SMEs

SME: To put it bluntly, one of the reasons new entrants offering better products and services struggle to make an impact in SME banking is that SMEs cant be bothered to switch to them. Although large numbers of small businesses routinely complain about their dissatisfaction with their existing banks, only a handful ever do anything about it, according to The Independent. Similarly, while the past five years has been dominated by accusations that the banks wont lend to smaller businesses, the CMAs data reveals that seven in 10 SMEs approach only one provider when looking for a loan, while 90 per cent take out the loan from their current account provider and In many ways, the most shocking parts of the CMAs report into SME banking are not those that focus on the lack of competition we knew all about that from the three almost identical reports published by similar authorities over the past 12 years but the findings concerning the apathy of SMEs themselves. So, for example, SMEs collectively hold 3.5 million business current accounts, the vast majority of which are covered by the new seven-day current account switching regime that came into effect last year. Yet over the six months to the end of March, just 7,330 SMEs took advantage of the service. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.