Both firms are working together to offer issuing banks with an integrated platform of digital cash management and commercial payment tools, enabling to serve small-to-medium enterprise (SMEs) customer base.
According to Strands, the SMEs are historically an underserved business segment despite their $46 trillion annual spending capacity.
Strands business financial management (BFM) is said to leverage Mastercard’s digital payment technology to provide on-demand solutions for these businesses to better realize their finances, project their short-term cash flow and focus on personalized recommendations for customized solutions.
Strands’ BFM solution provides set of tools and insights to help SME owners better manage their cash flow and working capital requirements.
The tools will allow to manage accounts payables, receivables, budgets and provisions, and all are provided by a layer of AI and machine-learning models that help users to navigate the financial needs of their businesses.
Strands contributes the power of AI-enabled solutions to the SME user to enable them predict income, expenses, forecast balances, receive personalized alerts and notifications, as well as recommend products and services that meet the immediate needs of their business.
Going forward, the users of Strands’ BFM platform will be provided with access to Mastercard In Control that enables businesses to track the use of commercial credit cards and Mastercard Merchant Match Tool to detect merchants that accept credit cards as a form of payment or Mastercard Easy Savings to provide loyalty rewards at select merchants and retailers.
Strands’ CEO Erik Brieva said: “SMEs are the backbone of the global economy and represent one of the biggest potential sources of revenue for banks; yet they are typically offered banking solutions designed with the retail customer in mind.
“Our in-house research shows that 61 percent of SMEs place cash flow management as one of their top three priorities to help them secure their financial future, but the banking solutions offered today by issuer banks do not address these unique requirements.”
