Items include
- 2 Whitepapers
- 1 Podcasts
- 1 Webinars
- 58 BID Newsletters
business customers
Whitepapers
Recognizing the increasing importance of global transactions, this paper provides six strategies and actionable takeaways to help nurture the international growth of your small business customers.
Cross-border payments are changing and business owners expect to transfer money quickly. Swift GPI allows community financial institutions to meet their customers’ needs and generate additional fee income for their institution.
Podcasts
It's always a good time to focus on keeping your customers happy and loyal. In this episode of Banking Out Loud, we discuss ways to increase customer loyalty and offer 3 tips to get started and also key mistakes to avoid.
Webinars
Are you currently providing international services for your customers? The global market is growing and with small businesses making up 97% of all exporters, your customers will be growing too. Knowing how to support your business customers will deepen long-term customer relationships with an enhanced suite of services.
An aging population and rising demand for healthcare make this one of the fastest-growing industries and a strong fit for CFIs. We discuss opportunities and examples.
Some CFIs have created advisory boards of community members who can help their CFI keep a pulse on the needs of local businesses. We delve further into the concept.
Per tradition, we're looking back on our top articles of the year to BID goodbye to 2025. In this January article, the FDIC’s 2024 Small Business Lending Survey reaffirms the importance of relationship-driven lending for CFIs.
In its Voice of Community Banks Survey, BNY uncovers opportunities for CFIs to capitalize on untapped potential in the SMB market.
SMB cyberattacks are rising as CFIs face growing counterparty risk. How do customer-side breaches impact credit, liquidity, and reputation — and what CFIs can do now to prepare?
As small businesses rapidly adopt AI to stay competitive, CFIs must evolve too — integrating AI tools to meet rising expectations for speed, insight, and personalized financial guidance.
Open banking continues to reshape financial services for businesses and nonprofits. Here’s how to help business clients leverage open banking solutions as a compliance deadline approaches.
Positive pay can help you flag fraudulent checks before funds are issued, yet adoption rates are just 29%. We discuss the benefits of positive pay and how to increase its usage.
Offering insurance services could provide CFIs with opportunities to diversify revenues and strengthen relationships. We look at the challenges and approaches and list some examples of CFIs already in this space.
Checking accounts are a common entry point for new banking relationships, and personal checking accounts can offer great incentives. Here’s how retail checking features can inspire features for business checking.
CFIs have connections with lots of service providers likes lawyers and accountants. By leveraging that base of expertise, CFIs can connect SMB and commercial customers to the services they need.
Buy Now, Pay Later options are gaining traction among small businesses as they seek flexible financing solutions to fuel growth and recover from economic challenges.
Gen Z are more drawn to entrepreneurship than previous cohorts. We outline why and provide tips for CFIs to attract and empower these young business owners with services that match their values.
Understanding what small businesses like and dislike about CFIs can help focus efforts at landing new ones. Here are some observations and tips for CFIs.
Give commercial customers a central place to connect with all their financial matters and you may improve the odds of becoming their primary bank.
Restaurants can have slim profit margins and short lifespans, but they’re often important parts of communities and CFI lending portfolios. We explain how CFIs can be smart lenders to restaurant owners.
More CFIs are turning to niche markets like HOAs, area professionals, and small businesses to build deeper relationships and corner local markets amid economic uncertainty.
As many small and mid-sized businesses embrace technology and globalization to expand their businesses online, trade finance has become increasingly important. We discuss the opportunity for CFIs to cater to these customers.
Commercial deposits are gaining ground again. We outline five practical, relationship-based strategies to help CFIs strengthen their business deposit base, without over-relying on rate to stay competitive.
CFIs are facing deposit pressure — but raising rates isn’t the only option. We highlight five creative, cost-efficient strategies to attract and retain deposits by leveraging relationships, digital tools, and community ties.
As tariffs and potential tariffs alter international trade and supply chain costs, small businesses are bracing for impact. We discuss how to help SMBs weather these higher costs with long-term planning.
As many small business owners near retirement, they’re likely pondering their business’ next chapter. We discuss common options for business owners, succession planning necessities, and your CFI’s role.
The SBA’s recently launched Made in America Manufacturing Initiative aims to boost business and hiring among US small manufacturers. We detail how the initiative can help your small manufacturing customers access capital.
Around 35% of SMBs are considering changing banking relationships. Before you court them, your acquisition strategy should consider their reasons for switching and ensure you don’t repeat the mistakes of their previous financial institution.
Private lenders are filling the CRE financing gap thanks to looser underwriting, more reliability in rates, and growing investor confidence. We discuss nonbank lenders’ strengths and areas where they miss the mark.
With the Federal Reserve holding rates steady, SMBs continue to face high borrowing costs and tight lending standards that limit access to traditional financing. We discuss how CFIs can offer tailored solutions.
As the payments space rapidly evolves, CFIs have a significant opportunity to strengthen their relationships with SMB customers by offering integrated, secure, and cost-effective payment solutions that go beyond basic processing.
Struggling small businesses are increasingly turning to credit cards to help pay operating costs. CFIs can help by offering debt counseling and innovative small business lending products. We discuss strategies.
The FDIC’s 2024 Small Business Lending Survey reaffirms the importance of relationship-driven lending for CFIs.
Following tradition, we're taking a look back at your favorite articles from this year as we BID adieu to 2024. In one of our final articles in this series, we reflect on the financial services small businesses value. BAI surveyed 600 small business owners to find out their banking preferences and what they want most from their financial institutions. Take these insights to heart to attract and retain more of them.
Seasonal winter businesses have unique risks. We discuss CFIs’ opportunities to support them with personalized advice and tailored banking services.
Tax season is a time when CFIs can build and deepen relationships with customers by understanding their needs and matching them with the right guidance and financing.
SMB lending fraud is on the rise. We discuss recent survey results on trends and provide steps CFIs can take to help keep this type of fraud in check.
As baby boomers age, they will pass their assets to their heirs. CFIs want to inherit those professional relationships. We discuss best practices for nurturing relationships with the next generation.
BAI recently hosted a webinar featuring insights on current trends and projections for small business deposit growth. We look at some of the key information from the webinar.
Small business owners may be warming to digital banking, but for the foreseeable future, they still want branches and a banker they can trust.
The US education sector is expected to grow steadily by 2028. We look at opportunities for CFIs to target this sector and provide examples from CFIs already serving this market.
BAI surveyed 600 small business owners to find out their banking preferences and what they want most from their financial institutions. Take these insights to heart to attract and retain more of them.
Top CFI lenders actively help their small business customers and borrowers navigate headwinds. We explore successful lending strategies from several CFIs and highlight the importance of giving business customers advice.
As traditional lenders scale back lending to small- and medium-sized businesses, private credit is facing a boon of activity. We discuss why some large banks are investing in private credit.
Small businesses are struggling to access capital, despite strong demand. The SBA just launched the Working Capital Pilot Program, in the hopes of bridging the gap.
Increasing business ownership among minority groups results in greater opportunities for wealth, productivity, and job creation within their communities. We explore ways you can better support these businesses.
As interest rates remain high, the battle for healthy deposits continues. We look at what else CFIs can do for their consumer and commercial customers, aside from chasing high rates, to attract and retain deposits.
As online commerce continues expanding for small businesses, so does the revenue potential for CFIs that process foreign transactions. We provide strategies to educate your SMB customers about going international.
The banking subscription model is gaining traction. We discuss some of the benefits of a subscription service for both CFIs and their business customers and suggest ways in which to ensure a successful implementation.
Over 40% of business owners consider themselves financially illiterate. CFIs have an important role to play in boosting financial literacy among their business customers. By providing educational resources, expert advice, and financial tools, they can support business customers in building more sustainable businesses while also strengthening their relationships.
CFIs looking to grow their business may want to focus on the growing needs of small- and medium-sized businesses that are also looking to scale. We spotlight three financial institutions that are doing just that.
For small business customers, waiting for payments can take a while — often at least 30 days. Checks and invoices get lost or go to spam folders and vendors charge fees to transfer funds. Doing more to remove these pain points can help strengthen existing relationships and allow your small business clients to have better cash management. We discuss ways to help small business customers get paid quickly and easily.
In response to inflation, higher interest rates, regulatory capital increases and declining demand, some banks have pulled back on lending for equipment leasing and financing. That’s created opportunities in equipment finance and leasing for interested CFIs.
Taylor Swift’s popularity extends well beyond her Eras Tour, with her fans providing a boost to businesses that don’t even have a direct connection to the tour. The benefit to small businesses could also spill over to their community bankers.
We talk about the need for CFIs to have a quality digital onboarding process. But what exactly makes an onboarding process convenient, and how does it impact the overall customer experience? We explain the qualities a CFI needs in its onboarding process to compete successfully for new customers and keep existing ones.
Taking a more hands-on approach to educating organizations within your community on securing funding — even when it is from outside avenues, such as federal grants — can help CFIs strengthen ties to their communities and foster goodwill that can pay off down the road.
The right payment platform can create substantial opportunities for a CFI — and a CFI can use what it learns from finding the right payment platform to help business clients do the same. We discuss the factors a CFI should consider when selecting a payments platform.
Small business customers have no shortage of financial service options, from traditional banks to fintech offerings. Fostering loyalty among this group not only requires providing them with added value, but with the sense that your CFI understands their individual businesses and their unique needs.
Women are launching businesses at a more aggressive rate than men, yet lending disparities continue to favor men as entrepreneurs. With women-owned businesses representing $2.7T in revenue, CFIs should be actively targeting this group.
Providing added value for business customers can be as simple as sharing existing resources within your organization such as conference room space or wi-fi. We discuss some options of nontraditional benefits you can provide to help your small business customers.
The gig economy is a fast-growing sector that CFIs cannot afford to ignore. We discuss some of the primary ways in which institutions can ensure they meet the needs of these self-employed customers.
When it comes to pricing deposits and loans in a competitive market, CFIs must correctly strike a delicate balance between each customer’s needs and their own profitability. Relationship pricing, based on customer profitability, can play a critical role in determining the best loan structure and deposit rates to maximize a customer’s lifetime value to your CFI. We provide insights on what factors to consider as you price products based on customer relationships, as well as the impact of adopting relationship pricing on your institution.