Running a small business is hard. Finding the right bank shouldn’t be.
We’ve been on both sides of the table, 5 years working at a bank followed by 25 years advising banks/fintechs on digital banking products. For much of that time, we’ve kept a list of digital features that small businesses can benefit from. Here is the latest iteration of what every small business owner should look for in a bank (digital or traditional).
Business owners looking for a new, digitally-native SMB bank account should start here.
Update (25 April 2023): Added #16 (must have), #33, #34 (nice-to-have)
Must-have features:
- Email/SMS customer service (minimum 8 hours per business day, 4 hours per weekend day)
- Bullet-proof fraud protection (no cap in maximum dollars*)
- ACH/electronic payments*
- Bill payment*
- Two-factor authentication
- Immediate funds availability (with limits)*
- Customizable alerts
- Downloadable transactions (common file formats)
- Fraud transaction scans
- Wire/real-time transfers*
- Mobile app
- Mobile deposit capture
- Long-term (5+ years) transaction/statement archives
- Sortable/searchable data
- Debit card
- Multi-million FDIC insurance through banking networks*
Should-have features:
- Invoicing/bidding with embedded payments*
- Lifetime statement/transaction archives*
- Dedicated banker(s) you know by name
- Card processing*
- Overdraft protection*
- Positive pay for all items
- Credit/charge card*
- Extended hours customer service (12 hours per business day, 6 hour per weekend day)
- Elevated customer service*
- Enhanced security*
- Access on/off switch
- Custom permissions (for third-party access)
- Basic accounting features*
- Feeds/integrations to major accounting services*
- Expedited dispute resolution*
- Transaction annotation (by user)
- Daily statement delivery (email or text)
- Transaction filing system*
- Transaction display prioritization (shows most important transactions first)
- Three/four-factor authentication for large transactions*
- Annual transaction and account summaries*
- Automatic deposit/investment sweep features*
- Credit monitoring/alerts (personal, family & business)*
- Unlimited deposit sub-accounts
- Emergency security contacts (“break glass in case of fraud”)*
Nice-to-have features:
- Invoice financing*
- 24/7 customer service*
- Commercial lending*
- Commercial insurance*
- Equipment financing*
- Rewards
- Transaction feed
- Business dashboard*
- Employee expense management*
- Customer management features (basic)*
- Payroll features (basic)*
- Tax features (basic)*
- Automated savings plans
- Interest on deposits (bonus if pegged to independent standard)
- International transfers/remittances*
- Deposit locks (requires second-party authentication to release)*
- Token-based account access option*
- Transaction account aggregation of other financial institution accounts*
- Aggregated loan management dashboard (monitor credit from all sources in one dashboard)*
- Preformatted forms*
- Credit options for your customers (e.g. buy-now-pay-later lending)*
- Messaging integrated with billpay & invoicing*
- Buyers’ assurances (e.g., ecommerce seal of approval)*
- Business credit information hub (access to Dun & Bradstreet, Cortera, etc.)*
- Virtual safe deposit box to store important documents*
- Premium/VIP client service option*
- Virtual card numbers*
- Advanced accounts receivables tools*
- Advanced bookkeeping/accounting tools*
- Receipt capture/upload*
- Cash deposit via retail network (eg. GreenDot)*
- Crypto exchange/safekeeping*
- Option for paper tax statements (while keeping others paperless)
- Treasury bill access*
*Extra fees and service charges could be assessed