From this week, Metro Bank is inviting selected small business customers to join a free beta trial of its forthcoming app-based receipt management technology.
The Bank has partnered with Canadian technology firm Sensibill to offer this new feature which is free and will be available to all small business customers via the Metro Bank app in early 2020.
UK small businesses lose 15 days of paid work a year, spending two hours each week retrieving company expenses.1 What’s more, research shows that three out of four small business owners don’t claim all of their expenses, and nearly 20% claim less than half of their expenses, or none at all.2
Metro Bank’s solution will mean small business customers no longer have to deal with manual receipt organisation. Receipts can be captured using a smartphone camera, and are automatically reconciled to the customer’s transaction history – giving SMEs back vital time to spend running and growing their businesses.
The pilot launch is just the first in a long list of innovations that will be pioneered by the Bank as it brings new game-changing digital solutions to the market. In 2020, Metro Bank will take the essential daily tasks of invoicing, receipt management, bookkeeping and VAT returns, and embed them intuitively into the Metro Bank mobile app and online banking, and also link them up with cloud accounting providers.
This development comes as Metro Bank sets about injecting much needed competition into the small business banking market – deploying the £120 million funding it was awarded from the Capability & Innovation Fund alongside the Bank’s own investment to transform the UK SME banking experience.
Paul Riseborough, Chief Commercial Officer at Metro Bank, says: "Accounting tasks, along with chasing invoices and staying on top of receipts, are major pain points for SMEs. By partnering with Sensibill we’re offering an innovative, digital solution that solves real problems for our customers, saving them time spent on admin and allowing them to focus on running and growing their business. And this is just the first piece in the puzzle as we set about developing a major new digital ecosystem of services to help SMEs."
Corey Gross, Co-Founder and CEO at Sensibill, added: "Metro Bank is building a suite of compelling tools that will help transform the small business banking experience in the UK. Our partnership with Metro Bank demonstrates our shared focus to deliver customer-centric solutions that improve the financial well-being of banking customers. We’re excited to support Metro Bank’s commitment to strengthening its relationship with their customers through digital innovation."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1 https://businessadvice.co.uk/tax-and-admin/year-end/three-quarters-of-self-employed-workers-use-personal-accounts-for-business-finances/
2 https://www.freeagent.com/en/guides/expenses/small-value/