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mikeinlondon

KPMG-Metrobank tie-up targets small business

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25th Sep 2015
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KPMG and Metro Bank have announced a partnership targeting small business with a combined offering of their accountancy and banking services.

The tie-up follows on from KPMG’s and Metro Bank’s current collaboration with online accounting software company Xero, and will allow businesses unlimited access to a dedicated KPMG accountant.

Commenting on the announcement, Bivek Sharma, head of small business accounting at KPMG, said that the partnership had been formed “with the aim of offering quick and easy access to expert advice and services and cutting red tape”.

“With over a third of decision-makers spending more than one day a week tackling admin and red tape, it is not surprising that SMEs see reducing regulation as the number one priority for government to tackle,” said Sharma. “We’re giving business owners time back to focus on growing their business and achieving their goals.”

Metro Bank CEO Craig Donaldson added: ‘With so many SMEs currently underserved and mistreated by their banks, we’re proud to truly focus on them - designing our services around their needs.”

The move is the latest in a succession of Big Four initiatives aimed at the small business market, following on from last week’s global alliance between PwC and Sage and July’s announcement that Deloitte is also collaborating with Sage to help small companies become more agile through cloud-based business tools.

Reaping future benefits

Paul Scholes of Atria Associates told AccountingWEB that he doesn’t think this apparent trend is limited to Big Four Firms. “The SME population is huge in numbers and percentage terms and so, with many small practices still stuck in ‘compliance only’ mode, it makes sense for the larger practices to get involved as they can offer so much more and have the resources and funds to invest in the relationships at lower than normal fees, to reap the benefits later on,” said Scholes.

“There’s also the fact that another 10,000 businesses are falling out of audit,” he added, indicating that the rise in the audit exemption threshold is likely to impact on traditional audit business.

Replies (5)

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By carnmores
27th Sep 2015 12:01

IMO
Metrobank need a kick up the proverbial, internet banking and related systems not yet good enough, bad deal

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By Sheepy306
27th Sep 2015 18:57

I enquired with Metro Bank in respect of a complex requirement that a client had. The initial response was fantastic, I had an email from a manager whilst he was on the train home at 7pm, he called me the next morning. He made enquiries with other departments and genuinely wanted to help. He admitted that they were not fully systemised but that they wanted to build procedures to make things happen and win new business, it was extremely refreshing. Unfortunately they weren't able to deliver. I also made the same enquiry with Natwest and Lloyds, neither of them even bothered to return my calls.
KPMG and Metro Bank does seem a very peculiar mix. Surely people go with KPMG because they want the big brand name, how does Metro Bank tie in with that?

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Tom Herbert
By Tom Herbert
28th Sep 2015 08:53

Thanks...

... both. Interesting perspectives on the deal. While it seems to tie in with the refocussing on small businesses by larger firms, the deal does seem a little incongruous.

And will small business benefit from this or will it give KPMG too much influence over the organisations who bank with Metro?

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By jon_griffey
28th Sep 2015 09:15

Avoid

Not sure how this is going to benefit Metro Bank. Accountants are going to be steering their clients well clear of them.

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
28th Sep 2015 09:25

.

 

I fail to see on a practical level what accountants 'tying up' with a single bank matters these days.

Accounting systems are fairly integrated to bank software from a data point of view. 

Metro bank dont really do anything other than basic transactional banking, and even that they struggle with.  

Banks wont take on a "hard" client just on an accountant's nod and say so.  This is not 1952. Branch staff have zero say in policy, it is all down to "the computer" so I am not sure how a client would benefit from "closer ties" in any meaningful way other than having a restricted choice of services offered.

Bit like when banks used to tie in with SAGE, and they came to you with a new bank account and crap bit of software. Just made life harder!

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