What SMEs really expect from banks today and why context is more important than the next product
Banks in the everyday life of SMEs: relevant, but often not present
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of the economies in the DACH region. They account for the majority of employment and a significant proportion of value creation, and are also particularly sensitive to economic, regulatory, and technological changes. The expectations placed on financial service providers are correspondingly high: banks should not only function reliably, but also provide guidance, cushion risks, and support business decisions.
At the same time, there are increasing signs of tension: banks are indispensable for SMEs – especially in payment transactions – but are often perceived as difficult to access or not very relevant to everyday life. Advice is considered fundamentally relevant, but is rarely the first port of call when it comes to concrete action. Digital offerings are expected, but only deliver limited perceived added value.
Against this backdrop, the question is not so much whether banks are relevant to SMEs, but how this relevance actually plays out in everyday business life.
This article draws on key findings from a recent BEI survey of SMEs in the DACH region. The focus is not only on the evaluation of individual offerings, but also on the fundamental logic of the banking relationship and the question of why contextualization is increasingly becoming a decisive design principle.
From product to usage situation: a structural shift
The classic offering logic of banks has historically been product-centric: accounts, loans, investments, cards – supplemented by selective advice. For SMEs, this often means fragmentation of their financial issues across different channels, contact persons, and systems.
However, the survey results show that the real challenge lies not in the absence of products, but in their lack of integration into specific usage situations.
SMEs are currently under considerable pressure to transform. The most frequently cited challenges include volatile order situations, uncertainties in customer acquisition, liquidity issues, rising costs, and a shortage of personnel and skilled workers. These issues do not occur in isolation, but overlap in day-to-day business.
Financial issues are rarely an end in themselves. They are always part of larger decision-making contexts – such as investments, growth, restructuring, or securing solvency. This is precisely where a key discrepancy arises: while banks structure their services according to internal product logic, SMEs think in terms of situations, events, and specific decision-making occasions.
Payment transactions as a stable anchor and untapped starting point
A particularly clear picture emerges in the area of payment transactions. Transfers, cards, e-bills, and international payments are widely used and perceived as highly relevant. Payment transactions thus serve as a stable anchor for the banking relationship and as the most important operational interface in everyday business life.
However, it is precisely this matter of course that harbors a risk. Payment transactions are assumed to “work” and are rarely used as a starting point for further services. Yet they continuously generate data, events, and signals that could provide indications of liquidity developments, risks, or needs for action.
Instead, payment transactions often remain an isolated process. The opportunity to derive context-related support from operational financial data has so far been exploited only to a limited extent.
Consulting: relevant, but rarely the first choice
The gap between perceived relevance and actual use is particularly evident in the area of consulting and accompanying services. A significant proportion of the SMEs surveyed consider consulting to be useful in principle, but primarily rely on internal resources, their private network, or external specialists when needed.
Banking advice is not fundamentally rejected, but it is rarely actively sought. This pattern indicates less a lack of need than barriers to access and activation:
- Consulting is often perceived as too general or abstract.
- The specific added value is not clearly recognizable in advance.
- The timing of the approach does not fit the current situation.
- Digital and personal channels are insufficiently integrated.
In addition, there is limited willingness to pay for digital advisory services. This should be interpreted less as rejection and more as an indication that the monetizable benefits are not sufficiently visible in the specific context of use.
Consulting is effective when it is understandable, modular, and embedded in the situation—not as a one-time conversation, but as an accompanying process along real decision-making questions.
Technical connectivity as a prerequisite for relevance
Another key finding concerns the technical integration of banks into the system landscape of SMEs. A large proportion of companies continue to operate without a direct technical connection. ERP interfaces, platform solutions, or APIs are the exception.
At the same time, digital quality, process speed, and ease of use are cited as key expectations. This combination points to a fundamental misunderstanding: SMEs do not perceive technical connectivity as an innovative additional feature, but as a necessary prerequisite for effective collaboration.
Without this basis, advanced services inevitably remain abstract. Contextual offerings can only be provided in a meaningful way if financial data is structured, up-to-date, and available across systems.
Contextualization as the missing link
The findings can be reduced to a common denominator: it is not so much a lack of services as a lack of contextualization. Contextual banking aims to provide financial services not in isolation, but embedded in specific usage situations. The starting point is not products, but rather, among other things:
- business events (e.g., order peaks or liquidity bottlenecks),
- processes (e.g., invoicing or payment approvals),
- strategic issues (e.g., growth, succession, or sustainability).
In such a model, the role of the bank changes from that of a reactive product provider to that of an accompanying, situation-sensitive service partner. The survey results suggest that SMEs expect precisely this form of support – even if they do not explicitly name it as such.
Extended services: relevant, but hardly integrated
A more nuanced view emerges when it comes to so-called “extended services,” for example in the areas of sustainability, innovation, or human resources. Many SMEs consider these topics to be strategically relevant, but so far they have hardly been linked to banking-related offerings.
This reflects a typical pattern in early stages of development: awareness of the problem exists, but concrete solutions have not yet been sufficiently integrated, explained, or activated. Banks generally have access to relevant data, networks, and expertise, but have rarely been visible players in these fields to date.
Here, too, the key lies less in expanding the portfolio than in linking existing competencies with specific needs in a situation-specific manner.
Trust, simplicity, and comprehensibility as guiding principles
Three central expectations emerge across all topics:
- Security and trust as the basis of the relationship,
- Convenience and ease of use in everyday life,
- Comprehensibility of offers and communication.
In contrast, innovative capabilities and additional features play a secondary role. This results in a clear prioritization for banks: before new functions are developed, existing services must be reliable, clear, and compatible. Many SMEs see potential in their banks’ networks as a complementary support structure that goes beyond traditional banking services.
Implications for banks: fewer products, more relevance
The results indicate a structural shift: banks are not yet perceived by SMEs as integrated solution and service partners. At the same time, this reveals a clear positioning potential for banks in the SME segment.
Several implications can be derived from this:
- Modularization instead of full integration: offerings must be combinable and activatable depending on the situation.
- Context-triggered communication instead of standardized product communication.
- Basic technical quality as a mandatory prerequisite.
- Consulting as a process, not as an isolated event.
The path to achieving this is less a question of individual innovations and more a question of the conceptual framework.
Conclusion: Relevance arises in context
The survey paints a consistent picture across countries and company sizes. SMEs do not expect banks to offer radically new products, but rather appropriate support at the right moment. The discrepancy between high relevance and low usage outside of payment transactions is not an expression of disinterest, but rather of a lack of connectivity.
Contextual banking offers a suitable frame of reference for this. It shifts the focus from products to usage situations, from channels to processes, and from one-off advice to continuous support.
For banks, this represents considerable potential that has only been partially exploited to date – not despite, but precisely because of the expectations of SMEs.
Note: If you are interested in further insights or a professional exchange, we look forward to hearing from you.
