Citizens Bank Cuts Fees For SMEs

Citizens Bank is hoping to snag some more small business customers — and appease the ones it already has. The bank revealed late last week that it is launching the Clearly Better Business Checking service, a new kind of checking account for SMEs.

According to the bank’s announcement, the new checking account will come without monthly maintenance fees, will have no minimum balance requirements and will allow 200 free transactions per statement period.

“The number one thing we hear from small business owners is that they want financial products that help them spend less time managing their finances and more time focusing on running their businesses,” said Citizens Bank President of Business Banking Quincy Miller in a statement.

Clearly Better Business Checking also connects SME customers to mobile banking and cuts fees for small business owners using the Citizens mobile banking app, the company said.

Citizens Bank’s new small business banking services follow new research published in July from Vantiv that revealed that banks are not offering sufficient remedies for the SME market but that banks should be considering their SME services as “core” products.

Researchers noted that while traditional banks are largely unwilling to take on the high risks associated with small business customers, they are likely losing out. Vantiv conducted a survey that found that one-fifth of SMEs agreed they would switch banks to access the financial services they need. The findings, Vantiv said, are a large reason why traditional banks are losing SME market share to alternative finance platforms.

But traditional banks, Vantiv said, are already at an advantage over alternative rivals. “They already have the access to the transaction data through the acquiring relationship,” the study said. “Why not leverage that to offer the lending product as well?”

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