Every year we, at SME Banking Club, analyze 90 functionalities available for SME customers in the CEE region.
Parameters include, among others:
- online customer onboarding, the possibility to open a business account online
- access to customer’s account (balance, history, etc)
- Payments transfers in local and foreign currencies, payment templates, etc)
- FX module
- deposit module (possibility to open and close deposit purely online)
- cards module (possibility to manage cards and order new ones via online banking system)
- lending module (possibility to apply and receive a loan purely online for SMEs)
- factoring module (possibility to apply and receive invoice finance online for SMEs)
- integration of added services (e-invoicing, online accounting, BFM & cash projection)
Based on that analysis we build an Annual Ranking of the best digital financial solutions for SMEs in the CEE region, and every year, during our Annual CEE SME Banking Club Conference, we award the best solutions of the year.
Watch the latest CEE SME Banking Awards 2021
Based on the 2021 Study, almost all the banks have implemented such functionalities as access to customers’ accounts, account history, and transfers in local and foreign currencies. These have become standard, default functionalities and do not differentiate banks on the market anymore. And offering online and mobile banking for business customers is not an advantage, it’s a must.
What do differentiate banks on the market is the implementation of, for example:
- FX module. 60% of the banks implemented this module already, and the number of implementations is growing
Less than 30% of the banks in the region implemented:
- Online opening of business account
- Online loan application via the online banking system
- Integration of E-invoicing and Online Accounting
Less than 10% of the banks implemented:
- Full lending process via online banking (starting with the online application and ending with loan disbursement and signing of loan agreement purely online and paperless
- BFM & cash flow projection tools are the perfect tool to x-sell banking products in the context of the customer’s business (exactly in the moment when they might need it) and personalize the offer.
These are the functionalities SMEs started to expect from the banks and this is what both SMEs and banks need to implement in the nearest years to meet the expectations of this customer segment but also to sell and approach SME customers in a personalized way (and make a profit from it).
If you would like to get more details and get access to the Study, please email us at cee@smebanking.club or visit the Study page and proceed with the purchase online.
Watch Olena Gryniuk‘s presentation on that topic during our latest CEE21 Conference, which took place in the hybrid format on November 25, 2021.
