Banco Santander has begun the roll out of its CashFlow Manager app in the UK, enabling businesses to view account balances from multiple banks in one place and collect payments from customers instantly using QR codes.
Created in partnership with fintech, tomato pay, Santander UK’s clients who use the app can link and view their banking details for up to 98% of UK banks.
The app analyses each business’ data to provide it with categorised insights into its spending, for example how its payroll expenditure on a given month compares to its average over a prescribed period. By analysing a business’ transactions, CashFlow Manager also assesses its future cash flow position to provide detailed forecasts.
Faster payments are a key component of the app, which enables businesses to request payments from their customers by showing a unique QR code either in person or online. When customers use the QR code to pay, the payment is settled immediately in the business’ bank account.
Then product also helps with invoice processing, embedding the elements of quoting, contract creation and invoicing for businesses to work with their suppliers.
The app is being tested with selected Santander UK Corporate and Commercial Banking customers with a view to it being launched more widely following the initial roll-out phase.
John Baldwin, head, commercial clients, Santander UK says: “SMEs are working incredibly hard to get on the road to recovery from the pandemic. The CashFlow Manager app is designed to help them by removing the manual and time-consuming workload involved with day-to-day banking so they can instead focus on running and growing their business. The QR-code payment collection and invoicing features of the app also have brilliant potential to speed up payments to businesses.”