No economy can boom without a healthy mix of SMEs, but they are often left to fend for themselves when it comes to funding in times of crisis. SMEs have suffered outsized impact from COVID-19 but have not received corresponding loan consideration from big banks. How can this be turned around so that SMEs will not just survive but thrive?
Crises inspire metamorphic change, and that’s happening in banking as we trudge through a pandemic. Can banks do more than boost their digital transformations—and bottom lines? Can they be the foundation of building back better? It starts in the community, providing services to everyone, without regard to race, gender, economic status.
If further evidence was needed, the successful £322m fundraising by UK’s Starling Bank is a clear signal that digital-first newcomers will continue to force change in the banking industry, impacting long-established banking brands. To find their way back to the surface of this maelstrom of change, a step-change in traditional banks’ revamping of legacy technologies must be a priority.
We are witnessing an evolution. Banking is changing in so many ways – the move away from cash, and even cards, the urgent uptake of online banking, and a growing interest in personal investing. The slow and steady pace of the industry has been accelerated more in the last year than in the entire decade prior.
I recently spoke my mind on the challenges that women face in the banking sector. Just the day after, Anne Boden, founder of the UK’s Starling Bank, did the same. Our comments hit the headlines. We’d clearly struck a nerve.