On element of traditional banking which still has a strong emotional resonance with customers – including SMEs – is access to physical cash, research by Publicis Sapient has found.
Half of SMEs (49%) receive more than a quarter of their revenue in cash, a study into business banking by the firm found.
“Somewhat counterintuitively, cash intake as a percentage of revenue was higher for larger businesses” the research found.
“This cash turnover is consistent with the services that SMEs use in physical bank branches too, where cash deposits and withdrawals (57%) and ATM services (38%) are the most common reasons to visit in person.
“More than half of SMEs (52%) also expect banks to continue offering cash services for at least another 10 years.”
And why wouldn’t they, since “22 per cent of SMEs prefer to be paid in cash.”
“Banks should not take a preference for digital payments as a green light to shift exclusively to digital channels” the authors of the Publicis Sapient report argue.
“Even among those SMEs who favour digital banking, 59% still recognise the importance of physical branches for certain services.
“What’s more, 54% of SMEs would consider switching bank if their local branch closed. A further 28% indicate that they would stay, but would be unhappy about the change.”