Sme news and trends

Amex Global Business Travel Sees Big Wins in Small Business Spend Management 
Earnings // March 05, 2024

Business travel, once a stalwart of corporate existence, has been taxiing on the post-COVID runway. But the strong financial results posted by American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) on Tuesday (March 5) for the fourth quarter and full year ending Dec. 31 point to hopes...

M-Pesa/Microsoft Pact Underscores Tech’s Role in Small Business Financial Inclusion  
Financial Inclusion // January 16, 2024

The recent announcement of joint efforts by Microsoft to build new financial services for businesses hints at a multipronged effort to boost financial inclusion … … Including financial inclusion for smaller businesses, leveraging the M-Pesa platform. As reported, the two firms will “offer digital services...

Data Has Become the Fuel for Small Business Financial Stability
SMBs // September 01, 2023

Main Street may be the soul of America, but its businesses find themselves increasingly embattled. That’s because small and medium-sized business (SMBs) looking for credit or working capital and other financing solutions are often underserved and ignored by traditional financial institutions (FIs). It is a...

Nigeria’s SMEs Boost Traffic and Cut Fraud With Cardless Transfers
Payments Innovation // November 10, 2022

Card payments, as ubiquitous as they may appear, are actually not the preferred payment method in certain markets. Take the case of Nigeria, for example. According to Lagos FinTech firm TeamApt, account transfers represented over 80% of all business transactions in August 2022, compared to...

Interviews & Exclusives
Amex Sees ‘Tremendous Growth’ in Virtual Cards for B2B Payments

December 18, 2024
Complexities breed inefficiency, as business-to-business (B2B) payments throughout their history have proven. But B2B payments should be simple, easy and secure. In an era when digital transformation is reshaping every element of business operations, virtual cards are emerging as a powerful tool to help streamline payments, improve financial control and foster strong relationships between buyers […]

Data Has Become the Fuel for Small Business Financial Stability

September 01, 2023
Main Street may be the soul of America, but its businesses find themselves increasingly embattled. That’s because small and medium-sized business (SMBs) looking for credit or working capital and other...

Nigeria’s SMEs Boost Traffic and Cut Fraud With Cardless Transfers

November 10, 2022
Card payments, as ubiquitous as they may appear, are actually not the preferred payment method in certain markets. Take the case of Nigeria, for example. According to Lagos FinTech firm...

To Avoid Failure, BNPL for Business Must Be Customized, Not Cloned

May 16, 2022
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) transaction volume is expected to reach $680 billion worldwide by 2025, a clear indication that consumers will continue to embrace installment payments and adopt the...

Quick Reads
Treasury Reups Pandemic Aid for Small Businesses

May 29, 2022
There’s been progress on a federal pandemic aid program to help small business access to capital, over a year after it was initially authorized, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sunday. This comes as firms are now battling high inflation and the greater risks of a recession. The Treasury Department has been sending out around […]

India’s ICICI Bank Opens Digital Banking Services to All Small Businesses

April 28, 2022
ICICI Bank will be rolling out India’s first comprehensive “digital ecosystem” for all micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. That will include customers of other banks, according...

Small Businesses Object to Lawmakers’ Plan to Reallocate Unspent COVID-19 Relief

April 18, 2022
Small business owners are not happy about a new proposal in Congress to redirect unspent money from COVID-19 programs to give $10 billion for various services like vaccines and therapeutics,...

Nets Expands Poland Presence With PeP Acquisition

March 12, 2020
Denmark payments startup Nets said on Thursday (March 12) that it has acquired Polish merchant acquirer Polskie ePłatności (PeP). PeP, valued at €405 million, has over 125,000 point-of-sale (POS) terminals...