Strands and Mastercard announced they are working together globally to provide issuing banks with an integrated platform of digital cash management and commercial payment tools specifically designed to benefit their small-to-medium enterprise (SMEs) customer base.

SMEs are historically an underserved business segment despite their $46 trillion annual spending power. Now, the Strands Business Financial Management (BFM) will leverage Mastercard’s digital payment technology to deliver on-demand solutions helping these businesses to better understand their finances, project their short-term cash flow and see personalized recommendations for customized solutions. Both companies’ banking clients will benefit from this combined, value-added solution.

“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,” said Erik Brieva, Strands’ CEO.

Strands’ Business Financial Management solution offers a comprehensive set of tools and insights to empower SME owners to achieve better and more efficient management of their cash flow and working capital needs. These tools help manage accounts payables, receivables, budgets and provisions and are all powered by a layer of AI and machine-learning models that help users to navigate the financial needs of their businesses. Strands brings the power of AI-enabled solutions to the SME user to allow them predict income, expenses, forecast balances, receive personalized alerts and notifications and recommend products and/or services that meet the immediate needs of their business.

Strands’ BFM is entirely designed and built with the issuing bank in mind so that they can offer their SME customers a feature-rich platform to better manage their day-to-day finances. Going forward, users of this BFM platform will also have access to Mastercard In Control, which can help businesses track the use of commercial credit cards, Mastercard Merchant Match Tool to identify merchants that accept credit cards as a form of payment or Mastercard Easy Savings to provide loyalty rewards at select merchants and retailers.

The combined Strands’ SME platform and Mastercard payment technology is designed to empower customers across the globe. “Once more, Strands is showing a true determination to become the preferred FinTech partner for banks by developing world-class software and alliances that create value and contribute to the success of these financial institutions,” said Brieva.