Impact Study
Macroeconomic forces are ratcheting up the cashflow pressures of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large middle market (LMM) enterprises. How can they optimise cashflow?
While the consumer space has experienced a wave of digitisation – with credit initiatives thriving, such as embedded finance and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes – the equivalent trend has been slower to advance within the business world. This may be for several reasons, such as structural, regulatory and governance delays – particularly in Central Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, given the increasingly debit-heavy market in Europe, the need for cashflow solutions remains.
More than ever, businesses stand to benefit from revolving credit facilities (RFC) to bridge gaps in their working capital, boost liquidity and sharpen their short-term financial health. Such solutions offer a means to weather the unpredictability of global market forces and get behind new projects that require upfront investment, like expansions or productivity hikes.
Some SMB markets, however, show more receptiveness than others. In France, Italy and Germany, there has been strong adoption of deferred debit, along with overdrafts and loans – with less enthusiasm for classic RCFs. The United Kingdom (UK)’s SMB sector, meanwhile, has welcomed credit cards to bolster its books.
Yet across the board there is a need for solutions that are tailored to each vertical and cover the full gamut of businesses’ modern-day requirements, including transparent e-invoicing, dynamic discounting, chargebacks, factoring, interest-free credit, digitisation, and so on.
Historically, banks have been good at serving the large corporate space vertically, though not so good in the SMB space; typically viewing it from a one-size-fits-all perspective. This approach is no longer tenable, as evidenced by the success of newer entrants. SMBs and LMMs are not just looking to hand down instant and embedded credit services to their customers, they are looking to pass it on to the organisations they transact with – ensuring their sales journey and purchasing experience is cutting-edge and flexible.
This Finextra impact study, in association with Visa, explores:
New market pressures and the evolving needs of SMBs and LMMs;
How organisations can bridge cashflow gaps with working capital solutions;
The benefits of tailoring solutions by vertical; and
Real-life case studies to showcase the options available.
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