‘MCash’ will operate through the bank’s mobile app, where business customers can log on and select a pick-up/drop-off time from 24 hours to a week in advance.

With 4.2 million UK SMEs relying on cash for day-to-day business operations, the service will be a welcome addition to the bank’s customer base. Metro Bank’s customers currently make up to 250,000 trips to deposit or withdraw cash at their branches each year, totalling over £30 million of deposits by SMEs on a monthly basis.

The service will provide a significant productivity boost to SMEs, 46% of which lamented that depositing cash is a waste of time, a recent report by Metro Bank found.

Natalie Ceeney CBE, chair of the Access to Cash Review, adds: “Millions of people rely on cash in the UK - and while there’s been a lot of attention on ensuring consumers can get cash, it’s equally critical that they can spend it.

“Small businesses play a critical role in keeping cash viable, and we need to make it easy for them to keep banking cash, allowing them to remain flexible to consumer preference and to get on with their day-to-day business."

While cyber security is very much the focus in financial services today, the physical security risk of cash handling is a worrying reality faced by SMEs.

Security issues were flagged as a factor of concern with cash handling, as 44% of SMEs surveyed in the bank’s report have felt vulnerable carrying cash from their business with a quarter of respondents having been threatened and robbed or physically harmed.

Paul Riseborough, chief commercial Officer, Metro Bank, says MCash is “another example of the game-changing digital innovations that Metro Bank is bringing to the market to help give our SME customers the edge in today’s competitive market.”