Tag Archive for Banking

Author, CPA and business owner Gene Marks break down everything entrepreneurs need to know about the impact of the SVB collapse.

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How This New Accounting Feature Can Save Businesses From Fraud and Financial Mishap

by Nick Chandi • January 9, 2023 • 0 Comments

Reconciliation has been a pain point for small businesses for a long time, but new technologies now enable payments companies like banks to automate the reconciliation process. The small business banking market in North America still leaves much to be desired, leaving room for innovative banks to differentiate themselves from competitors.

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Make Saving Fun Again With Yotta

by Entrepreneur Deals • September 28, 2022 • 0 Comments

Save money and win cash prizes with Yotta’s unique banking model.

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What is the Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS)?

by Lewis Shand-Smith • June 21, 2021 • 0 Comments

Originally written by Lewis Shand-Smith on Small Business
What is the BBRS?
The Business Banking Resolution Service was launched in February this year, and is already helping small businesses who have had problems with their banks.
It is a free, voluntary scheme involving seven of the main business banks. Between them, these seven banks cover over 90 per cent of the SME banking market in the UK. It deals with unresolved disputes between larger SME customers and their banking services providers.
It is independent and the banks – which have signed up to a contract detailing the service – must accept its determinations. The BBRS can help UK registered businesses, partnerships, trusts, charities, friendly societies and co-operative societies.
How does it differ from the FOS?
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is a scheme set up by statute for individuals and smaller SMEs. The BBRS has been designed so that it does not overlap with the FOS, but rather dovetails with the FOS’s rules. If your SME is not the right size for one it is likely to be right for the other, and the BBRS will refer you to the other organisation if it cannot help.
I’m a small business – can the BBRS help me?
It depends

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What do SMEs think is the best business bank account? – survey

by Timothy Adler • August 25, 2020 • 0 Comments

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Handelsbanken has been voted the clear winner when it comes to what SMEs think is the best business bank account.
The Swedish bank, which has more than 200 UK branches, came top of the leader board in four out of five categories, according to the latest Competition and Markets Authority survey published this month.
The bank was named best for overall service quality (79 per cent); relationship/account management (86 per cent); SME overdraft and loan services (78 per cent); and services in branches and business centres (73 per cent) for the fifth time by the survey.
>See also: Business Banking Resolution Service opens doors in November
However, Barclays beat it to the top spot for online and mobile banking services.
BVA BDRC surveyed nearly 17,000 small business customers between July 2019 and June 2020, asking them if they would recommend their provider to other SMEs.
Mikael Sorensen, UK CEO of Handelsbanken, said: “We are particularly pleased to see this response coming from our SME customers, many of whom we have been working closely with to provide a range of tailored, flexible support.”
>See also: 12 of the best digital banking platforms for small business
Overall service quality – Handelsbanken
Handelsbanken was ranked

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What do SMEs think is the best business bank account?

by Timothy Adler • August 25, 2020 • 0 Comments

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B-North plans to lend £1bn to small businesses within four years

by Timothy Adler • August 3, 2020 • 0 Comments

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
B-North, the Manchester-based small business lender, plans to lend over £1bn to small businesses within its first four years.
The lender, which hopes to secure a provisional banking licence within weeks, will rebrand as Bank North once the licence comes through.
Initially, B-North aims to lend about £50m as its systems are tested under the scrutiny of the banking regulator.
Filling the gap
B-North sees itself as filling the gap for small business lending as the Big Four banks – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest – have centralised lending decisions, concentrating on large firms, making it difficult for them to get into the intricacies of each small business.
At first, B-North will offer secured loans of between £500,000 and £5 million.
The service plans to start in Manchester but eventually it expects to have eight regional “lending pods”, each effectively a small bank on its own.
Its founders include Jonathan Thompson, a former Santander banker who will be its chief executive, and chairman Ron Emerson, who was founding chairman of the British Business Bank.
B-North says that it will offer the fast, technology-driven credit decisions of a fintech — it claims that it will be up to 10 times faster than a

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Exclusive – B-North to open national small business bank by end-2020

by Timothy Adler • August 2, 2019 • 0 Comments

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
B-North plans to open a national network of small business-only bank branches across England by the end of 2020.
The start-up bank, which has raised £4.5m in seed funding so far, plans to offer small business loans of anything between £500,000 up to £5m when it opens its doors.
Manchester will be the first B-North branch (or “lending pod”) to open next door, followed by branches opening in Yorkshire, the Midlands and London in stage one. B-North has identified another four locations for stage two.
Founders of the bank – which is currently in the process of applying for a banking licence – believe there is a gap in the market for an SME lender offering loans higher than the almost-instant debt offered by fintechs and peer-to-peer lenders, while offering faster lending decisions than incumbent high-street banks.
Spotcap, for example, offers loans of up to £250,000 to small businesses, priding itself on one-day decisions, while rival Esme offers fully automated SME loans of up to £150,000.
Currently, with traditional banks, requests for loans have to be passed upward to head office and can take between three and four months to be rubber stamped.
B-North’s highly localised model will allow

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Co-Operative Bank offers new business customers 2½ years’ free banking

by Timothy Adler • July 22, 2019 • 0 Comments

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The Co-Operative Bank has nearly doubled its free-banking offer for start-ups and SMEs from 18 months to 30 months.
New small business customers will benefit from free everyday banking – subject to certain transaction limits and a minimum credit balance of £1,000 – making it, says the Co-Op, the best introductory offer in the market.
The Co-Op bank aims to double its market share over the next five years, with a particular focus on supporting ethically minded businesses. One in five SMEs (22pc) are set up with a broader social purpose in mind.
In 2018, the Co-operative Bank had over 84,000 SME accounts, including 750 co-operatives, 5,000 charities and 218 credit unions, making it the seventh-biggest provider for business current accounts.
SME customers will then go on to the standard Business Directplus tariff once the 30-month period expires.

Official data indicates that businesses are most likely to struggle in their second year, says the Co-Op. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), one in four (26pc) of the approximately 380,000 businesses established each year are likely to struggle or fail within their first two years.
Existing Business DirectPlus customers currently in their introductory period will see it extended