In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, payment innovation plays a critical role in the success of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). As technology continues to reshape the way we transact, it’s imperative for businesses to adopt innovative solutions and for banks to bridge the gap between traditional banking services and modern payment demands. 

Despite banks acknowledging the need to innovate around payments and making it a top priority in the past, its execution has faced numerous challenges. 

This is largely due to the constraints of legacy systems, internal processes, and the compliance measures upon which banks are built upon. Since these factors govern how quickly most banks can develop and launch new solutions, many innovation initiatives are significantly underinvested, get delayed, or never materialize —leaving SMBs hungrier and hungrier for payment capabilities that fit their needs. 

Even though these constraints pose challenges for both parties, they ensure banks remain the partner customers expect— something many fintechs and neo banks have struggled to replicate. 

Ultimately, this gap boils down to one word: Accessibility. For both banks and SMBs.  

An effective approach to modernize payments for SMBs 

In order to bridge this gap and keep up with an ever-changing landscape, the payment industry needs a collaborative approach. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor were banks. 

Within the existing payments ecosystem, banks have the infrastructure and customer servicing. However, they need agile technology partners to help them quickly bring to market the solutions small and mid-market businesses need.

For this reason, we're on a mission to bridge the accessibility gap between traditional banks, SMBs, and payment technology. Delivering on that promise begins by enabling virtual cards and spend management functionalities for the 33 million small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that incumbent banks already support in the U.S.

Market-ready spend management functionality tailored to the needs of SMBs

An example of this payments model can be seen through one of our most recent bank partners, HSBC, which is spearheading innovation through virtual card issuance and spend management functionalities that allow all of its commercial customers to make business payments anytime, anywhere. 

As Tom Halpin, Head of Global Payments Solutions for HSBC North America, shared in an interview with Bank Automation News back in January, HSBC is prioritizing the development of real-time payment capabilities that can enable a digital-first customer experience “to minimize friction in our clients' payment experience across a multitude of payment categories.” Partners like Extend, he further points out, can help the bank achieve these goals.

Better spend management with the company card you already have

Did you know 55% of small to medium-sized businesses in the U.S. have a credit card that can already be used with Extend? Head here to find out if your bank supports Extend.