HSBC Unveils One-Stop Service For Small Business Owners

HSBC has unveiled a new mobile banking service that gives small business owners a single place to take care of all their financial tasks.

According to TechRadar, the U.K.-centric service — known as HSBC Kinetic — is designed to provide a simpler, faster and more intuitive experience, shaped by feedback from more than 3,000 small business owners.

The software will be available for iOS through the Apple App Store and Android through Google Play and can be integrated with account software like Xero, Sage and QuickBooks.

“Once downloaded, business owners can apply for an account through the app,” TechRadar reported. “If the applicant is successful there will be a ‘vertical’ debit card option, while the app can be used to take care of direct debits, standing orders and forthcoming payments along with other small business finance management tasks.”

While developing HSBC Kinetic, the bank conducted research which showed that under a third of small business owners in Britain feel confident about their ability to keep up with finances, while half the people they surveyed said staying in business was a chief concern over the next six months.

HSBC Kinetic follows the January rollout of the bank’s Cash Flow Forecasting tool through its online banking unit.

The tool, accessible through a single sign-on, is designed to let businesses of all sizes “build a more accurate picture of their future finances and manage liquidity across all their accounts,” HSBC said in its announcement.

The tool automatically loads data from the various accounts of a business, allowing them to do what might have taken weeks of data retrieval and spreadsheet building in just a few keystrokes. It can generate detailed cash forecasts three years out with modeling and scenario testing, as well as variance analysis that underlines differences between forecasts and performances.

Mobile banking has become an important tool for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and smartphone evolution provides increasing functionality many small businesses are finding helpful.