Visa Europe: British SMEs Still Prefer Banks as Payment Providers

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK still strongly trust banks and building societies as their payment providers, says a recent study by Visa Europe.

According to the survey of 750 small businesses, 59 percent said they trust their business bank or building society as their payment provider.

Other providers scored lower at 40 percent for alternative online payment providers, 11 percent for telecommunication companies and six percent for social media outlets.

Sole traders and longstanding businesses had the highest level of trust in banks at both 65 percent.

The survey, however, found that many SMEs were not totally satisfied with the available payment options.

In fact, just 30 percent of small business owners were ‘completely satisfied’ with the options available to them.

The levels of satisfaction decline with the growth in company turnover, implying that businesses are looking for more payment options as they grow, the study noted.

The survey also found differences between the comfort level of SMEs paying in different ways versus accepting these methods themselves.

For instance, more than 50 percent of sole traders use online banking for payments and one-third make payments through debit card online.

However, just nine percent of them accept online card payments from customers.

Kevin Jenkins, MD, Visa UK, commented, “If small businesses feel frustrated or unable to utilise the best payment or banking offering for them and their customers, then they can’t enjoy the benefits these bring. Given the top three barriers to change are cited as perceived cost, risk, and other priorities being focused on, that suggests we need to start with making these products as a and useful for this audience as possible.”