Two-thirds of businesses believe 'legacy banks' are too slow to adapt to modern business needs

International businesses are turning away from ‘legacy banks’ to manage their financial needs, according to a study from Revolut Business, conducted in partnership with Dynata.

The survey, which was completed in October and polled 2,850 business decision-makers across Europe, found that around two-thirds (63%) of businesses believe banks are too slow for their financial needs. 

Nearly four out of five (79%) respondents have reported issues including high fees, slow transactions, and poor mobile experiences. Meanwhile, some 64% of large businesses are worried they will be left behind by competitors without fintech support.

Revolut posits that these concerns are driving businesses toward fintechs. As such, the firm is reinforcing its focus to support large enterprise clients with Revolut Business 5, which the fintech says provides an enhanced user experience across both mobile and desktop platforms to meet the evolving needs of industry leaders. Revolut Business has been redesigned to save enterprises more time and money. 

Updated features include B2B SEPA Direct Debits, streamlined payment tools for online and in-person sales, dedicated treasury tools for currency exchange, and multi-layered approval options for managing team spending across departments.

“When we started Revolut Business in 2017, we knew that businesses wanted a product that evolved with their needs and provided a customer experience you'd expect in this day and age,” said James Gibson, General Manager at Revolut Business. “The demand for customer-orientated business accounts has only increased since then.”

 

Mastercard and Emirates NBD partner on virtual card B2B travel payments solution

Emirates NBD and Mastercard have partnered to introduce the Emirates NBD Wholesale Travel Solution, a virtual card based B2B payment product now available to travel agencies.

This collaboration marks the continuation of a long-standing strategic partnership between the two companies and aims to digitise and optimise payment flows between travel agencies and the various suppliers associated with travel bookings.

By using the Mastercard Wholesale Program (MWP) to digitise the way travel buyers pay travel suppliers, the new solution is designed to improve cash flow through extended credit lines and payment guarantees, increase visibility and enhance security through enriched data intelligence and fraud controls, and build efficiency across the travel value chain for domestic and cross border payments.

“Card payments have a significant role to play in accelerating the travel industry’s rebound and growth by ensuring that all potential sales are captured, secured, and fulfilled,” commented J.K. Khalil, Division President, East Arabia, Mastercard. 

 

Ireland’s total construction activity decreases despite strong growth in housing

The headline seasonally adjusted BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland Construction Total Activity Index rose to 49.4 in October from 49.0 in September, but remained below the 50.0 no-change mark to signal a second successive monthly reduction in construction activity. The pace of decline was only marginal, however, and softer than seen in the previous survey period.

The modest fall in total activity masked a marked divergence in trends across the different types of construction work covered by the survey. Bucking the wider trend, housing activity increased sharply in October, with the rate of expansion quickening to the fastest since May 2022. On the other hand, commercial activity decreased solidly.

Those companies that posted a fall in total activity often linked this to signs of a market slowdown, and this was also a factor behind a first reduction in new orders for eight months. The decrease in new business was only modest, however.

Input costs continued to increase sharply, with the pace of inflation ticking up and coming in broadly in line with the series average.

Despite slight reductions in both activity and new orders in October, firms were increasingly confident that construction output will rise over the coming year. Sentiment was slightly stronger than the series average. Some respondents predicted a renewed increase in new orders, while others highlighted confidence in demand for housing.

Confidence that workloads would increase in the future supported ongoing hiring in the construction sector at the start of the final quarter of the year. Employment rose for the second month running, and at a modest pace that was broadly in line with that seen in September.

“The big take-away from October’s PMI is the surge in residential construction,” explained John McCartney, Director & Head of Research at BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland. “After contracting continuously through 2023, the housing sub-index has now been stable or rising for the last nine months. However the rate of expansion accelerated sharply in October. Deadlines to avail of the development levy waiver and the water connection charge refund drove sharp spikes in the number of commencement notices filed in April and September respectively. But a condition of these incentives is that units must be completed before end-2026. So, with the paperwork done, developers are now getting on with the actual construction.

“The tapering-off of commercial activity is also welcome, as it reflects a slowdown in office building. Dublin’s office market is now amply supplied and, although a significant quantity of new space is still winding its way to completion, new starts have dried up. This will help to limit further vacancy increases, allowing demand to catch-up in time.”

 

EBRD guarantee to QNB Egypt to unlock €70m

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending, for the first time in Egypt and the southern and eastern Mediterranean region, an unfunded portfolio risk-sharing facility for up to €35m to QNB to support on-lending to Egyptian enterprises.

The EBRD’s facility will cover up to 50% of credit risk on new financing of up to €70m originated by QNB for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt. The facility offers a solution to boost on-lending to local SMEs and reduce the financing gap that the segment faces.

The facility is supported by a guarantee provided by the European Union (EU) under the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+), which enhances financing and investment operations in partner countries outside of Europe.

In addition, the Bank will roll out a pilot EBRD climate-risk assessment tool in Egypt, tailored to QNB. The tool and the associated technical cooperation aim to help QNB expand its climate-risk assessment toolkit to better evaluate, assess and monitor the climate-related risks in the bank’s portfolio, in line with international best practice.

 

Iwoca secures new £200m funding

European SME lender Iwoca has announced a new £200m package of debt funding from Citi and Waterfall Asset Management. It has also doubled its SME loan offer ceiling to £1m. 

The funding follows a series of investment rounds in the past two years, attracting £740m debt funding from partners including Citi, Barclays, Värde Partners, Pollen Street Capital, and Insight Investment. This takes investment in the business to almost £1.5bn since launching in 2012. 

The fintech lender has doubled the size of its maximum loan as it looks to meet as yet untapped demand for larger loans from medium-sized businesses. This follows data from iwoca’s latest SME Expert Index, which suggests that almost 1 in 3 brokers believe that loans over £100,000 will see the most new applications over the next six months.

“Our vision is to become even more relevant to more businesses,” said ‍Christoph Rieche, CEO and co-founder, Iwoca. “Medium-sized businesses tell us that - just like smaller businesses - they are finding it difficult to access working capital finance.”