Banks Improve Digital Payment Options and Expand Mobile App Services for Small Businesses
Wilmington, Del. July 23, 2024 – Keynova Group, the principal competitive intelligence source for digital financial services firms, today announced the results of its 2024 Small Business Banker Scorecard. Bank of America continues its winning streak in the annual benchmark that evaluates the online and mobile experience for small business customers of the top 11 national and regional banks that focus on small business digital banking.
The key findings of this year’s Scorecard reveal that banks have improved their digital payments and transfer services for small businesses and mobile banking functionality for businesses is starting to catch up with desktop digital capabilities.
“Small businesses have unique banking needs that require specialized digital elements and services, particularly when it comes to money movement and B2B payments, and the Scorecard banks are stepping up to add more options for their small business customers,” said Susan Foulds, managing director, Keynova Group. “While banks’ mobile app advances have typically focused on consumer accounts, many banks are now expanding and enhancing mobile access and services for small businesses as well.”
Key Findings:
Improved Digital Payments and Transfer Services for Small Businesses
As payments and funds transfers are critical banking components for small business operations, most banks assessed in the Scorecard offer a solid digital payment experience, and more than half offer ancillary services such payroll and ACH to pay employees and vendors. ACH payments are offered to small businesses by 73% of the Scorecard banks, and 55% provide a consolidated view of transactions for tracking payments and cash flow. External account-to-account (A2A) transfers are also available from 73% of banks, allowing small businesses to seamlessly move funds between customers’ business and personal accounts. The speed of immediate wire services can be an essential cash management resource for just-in-time payments and for international operations. To meet this growing need among small businesses, 55% of the small business banks offer digital access to international wires while 73% provide domestic wire transfers.
Chase leads in digital payments capabilities for small businesses including real-time and next day ACH payments, wires and a well-designed Payment Center—without requiring customers to upgrade to a complex commercial cash management platform for business-grade payments.
Improvements in Mobile Banking for Small Business
Though many small businesses continue to rely on desktop computers for online banking, they increasingly are tapping mobile banking access as well, especially if the business is mobile or seasonal. Banks serve a wide range of businesses and industries and are improving the mobile banking experience with small business-specific capabilities. Efficiently locating transactions is critical for businesses with higher volumes of transactions: 82% of the Scorecard banks’ mobile apps provide small business account owners the ability to search, sort or filter deposit account transactions, 73% enable history search by amount and description, and 45% support keyword search. In-app cash flow analysis allows small businesses to manage their accounts on the go and is now available in 36% of the mobile apps.
Virtual assistant capabilities are becoming a core component of mobile banking and that extends to small business banking, as 82% of the banks’ mobile apps offer virtual assistants or chatbots for small business accounts, though with a disparate range of skills. Only 27% of the banks – Bank of America, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo – offer advanced virtual assistants for small business accounts that include the ability to filter transactions (18%) and schedule transfers (27%). Bank of America’s Erica is the only virtual assistant to display scheduled payments on request.
About the Small Business Banker Scorecard
Syndicated for more than two decades, Keynova Group’s annual, fact-based Small Business Banker Scorecard objectively evaluates the online and mobile banking services offered to small business customers by leading U.S. banks, identifying industry best practices, evolving digital trends and insights. These banks include Bank of America, BMO, Chase, Citi, Citizens, Huntington, PNC, TD Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. For more information please visit: https://www.keynovagroup.com/scorecards/#banking
About Keynova Group
Keynova Group is the nation’s foremost competitive intelligence firm providing trusted benchmarking insights and analysis of consumer and small business digital financial services, including banking, credit card, home lending and insurance. Since 1999, Keynova Group’s Scorecards have served as the go-to source for leading financial services firms to obtain reliable competitive intelligence and actionable insights. The firm’s proven methodology and highly detailed results help its clients maximize the value of their digital channels to deliver a premier experience to customers and prospects.
For more information:
Meggan Manson
Young & Associates, for Keynova Group
301-371-6995
megganm@yapr.com