Enhancing services for smaller enterprises

With UBS Digital Business we offer small and micro-enterprises a bundle of practical digital solutions – be it for payment transactions, digital banking or liquidity planning. Alain Conte, head of Corporate & Institutional Clients Switzerland, tells more about it.

Why is UBS enhancing its services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?

As the leading bank for Swiss companies, we know what they need when it comes to financial and business concerns. With this expertise, and our easy and efficient digital solutions to meet everyday needs, we want to position ourselves better to serve the approximately 520,000 companies that have fewer than ten employees.

How exactly do you intend to achieve that?

In 2018, we launched a new package of digital solutions for businesses. It brings together all our SME-specific services such as online onboarding, which has helped us simplify the account-opening process greatly.

Are there any other SME-specific innovations?

A whole series of them. For example, businesspeople can add an integrated accounting tool to their e-banking, which prepares invoices and generates automatic payment reminders for customers. They can use their smartphones to confirm payments securely and activate them in real time. The package also includes our online credit service for SMEs, which allows clients to apply for credit of up to CHF 500,000 in 15 minutes. The Liquidity Cockpit is a tool that categorizes income and expenditure to show a company's liquidity over the next few months. Retailers can also benefit from the handy Terminal SumUp, which enables them to accept card payments directly at the point of sale, even without a cash register system. And, of course, we are constantly expanding our broad range of digital applications.

Is this commitment to small businesses confined to digitalization?

By no means. As a customer of our bank, you have access to the entire UBS network and can enjoy many benefits such as information from our Chief Investment Office, which analyzes market trends in Switzerland and abroad. This can give SMEs valuable tips for developing their businesses. Through our Private Investor Circle, we can also put companies in contact with potential investors or – in the context of succession planning – with potential buyers from among our clientele. In both these areas, we have proved ourselves in recent years to be a reliable and trustworthy partner for our clients.