Running a small business is hard. Finding the right bank shouldn’t be.
We’ve been on both sides of the table, 25 years running a small business, 5 years working in a bank, and 25 years advising banks on their digital retail banking and lending services.
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 should small business owners should look for in a bank (digital or traditional).
Must-have features:
- Email/SMS customer service (extended business hours)
- 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
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*
- Weekend customer service
- Enhanced 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
- Daily statement delivery (email)
- 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 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*
- Account aggregation of other financial institution accounts*
- 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.)*
- Aggregated loan management dashboard (monitor credit from all sources in one dashboard)*
- 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*
*Extra fees and service charges could be assessed