SMBs Go Global: 3 Ways Bank Partnerships Can Transform The Small Business Payments Experience
By Jeff Koyen
America's small and medium-sized businesses ('SMBs') employ almost half (46%) of the U.S. workforce, about 59 million people,[1] and account for 43.5% of the country's GDP.[2] They're also firmly on the rebound as quarterly small business employment growth returns to pre-Covid levels.[3]
Meanwhile, SMBs are becoming more globalized and connected around the world. According to PCMI market research commissioned by Visa, nearly one-third of American SMBs make cross-border payments—international transactions that often help them manage suppliers, customers and operations.[4]
getty
Yet some major financial institutions fail to meet these clients' needs—especially when it comes to fast, efficient and cost-effective cross-border payments.
Forzley co-founded VEEM (which stands for 'Very Easy Exchange of Money') to solve these problems. In 2022, the San Francisco-based payments platform joined a number of other digital financial services platforms that are partnering with Visa Direct to remove friction from global payments.
So how can financial technology (fintech) innovators like VEEM close the gap between global payment expectations and real-world experiences? And how can that, in turn, help banks deliver new solutions for small businesses?
Below, explore three ways financial institutions can use emerging fintech to create a better banking experience for their SMB customers.
As every entrepreneur and executive knows, your business is only as strong as its balance sheet. For SMBs that rely on overseas suppliers and customers, managing cash flow can be a huge challenge. Due to the limitations of traditional banking, the process of getting paid and paying suppliers can take several days, even weeks.
That's not a problem for Fintechs, like VEEM, that connect to the Visa Direct network.
Without Visa Direct, payment platforms often rely on existing global banking infrastructure, such as SWIFT and correspondent banking, which do not meet the demands of most modern SMBs. Settling payments on traditional networks can take days.
Visa, meanwhile, provides day-after settlement, which allows clients and partners, and their SMB customers, to send funds more quickly to payees and beneficiaries.
Visa Direct also brings greater transparency to global payment processes, which was the case for VEEM.
With Visa Direct, SMB customers can instead know exactly where their money is—helping them make more informed decisions.
Visa Direct helps financial institutions to solidify account primacy by embedding real-time cross-border capabilities that keep SMBs transacting within their ecosystem—reducing outflows to other providers, improving future cross-sell opportunities.
The digital economy may be global, but currency exchange rates remind us that borders still exist. When sending and receiving payments, SMBs can find themselves at the mercy of exchange rates. Imagine sending $1,000 to an overseas supplier on Monday morning, only to learn it's worth $950 when the payment finally clears.
Real-time payments help solve this problem by reducing the settlement lifecycle. Visa Direct also offers its banking clients another tool: multi-currency accounts.
Traditional banking institutions, on the other hand, convert foreign currencies according to their own schedule. Clients have no control or visibility into the process, potentially leaving a lot of money on the exchange rate table.
For SMBs that regularly transact with the same overseas customers and suppliers, converting between currencies may not even be necessary. Using multi-currency accounts, they can hold funds in foreign currency and use these accounts to conduct their back-and-forth business.
While foreign exchange fluctuations are unavoidable, these types of tools allow SMBs to have more control and visibility. Visa Direct enables financial institutions to offer multi-currency solutions that increase deposits and generate new revenue streams while giving SMBs more flexibility and control—all within the bank's branded environment.
All too often, small and medium-sized organizations can feel ignored when their banks scale up to go after bigger enterprises. SMBs working across borders may feel this even more keenly with, for example, new fee schedules that benefit higher-volume clients.
In Meszaros' view, ignoring those SMB pain points is a mistake.
The issue may be one of perception: Modern small businesses extend far beyond the local grocery stores or mom-and-pop pharmacies that were once unlikely to expand beyond regional markets. Today's SMBs are comprised of startups, innovators, eager entrepreneurs and others seeking opportunities for growth.
When banks stop paying attention to the changing SMB landscape, they may—inadvertently or not—remove the features, functions and favorable fees that help SMBs compete in global markets.
When financial institutions overlook these evolving needs, they risk ceding ground to more agile fintechs that are actively courting SMBs with tailored, tech-forward offerings. The result? A gradual erosion of wallet share, weakened brand loyalty and a missed opportunity to grow long-term, high-value relationships with the next generation of business customers. Financial institutions that ignore small business needs may also find that their SMB customers start looking for other providers to fulfill them.
In the case of VEEM, Forzley embraces the SMB market as an enormous opportunity.
His company's partnership with Visa Direct, he adds, 'has been instrumental in making our vision a reality.'
By leveraging Visa Direct, financial institutions can differentiate in a competitive market by launching SMB-first solutions that deepen engagement, build loyalty and position themselves as an innovation partner.
*Actual funds availability depends on receiving financial institution and region.
[1] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 'Small businesses contributed 55 percent of the total net job creation from 2013 to 2023', May 2024. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/small-businesses-contributed-55-percent-of-the-total-net-job-creation-from-2013-to-2023.htm
[2] U.S. Small Business Administration, 'Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, 2024', July 2024. https://advocacy.sba.gov/2024/07/23/frequently-asked-questions-about-small-business-2024/#:~:text=Small%20businesses%20are%2043.5%25%20of,small%20businesses%20in%20FY%202022
[3] U.S. Small Business Administration, 'Economic Bulletin, Fourth Quarter 2024', January 2025. https://advocacy.sba.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Economic-Bulletin-Fourth-Qtr-2024_FINAL.pdf
[4] Visa PCMI Payments & Commerce Market Intelligence, 'SMB Payments–Visa Direct Market Fit Analysis', July 2024.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
2 Biotech Stocks to Buy Before They Soar 84% and 240%, According to Certain Wall Street Analysts
These biotech companies have several catalysts ahead -- and in the past have soared on good news. They both offer innovative candidates that could result in game-changing treatments for patients. 10 stocks we like better than Viking Therapeutics › If you're looking to add growth to your portfolio, biotech stocks can be a great choice. Exciting research is happening in these companies' labs, and in some cases, game-changing treatment candidates are approaching important milestones or even going over the finish line. As an investor in these companies, you can benefit as they report positive clinical trial news, score a regulatory approval, or start generating product revenue. Wall Street considers two candidates extremely compelling right now, with forecasts for potential gains of more than 80% and 200% in the coming 12 months. One of these players is working in the high-growth area of weight loss drugs, and the other candidate showed its strengths by winning the world's first-ever approval of a product based on CRISPR gene editing. Let's check out these two biotech stocks to buy before they skyrocket. Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) soared early last year when it reported strong data from the phase 2 trial of its weight loss candidate, VK2735, but the stock has since given back those gains and is trading closer to the level it was at prior to that data announcement. Since, the company has continued to advance VK2735 in injectable form and a version in pill form, and demand for these sorts of drugs remains high -- these are two reasons to believe that Viking has the potential to take off again. And catalysts may be on the horizon. The drug works in a manner similar to Eli Lilly's blockbuster tirzepatide, sold under the names Mounjaro and Zepbound. These drugs interact with hormones involved in digestion and have helped people quickly and safely lose weight. Viking is beginning the phase 3 trial for injectable VK2735 in the second quarter and expects data from its phase 2 trial of the pill version in the second half. Any data announcements could result in big moves for the stock, as there is plenty of room for a new company to enter the weight loss drug market -- one forecast to approach $100 billion in a few years. Wall Street is optimistic about Viking's prospects, with the average price forecast predicting an increase of about 240% in the stock price from today's level. Of course, Viking depends heavily on the outcome of these trials, so some risk is involved -- but data have been strong, so growth investors may want to get in on Viking now to potentially post a big win later. CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP) stock surged in the year leading up to a major milestone: its first product approval. But since last year's launch of Casgevy, a gene-editing treatment for blood disorders, the stock has been on the decline. Sometimes, investors buy a stock well before the company wins approval or launches a product, then lock in gains after the good news lands -- and I think this is what's happened here. But what this does is offer us a chance to get in at a very good price on a promising company that could deliver fantastic news down the road. Casgevy, as a gene-editing treatment, requires a longer time to roll out than a pill or injection, as it includes several steps that happen over a period of months. The company recently said new patient initiations should increase "significantly" this year -- so there's reason to be optimistic about revenue growth ahead. CRISPR Therapeutics also recently reported positive phase 1 data for a gene editing candidate addressing the problem of high cholesterol. And the company expects to report data soon from a phase 1 trial of a candidate targeting patients with elevated levels of lipoprotein(a) -- a risk factor for cardiovascular events. These could represent huge markets for CRISPR Therapeutics if the candidates reach the finish line, and in the meantime, any potential positive news could boost the stock. The company also expects other trial updates in candidates for oncology and autoimmune diseases this year -- so this biotech's calendar is full of possible catalysts. Wall Street's average price forecast calls for an 84% gain for CRISPR Therapeutics from today's price -- if all goes well in clinical trials and Casgevy starts to show revenue growth, now could represent a golden buying opportunity for growth investors. Before you buy stock in Viking Therapeutics, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Viking Therapeutics wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $664,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $881,731!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends CRISPR Therapeutics. The Motley Fool recommends Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 2 Biotech Stocks to Buy Before They Soar 84% and 240%, According to Certain Wall Street Analysts was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dan Ives Says Market Is 'Massively Underestimating' This AI Play, Urges Investors To Look Beyong Mag 7
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Dan Ives' new artificial intelligence exchange-traded fund (ETF) holds securities beyond the Magnificent 7 stocks, as he believes in looking past valuations for investments in the technology sector. What Happened: The Dan IVES Wedbush AI Revolution ETF (NYSE:IVES), managed by the Wedbush analyst, started trading on June 4, earlier this month. Ives boasts of the fund by saying that it just doesn't have the top four, five Magnificent 7 names, but stocks which investors wouldn't even thematically consider as an AI name today. "I believe the market is still massively underestimating what the growth is going to look like for the AI revolution in tech," he told CNBC. Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — According to him, tech trade remains significant even for the investors who missed out on its growth in the past few years. "If you focus just on valuation, you miss every transformational tech stock of the last 20 years," Ives said. Ives says Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) will be the 'epicenter' of the AI theme, while highlighting other 'AI 30' stocks which are part of his fund. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM), SoundHound AI Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN), and Innodata Inc. (NASDAQ:INOD) are a few notable names that are a part of his ETF's 'AI 30' basket. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) are the top three holdings of the IVES It Matters: The 'AI 30' stocks, which are a part of the IVES ETF, hold the AI plays from multiple industries. They include hyperscalers, cybersecurity, consumer platforms, and robotics. According to Ives, the list was compiled from his deep dives into major AI players. The ETF has $183 million in assets under management as of June 17 close. Ives said that the AI space was experiencing a "golden age." The Dan IVES Wedbush AI Revolution ETF has risen by 2.76% since its inception. A comparable index, S&P Kensho Global Artificial Intelligence Enablers, rose 6.08% on a month-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, declined slightly on Wednesday. The SPY was down 0.015% at $597.44, while the QQQ was 0.017% lower at $528.99, according to Benzinga Pro data. Read Next: Invest early in CancerVax's breakthrough tech aiming to disrupt a $231B market. Back a bold new approach to cancer treatment with high-growth potential. If there was a new fund backed by Jeff Bezos offering a 7-9% target yield with monthly dividends would you invest in it? Photo courtesy: Shutterstock This article Dan Ives Says Market Is 'Massively Underestimating' This AI Play, Urges Investors To Look Beyong Mag 7 originally appeared on
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Christina Bohannan makes third run for Iowa's 1st Congressional District
Jun. 21—History shows that just because a candidate makes multiple attempts to win an election doesn't mean they can't eventually pull through. U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks lost a number of times to Dave Loebsack before winning Iowa's 1st Congressional District seat in a close 2020 election. Now her past Democratic challenger, Christina Bohannan, is attempting the same thing for the 2026 election cycle, provided she is the favorite in the primary. On June 17, Bohannan announced her campaign to take on Miller-Meeks once again. In a press release, her campaign said Bohannan nearly defeated Miller-Meeks in 2024 — less than 800 votes decided the election — and that the Democrat "outworked, outraised and outmatched her." Bohannan said, "Mariannette Miller-Meeks has had three terms in Congress — three chances to do right by the people of Iowa. Instead, she has taken over $4 million from corporate special interests and done nothing but vote their way. And she has put partisan politics over Iowans again and again. From cutting billions of dollars from Medicaid in the Trump Administration's One Big Beautiful Bill, to siding with DOGE's cuts to Social Security and enabling unelected, unaccountable billionaires like Elon Musk, Bohannan said the Republican congresswoman has forgotten about her constituents. "It's time someone put Iowa first," Bohannan said. Bohannan went on to say Miller-Meeks needs to explain "why she keeps putting Washington special interests first." The Democratic challenger claimed Miller-Meeks supported Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, repeatedly voted for cost-increasing tariffs and is a member of the DOGE Caucus. Bohannan previously worked as an engineer and taught at the University of Iowa College of Law for 20 years. She also worked as an elected legislator for the Iowa House, defeating a 20-year incumbent in District 85. Bohannan is running for Congress because she believes in a government that works for the people. In May, another Democrat announced he would be running for Iowa's 1st Congressional District. Bob Krause, a former legislator who also tried running for U.S. Senate, announced his campaign with the slogan "Flip The House With Krause." Krause said Miller-Meeks votes "like Trump's rubber stamp." Travis Terrell, a Democrat from Johnson County, also announced his bid for Iowa's 1st Congressional District race. His campaign page on Facebook notes he is a working-class, New Deal Democrat fighting for healthcare, fair wages and a government that serves other working-class people and not billionaires. In addition to Miller-Meeks likely running for the seat, fellow Republican and former primary challenger David Pautsch announced in February that he would also be running for the seat. Pautsch touts himself as a MAGA Republican. He has been critical of Miller-Meeks, saying she is not conservative enough.
