UK SMEs: A prime battleground for Open Banking

In its inaugural SME survey, Is Open Banking open for business?, KPMG finds large parts of the SME sector do not have a complete understanding of what Open Banking entails and are nervous about sharing data. However, whilst a quarter of the UK’s small businesses would not share their data under any circumstances, a third are wide open to the idea of exchanging data in return for time saving initiatives, especially around payments and taxes.

KPMG and 3GEM asked 1000 SMEs their attitudes to data sharing and Open Banking. High-growth SMEs in TMT, finance, and manufacturing were most receptive to the initiative and had very distinct clarity about what they wanted from Open Banking.

SMEs told KPMG they would share data only if it made managing their payments, business accounts, invoicing or taxes easier. Or, saved them a significant amount of money. UK entrepreneurs were equally as clear on what they didn’t want in exchange for their data: offers and immaterial discounts.

John Hallsworth, partner, KPMG UK says:

“It’s clear that the UK SME market has data and knows how it wants to use it. Our high growth, medium sized, enterprises are wide open to the idea of exchanging their data in return for cutting down the amount of time they spend on admin.

“Throughout our survey time and time again SMEs told us they wanted smarter systems but they definitely did not want marketing. A third of respondents said they would switch provider for software that automatically moved money between accounts and a quarter even said they would pay for it.

“Open Banking is yet to deliver the competition the regulator intended, and a large segment of the population has yet to be convinced by its potential. But, the SME market has the potential to kick start the open banking revolution.”