Kinetic, a mobile banking subsidiary of HSBC, has been
formed to serve the needs of the UK business community.
HSBC Kinetic, which was developed with the help of over
3,000 small business owners, will allow SMEs to open savings and current
accounts in minutes and efficiently manage business operations such as direct
debits, standing orders, and future payments.
As HSBC's global head of digital business banking channels
Nadya Hijazi and head of small business banking Peter McIntyre explained, the
launch of this platform comes at a critical time for small business owners and
self-employed people, whose numbers have risen sharply in recent months as a
result of the economic downturn.
According to HSBC research, just about a third of UK-based
SMEs are confidence in their capacity to keep track of their finances in real
time. Finding time to handle their money and determining what steps to do as a
result of what their finances are telling them are two of the most pressing
concerns.
HSBC Kinetic goes a long way toward overcoming this problem,
with over 5,000 users ranging from food delivery and technology enterprises to
small stores and even medical groups.
The app's unique selling point, on the other hand, is that
it is built on Google Cloud technology, which allows HSBC to leverage its
existing infrastructure to quickly scale up the service if necessary and
promptly execute any improvements based on client input.
HSBC Kinetic can be readily connected with other prominent
financial and accounting software suppliers, such as Xero, QuickBooks, and
Sage, thanks to APIs.
HSBC Kinetic can help struggling businesses maintain a
healthy cash flow by providing a suite of useful in-app banking products, such
as same-day overdrafts, credit cards, and streamlined access to the Bounce Back
Loan Scheme, in addition to assisting SMEs with the practical challenges
associated with cash management (BBLS).
"This function has been invaluable throughout the
economic slump," says HSBC's McIntyre, "providing SMEs quick and easy
access to the short-term funding needed to help tide them over."
The Kinetic app is part of HSBC's multibillion-dollar
worldwide transformation program, which aims to digitalize essential customer
journeys to improve user experience. "Since the Bounce Back Loan Scheme
launched in May 2020, HSBC's UK commercial bank has authorized over £7 billion
in loans “ all through our existing digital banking channels," says
Hijazi. HSBC's continued and persistent investment in establishing cutting-edge
digital banking platforms, such as Kinetic, would not have allowed for this
magnitude of lending."
Evidently, the epidemic has sparked a shift in how
businesses “ particularly SMEs “ finance, and financial institutions such as
HSBC are leading the charge to combat this tendency. Indeed, HSBC has seen a
40% increase in the number of consumers using its digital banking services
since the outbreak began.
"We've also witnessed an increase in the number of
clients who choose to use virtual assistant tools for support rather than
calling customer service at a bank branch," Hijazi says. Clearly, the
digital environment is becoming more and more important in how businesses are
operated in the United Kingdom.
HSBC Kinetic is a mobile app that includes customized cash
flow insights, automatically classified expenditure overviews, detailed account
reports, and an in-app customer assistance tool. It is available for download
on both iOS and Android.
HSBC has also promised to expand Kinetic to the Group's
other significant geographies, including as Asia, and to offer small business
loans and international payments through the app in the near future.
