Finance Monthly. 21 Bus i ne s s & Economy be directed towards growth and development. Besides financial implications, cash flow management systems that are pre-integrated within the bank’s existing products or services would mean business owners can directly utilise these resources without the need for additional tools. Cash flow management functionalities can become a punctual, safe, and more convenient way that gives business owners direct access to manage and control their daily operations, and oversee cash flow. Additionally, it could further provide them with a follow-up on economic trends and establish key data points that can be used to develop a long-term growth strategy. Financial data reporting This category ties strongly with how financial institutions, in this case, banks or fintech can provide their customers - SMEs - with the appropriate financial data that can help to improve financial decisionmaking. While banks and fintech may have access to consumer records, SMEs tend to have less transparency in terms of consumer buying behaviour. The financial data set is not only important for SMEs’ customer base, but it could potentially help SMEs access credit assessments with more personalised reports, analyse their financial position and implement more data-driven performance indicators. Thinking in terms of financial uncertainty, businesses will require steady and transparent reports from their financial provider to ensure they can properly plan and manage the business strategies that can help them remain operational during times of unevenly distributed consumer spending. The bottom line Though banks have in recent years caught up with the digital trend that has been introduced by fintech and other startups, their services and products are often still too centred around larger, more dominant customers, including retail corporate businesses and multinational firms. If small businesses want to survive an impending financial crisis, they will not only need to adjust their business model accordingly, but they will also need to consider how their bank is serving them, and providing them with the right tools and resources to overcome financial hardships. Banks are no longer a place of sole financial authority, but rather a deeper look into consumer economics and buying behaviour, a link between the business and the marketplace, and a provider of digital resources that helps to personalise the financial experience for small to medium enterprises. “Despite SMEs making up more than 99.99% of businesses in the US, and accounting for nearly two-thirds of net new private jobs in recent decades - banks predominantly tailor their services and products towards retail corporate companies and consumers.”
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