How Platforms are Revolutionizing SMB Banking
Platforms and marketplaces are at the center of a revolution changing the financial service industry as we know it. Emerging technology and growing user demand have opened a window of opportunity for platforms to provide the financial services their SMB users have been missing – but that window will only be open for so long.
The opportunity, in short:
- There is universal demand from SMBs for embedded finance: 64% of SMBs are interested in financial services embedded within a platform.
- Payments is the foundation on which platforms will grow embedded financial services: 30% of the platforms offer embedded payments services already and 74% of SMBs are interested in it.
- Platforms are uniquely positioned to address the finance needs of SMBs. Having built a central and trusted role in their user’s daily operations, platforms are well-placed to deliver financial services directly into SMBs’ workflows at the exact moment of need.
- There are three key financial services categories – cash advances, bank accounts, and card issuing – that offer platforms the quickest path to market and a potential revenue uplift of up to 70%.
- We estimate that together, cash advances, bank accounts, and card issuing represent an addressable market of ~$110bn of revenue in the US, Europe and the UK, which represents ~45% of the total SMB banking revenue pool.