Business intelligence a differentiator in business banking

Banks are adding business intelligence products to their service offerings in the hotly contested small business market. Last year Commonwealth Bank launched a monthly report, the Business Sales Indicator, which tracks the value of debit and credit transactions going through the bank's merchant terminals and produces reports on different sectors.

Yesterday ANZ launched a similar service called Business Insights, which captures transaction data from ANZ debit and credit card users and merchants using ANZ terminals. The ANZ service goes a step further than CBA's BSI by offering small business customers data on their business and benchmark data for their industry.

ANZ claims a 14 per cent share in the small business market, which it classifies as businesses with up to 20 staff, turnover of up to $5 million a year or loans of up to $500,000. It is keen to grow share.

In February it launched a Visa debit card that could be linked to a business account.

ANZ general manager for small business Nick Reade said the bank was three-quarters of the way through a program of hiring 130 additional small business bankers.

Reade said Business Insights, which is free, is based on 20 million transactions a week. It will give customers intra-day and day-by-day sales reports, so they can track their slow and busy periods. That data is compared to similar businesses in the same suburb or district.

It produces a monthly turnover index showing how the customer's business is tracking against local competitors. It shows the spend per customer and compares that to an average.

It shows market share by number of customers, breaks down business activity by repeat or new business and shows loyalty by indicating how many customers do similar business elsewhere. It shows the age of customers and the suburbs where they live. It provides comparative data going back two years.

Reade said the service would be linked in to ANZ's established online small business hub. Small business bankers are being trained to help customers analyse the data.

Reade said: "Our experience is that small businesses do better if they have a business plan, and this service has been designed to help them produce the data that will contribute to good planning.

"Customers with business plans are also more likely to get loans."