US Bank Debuts Cash Flow Projection Tool for Small Businesses

U.S. Bank has launched a new online banking tool that gives small business owners a better picture of their future cash flow.

The tool, now available on customers’ online dashboards, gives the bank’s small business clients a 90-day cash flow forecast, U.S. Bank said in a news release Monday (Oct. 3).

“Cash flow is a top concern for today’s business owners,” said Irv Henderson, U.S. Bank’s chief digital officer for small business.

“Giving our clients the ability to forecast their cash flow outlook, including, in the future, the capability to consider various scenarios, will provide them with vital information to make smart decisions for today and the future.”

According to the release, the cash flow tool gives users a forecast of account balances up to 90 days ahead, along with a 90-day historical view, to help clients plan for their business. It also lets them use internal and external data sources for more comprehensive cash flow insights.

Read more: 12% of SMBs Concerned They Won’t Survive Past 2024

The bank says it plans to keep investing in the tool with the goal of rolling out additional functions that let customers pose “what if” scenarios and see how they impact cash flow.

The tool is launching at a moment when U.S. small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are feeling uneasy, according to recent research by PYMNTS.

While more than half of the SMBs surveyed for the most recent installment of the Main Street Health report were confident they’d see full-year revenues increase for 2022, a strikingly large proportion — 12% to be exact — were less sure about their chances of surviving into 2024.

Two years of COVID-19 and several months of inflation have had a negative impact on the outlook for some SMBs. While 56% of businesses expect revenues to rise this year, that’s down from 64% in late 2021, during what was thought as the waning days of the pandemic.

Expectations were not uniform throughout all sectors. The report found that half of personal and consumer services Main Street SMBs anticipated growth in 2022. Retailers, meanwhile, were a bit more optimistic, with 64% projecting growth throughout the year.

For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.