Metro Bank has invited a select few business customers to trial its upcoming app-based receipt manager, created following a partnership with Canadian tech firm Sensibill.
With an aim of combatting this, the retail bank will eliminate manual receipt organisation and users will be able to capture receipts with a phone camera, automatically reconciling into the customer’s transaction history.
The UK challenger will also tackle invoicing, bookkeeping and VAT returns, embed them into the app and link with cloud accounting providers.
The free feature will be available to small business customers via the Metro Bank app in early 2020 and this development comes as a result of Metro’s effort to deploy the £120 million funding the bank was awarded from the Capability & Innovation Fund.
According to a study commissioned by Intuit Quickbooks, 75% of the UK’s self-employed workforce use personal bank accounts for all business transactions and 20% of respondents said that failing to effectively manage finances was killing business.
By not separating business from personal finances, freelancers lose 15 days of paid work a year, spending two hours each week retrieving company expenses out of their personal accounts.
Paul Riseborough, chief commercial officer at Metro Bank, says: “Accounting tasks, along with chasing invoices and staying on top of receipts, are major pain points for SMEs.
“By partnering with Sensibill we’re offering an innovative, digital solution that solves real problems for our customers, saving them time spent on admin and allowing them to focus on running and growing their business. And this is just the first piece in the puzzle as we set about developing a major new digital ecosystem of services to help SMEs.”
Corey Gross, co-founder and CEO at Sensibill, adds: “Metro Bank is building a suite of compelling tools that will help transform the small business banking experience in the UK. Our partnership with Metro Bank demonstrates our shared focus to deliver customer-centric solutions that improve the financial well-being of banking customers.
“We’re excited to support Metro Bank’s commitment to strengthening its relationship with their customers through digital innovation.”