Petites entreprises
Quote of the month
“Current accounts do play an important role in small business banking, especially in new customer acquisition. Packaged accounts strategies are still valid, but only a limited number of well thought generalist products should exist with a clear and distinct value proposition for the customer, complemented by a few tactical products on which to build marketing campaigns.”
Renato Martini, Small Business Segment Manager at UniCredit
Overall issues
- Developing a new approach
There needs to be a segmented approach to the small business banking market. One important segment that bears further examination is the micro-business market. - Developing appropriate solutions
Banks need to focus on relationship pricing, product packages and bundling for small businesses – as well as value-added non banking services for this sector. - Developing a co-ordinated approach
This involves looking at ways of linking the small business approach with the single owner approach.
Efma studies
- "SME banking in Europe" by Finalta (February 2009)
- "The big business of small banking" by Oliver Wyman (October 2006)
Lessons from the most recent conference
"Small Business Banking – Keys to driving superior operational and profit performance", Milan, 15-16 May 2008 (www.efma.com/sme2008)
Best speaker:
Larry Selden, Professor at the Columbia University and Warton, USA
Best presentations:
- "SME banking in Europe – Key trends and emerging best practices"
Remus Brett, Director at Finalta, United Kingdom
- "Best practice relationship management – Eliminating variability in the sales process"
Cathal Muckian, Director, Business banking, Bank of Ireland, Ireland
- "Small business distribution strategy excellence"
Alberto Neaf, Head of customer segments and products HypoVereinsbank, Germany
