, but given the banking trends for 2018, banks would be wise to add a few of these to their resolution list!
Topics: digital banking, fintech reading, fintech disruption, fintech innovation, business finance
Lav Odorovic is the co-founder and CEO of Penta. Odorovic is a serial entrepreneur, having set up and exited his first startup by the tender age of 21. After working several corporate jobs, he, together with several entrepreneurial friends, launched Penta, a Berlin-based neobank, offering banking services to early-stage technology companies.
As the last part of our SME Finance Forum interview series, we wanted to talk not only to banks to understand their views on innovation, but with Fintechs as well. As Europe enters into a world of open APIs, many startups are looking to seize the opportunity. Penta neobank is one of them, offering a new type of business banking services. We wanted to understand their journey, vision and future business goals.
Topics: digital banking, SME banking, business banking, business finance, SME Finance Forum, SMEs
The key to serving the SME is to understand their plight. Despite accounting for 99% of all businesses in many countries around the world - in the UK alone, there are 5.4 million SMEs - they have been all but left out of the equation by banks. In this post, the aim is to break down the particular needs of this segment and suggest fitting solutions.
Topics: BFM, Financial Management for Small Business (BFM), business finance, SME banking, small business