Survey:
**AROUND ONE IN FOUR COMPANIES HAVE PROBLEMS WITH BUSINESS BANK ACCOUNTS**
An economist at Suomen Yrittäjät expects the forthcoming legislative amendment to ease the situation.
According to a recent survey, the pricing of banking and financial services is causing uncertainty among SMEs. Nearly 75 percent of SMEs say they have been surprised by the costs of their banking or financial services. The finding comes from a survey commissioned by Holvi, a provider of business accounts and financial management services for companies. A total of 38 companies responded to the survey, most of them employing fewer than six people.
According to the results, just over 15 percent of respondents say they do not have a particularly clear understanding of the total costs of their current services. Transaction fees, monthly charges, integration-related costs and currency exchange fees, in particular, are seen as difficult to assess.
“Companies expect the same level of transparency from banking and financial services as they would from any modern software service. If the total cost of a service is difficult to anticipate, it also becomes more difficult for a company to make informed decisions about its financial planning,” says Tuomas Toivonen, CEO and founder of Holvi.
**BUSINESS ACCOUNTS ARE NOT BEING OPENED**
According to the survey, opening a business account continues to cause problems for many companies. Nearly one in four respondents, 24 percent, say they have encountered difficulties when trying to open a business account. The problems described by respondents included long processing times, extensive requests for additional information, unclear procedures, and situations in which a bank had refused to open a business account.
“When a company is being established, banking services should support the entrepreneur as smoothly as possible. If opening an account involves long delays or unclear practices, unnecessary friction can easily arise at the very stage when the company should be able to focus on launching its business,” Toivonen continues.
Petri Malinen, Chief Economist at Suomen Yrittäjät, says the results do not come as a surprise.
“We receive feedback on the same issues at Suomen Yrittäjät as well. Business accounts, and the difficulties involved in opening them, have become a particularly significant problem. Fortunately, relief is expected once the legislative amendment currently being prepared by the Ministry of Finance enters into force.”
The forthcoming legislation will require banks to provide basic banking services to small businesses. Malinen expects the legislation to address the types of problems highlighted in Holvi’s survey.
Based on the survey, companies are also struggling with the usability and reporting features of the services they use. The most commonly cited challenges were integrations with other software, mentioned by 39 percent of respondents; service costs, mentioned by 37 percent; usability, also mentioned by 37 percent; and reporting and connections with other software, mentioned by 34 percent.
Nearly 60 percent of the companies that responded to the survey use at least two different services for payments, banking or financial management.
