Small business

Liquidity sensitivity drives companies to procure tools to help them determine and execute the right strategies to get paid faster, says Bottomline Technologies' Jessica Cheney.

It's crucial small businesses continue to expand user experience improvements made during the first year of the pandemic, says NMI's Nick Starai.

A survey commissioned by Bank of America found that Black entrepreneurs are more hopeful about revenue opportunities than other small-business owners, though many are still struggling to bring in the capital needed to expand.

The Jackson, Miss.-based credit union is part of an alliance that also includes the megabank, seven cities and nine historically Black colleges and universities, and aims to provide investments of up to $130 million to help stabilize businesses and communities hit hard by the pandemic.

The pandemic has decimated small businesses, and minority-owned firms have been hurt the most. How can banks and regulators jump-start the small-business economy?

The Buffalo, N.Y., bank and Railz are working together to analyze accounting data to provide small firms with fresh insight into the health of their operations.

Small businesses still process a large number of transactions and can fall behind if there are delays, says Valtatech's Jussi Karjalainen.

President-elect Joe Biden picked California official Isabel Casillas Guzman to lead the Small Business Administration, according to people familiar with the decision.

The interior of a car or truck is a fintech frontier — one that is undergoing a trial by fire during the pandemic, including as a point of sale venue for small merchants.

The Boston community bank and a fintech called Monit have developed an app that helps small-business owners forecast their cash flow and how certain events could affect them.

Lawmakers need to create a coronavirus relief program targeting owners of smaller businesses facing more hardship than larger competitors that received much of the aid from the Paycheck Protection Program.

Montecito Bank in California began streamlining originations after a natural disaster decimated its community in 2018. The move paid off when the COVID-19 crisis hit and the bank had to quickly step up efforts to help clients.

Webster Bank and Customers Bank are among the lenders that have turned to alternative data sources and automated loan reviews to assess business customers' ability to weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Lenders should be prepared to act quickly and decisively, leveraging the power of technology, innovative lending approaches, low interest rates and renewed commitment to small business funding, says LendingFront's Jorge Sun.

More lenders and governments should partner with community development financial institutions to ensure aid reaches minority-owned businesses that are the backbone of many neighborhoods slammed by the coronavirus.

While digital pay innovation was once seen as a “nice-to-have” benefit, it's quickly becoming integral to business survival, says LendingFront's Jorge Sun.

Bank of America will help Cornell University expand an online training course aimed primarily at Black and Hispanic women who want to start their own companies, as part of the bank's $1 billion racial justice commitment.

More lenders and governments should partner with community development financial institutions to ensure aid reaches minority-owned businesses that are the backbone of many neighborhoods slammed by the coronavirus.

Podium is offering chargeback-fraud screening for local businesses taking in-person, offline purchases that use its customer messaging platform and accompanying Podium Payments service.