A new period in SME banking has already begun and a whole new ecosystem for how banks serve small to medium-sized enterprises is set to prosper.

This new era will be driven by the SME needs of managing their business to sharpen competitiveness in today’s digital world.

There is a growing opportunity for banks to become SME’s digital disruption partner. No entity is better placed to do so: banks have a (long-term) relationship and have built trust with business owners; they have data about their current and future financial needs; and they have access to the expertise and technology.
New solutions that enable to leverage customer insights will allow for the provision of value added products, covering a multitude of business needs, such as accounting and cash flow management. While competition will be fierce,banks that can execute an effective SME strategy will reap the rewards. And those that don’t take action will fall behind. Let’s look at the 7 factors for this paradigm shift in SME banking and the lucrative opportunities for banks:

• IT’S CHEAPER AND EASIER THAN EVER BEFORE TO START AN SME
• MILLENNIALS, THE NEW DOMINANT ECONOMIC COHORT, ARE EAGER TO START BUSINESSES
• IT WILL HELP TO “BANK THE UNBANKED” AND BETTER SERVE THE UNDERBANKED
• THE WORLD BANK AND G20 SHARE A COMMON GOAL TO HELP SMEs WORLDWIDE
• SME DEMANDS AND NEEDS ARE CHANGING
• THE FINTECH PHENOMENON AND BANKING DISRUPTION HAVE FORCED BANKS TO DEVELOP SUPERIOR FINANCIAL SERVICES
• THERE IS MORE COMPETITION IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR THAN EVER BEFORE