Financial institution HSBC has announced the launch of a new feature for SMEs, enabling them to access and view their bank account information across different banks on Business Internet Banking.
Through this, HSBC intends to boost convenience in financial management and support informed decision-making for small businesses across the region.
Open Banking for SMEs
Under the Interbank Account Data Sharing (IADS) initiative, commercial customers can offer consent for HSBC to access their account details in other IADS participating banks. By providing this consent, customers can view and download real-time account balances and transaction histories from other domestic banks over the last 60 days, through a single, user-friendly interface on HSBC Business Internet Banking. The financial institution underlined its plans to include other bank connections in the future, in phases.
IADS is a significant milestone in Hong Kong’s Open Banking journey, which is gaining increased adoption among SMEs. As found in an HSBC study, 30% of Hong Kong small businesses are already utilising Open Banking. Additionally, 86% view that it has the potential to develop opportunities for their business. This emphasises the confidence that SMEs have in Open Banking being a driver of growth and advancement.
Furthermore, HSBC positioned itself among the first group of banks to launch IADS use cases. The financial institution has created API connections with 11 participating banks, allowing them to access customer-consented HSBC deposit account data and scale support for SME credit applications.
The new capability comes as a component of HSBC’s efforts to support SMEs in managing and utilising their bank accounts effectively. By facilitating a consolidated financial overview, the tool enables business owners to maintain business account fitness through improved oversight and simplified record-keeping. To further assist the operations of SMEs, HSBC has a range of data-driven initiatives that focus on augmenting financial access to small businesses. The bank connects to the Commercial Credit Reference Agency (CCRA) under the Commercial Data Interchange initiative. Also, HSBC has worked with other third-party data providers, including Octopys, HKTVmall, Dowsure, and Cainiao, to leverage commercial data to simplify the loan assessment process for ecommerce merchants and smaller retailers.
