Will business neo banks actually reshape the European banking market?

Many articles have been written on the topic of the rise of the neo banks, and therefore I wanted to give my perspective on the evolution taking place in the SME Fintech sector. It was long thought that the banking sector would be fully disrupted, replaced by a new era of neo banks. While there is truth to the disruption, it has taken a longer time than in other sectors and we are talking about an evolution rather than a revolution.

Business pain points in focus

At the core of this change are the actual pain points that businesses have. While traditional banks have been have made little progress in lowering the administrative burden for SMEs, and slow in their digitalization, they are also solving some fundamental needs for businesses to operate. This includes providing bank accounts, facilitating money transfers, solving financing, and providing payment cards. While most business owners didn’t think it was fun waiting for weeks to open a bank account some years ago, it doesn’t mean they will switch over to the next online bank that offers a 5 minute digital onboarding.

When running a business, the more focus the CEO can devote to creating value for the business itself, rather than on administrative tasks, the better. The new generation of Fintechs understand this. Therefore, new solutions focused on reducing pain points and adding more value to the business itself, are gaining more traction.

Mynt a smart corporate card

When we built Mynt we focused a lot on the pain points of running a business. The landscape of services used by businesses is very fragmented. Even between very similar types of businesses, business processes, choice of accounting system, and choice of bank can vary widely. However, most businesses where still experiencing similar problems related to administration and expense management. We knew we could bridge the gap.

Software driven solution

Our solution lies in the intersection of open banking, payment cards, digital accounting, and classic credit financing.

In September 2020 we released the beta version of our corporate card. It is a cool product - but more than that it is a management tool for the finance department and the accountant. It allows the business, to hand out a card to each employee, and empower that employee with a set spending limit. It gives back control to the finance department with insight on employee spending and gives access to the bookkeeper to export accounting vouchers all the way to the cloud accounting system.

When a purchase is made, the cardholder gets a push notification and takes a photo of the receipt. With automatic integrations the cardholder does not have to do any additional expense reporting at the end of the month. With built in credit functionality, it gives the business the option to use the best setup for its cash management. For larger purchases they can withdraw a business loan in no time with our digital line-of-credit product.

We believe great products will succeed and we believe the banks have the furthest gap to close. We are excited about the future, as know we are part of a big change about to happen over the next few years.

To learn more, or sign up for early access, visit: mynt.com