FINANCE
Mastercard | September 25, 2023
Mastercard has introduced new tools to assist small businesses with payment processing, financing, and cybersecurity.
Small businesses are adapting to an increasingly digital business environment, even amid labor shortages, to meet customer expectations.
Mastercard's Digital Doors program offers resources, including a Marketing Hub and cybersecurity toolkit, to help small businesses.
Mastercard has expanded its suite of services catering to small businesses, introducing an array of new tools to assist companies in areas such as payment processing, securing financing, defending against cyber threats, and more.
Ginger Siegel, the North America Small Business Lead at Mastercard International, highlights that this expansion aligns with the efforts of small businesses to adapt to an increasingly digital business landscape.
The ongoing labor shortage has presented challenges for many small enterprises in recruiting essential staff. However, despite these hurdles, companies must continue evolving to meet customer expectations, particularly in terms of digital interaction and seamless payment processing.
A recent survey by PwC Global reveals that 89% of financial technology, banking, and payment businesses polled believe that the continued growth of e-commerce necessitates significant investments in online payment solutions.
In response to these challenges, Mastercard is proactively addressing the needs of small businesses through various services, many of which are integrated into its Mastercard Digital Doors program. This initiative initially emerged as an online resource center during the pandemic, offering an array of tools to assist small businesses in establishing an online presence, facilitating digital payments, enhancing cybersecurity, and streamlining various other digital operations.
One notable addition to the Digital Doors program is the Marketing Hub platform, designed to connect small businesses with select service providers capable of meeting their specific needs. Furthermore, Digital Doors now provides additional resources to aid small business owners in promoting their operations effectively.
According to a Mastercard study, the second most significant challenge for small and medium-sized businesses is acquiring new customers, even though 47% of companies report being in a "growth mode."
The Digital Door Marketing Hub extends valuable savings on supplementary services to support businesses in their marketing and advertising endeavors. This includes discounts of 20% on specific Hootsuite services geared toward enhancing social media marketing, as well as discounts of 40% on selected FedEx Express shipping services and 20% on selected FedEx Ground shipping services.
Another crucial service Mastercard Digital Doors offers is its collaboration with the Global Cyber Alliance. This partnership delivers a Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Businesses, equipped with scanning tools that identify and assess vulnerabilities in data encryption and website security. This toolkit empowers small businesses to fortify their defenses against online fraud and malicious internet traffic.
Mastercard goes a step further by providing education and coaching initiatives tailored for small firms, including a partnership with Hello Alice, a platform that assists entrepreneurs in navigating financial and operational challenges, further demonstrating Mastercard's commitment to empowering and supporting small businesses in their journey towards growth and success.
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FINANCE
Business Wire | September 29, 2023
Credibly, the data science-driven fintech lending platform that champions small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), is partnering with Green Dot to expand its suite of small business financial products to include accessible, intuitive and useful business banking solutions. Powered by Green Dot’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, Credibly Business Banking® will give small business owners a more seamless banking experience while addressing some of their greatest challenges with quick and easy account set up, improved cash flow management, and faster access to capital.
“The demand for seamless, accessible and intuitive financial tools for businesses remains on the rise, and we are thrilled to partner with Green Dot to add small business banking to complement our lending solutions,” said Ryan Rosett, Founder and co-CEO, Credibly. “With a business checking account, customers will have faster and easier access to the cash, credit and capital they need to run and grow their business.”
The U.S. continues to see a surge in new business ventures, with five million applications to start new businesses in 2022, up 42 percent from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to the Census Bureau. Yet more than three-quarters of small business owners say they are concerned about their ability to access capital, according to Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Voices initiative, which is no surprise given 70 percent of small business owners without a business bank account are rejected for loans.
Green Dot and Credibly are partnering to design business bank accounts with these challenges in mind, empowering them to more easily access the capital they need. The new accounts will feature online mobile banking with full customer service support, quick account set up, no fees for eligible deposits, overdraft protection, and a nationwide ATM network to access their money from anywhere.
“Small businesses are a critical engine for economic growth, and we want to give them the power to bank seamlessly, affordably and with confidence,” said Simran Singh, Head of Enterprise Business Development, Embedded Finance, Green Dot. “We are thrilled to partner with Credibly to power entrepreneurs with solutions that save them time and provide easier access to the tools and capital they need to grow their businesses.”
Green Dot is well positioned to enable Credibly to offer small business customers a quality business banking experience through its scalable and configurable BaaS platform, dedicated customer support team, and decades of experience building embedded finance offerings for some of the world’s largest brands.
The Credibly Business Checking® offering is just one of multiple new product launches the company has on its roadmap. As Credibly continues to grow its product suite, the company remains focused on further refining its data science capabilities to serve an even broader range of SMB customers throughout the credit spectrum, while maintaining its emphasis on risk management and a strong culture of compliance. Providing the tools and resources SMBs need has been Credibly’s mission since 2010 and the new business banking offering in particular will enable them to support small business owners who have been unable to receive lending without having an existing business bank account.
About Green Dot
Green Dot Corporation is a financial technology and bank holding company committed to giving all people the power to bank seamlessly, affordably and with confidence. Green Dot's technology platform enables it to build products and features that address the most pressing financial challenges of consumers and businesses, transforming the way they manage and move money, and making financial empowerment more accessible for all.
Green Dot offers a broad set of financial services to consumers and businesses, ranging from debit, prepaid and payroll cards, to embedded financial and money movement services, to tax products and more. The company’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform enables a growing list of the world’s largest and most trusted consumer and technology brands to deploy seamless, configurable, value-driven money management solutions for their customers. Its digital bank GO2bank offers consumers simple and accessible mobile banking designed to help improve financial health over time. And its expansive Green Dot Network of more than 90,000 retail distribution locations nationwide – more than all remaining bank branches in the U.S. combined – enables it to operate primarily as a "branchless bank."
About Credibly
Credibly, a data science-driven fintech lending platform, is revolutionizing the delivery of capital to SMBs, enhancing speed, cost and customer choice. Offering an array of funding options, Credibly also provides partners access to its state-of-the-art data science capabilities.
Since its inception in 2010, Credibly has channeled over $2.0 billion in capital to more than 30,000 SMBs, always with an unwavering commitment to risk management and a culture of compliance. Credibly also made history in 2017 as the first company in its field to acquire servicing rights to another alternative lender’s portfolio (250M). The company has achieved steady growth, operated continuously throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and recorded exceptional origination numbers.
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TECHNOLOGY
PR Newswire | September 29, 2023
Norton, a leading consumer Cyber Safety brand of Gen™ (NASDAQ: GEN), today announced Norton Small Business, the all-in-one cybersecurity solution to help entrepreneurs and small business owners protect their financial futures. While nearly 90%1 of businesses globally are small businesses - 99.9% in the US2 - many lack the means to protect their digital environments. Norton Small Business makes triple-lock protection accessible for small businesses to safeguard their team's online activities, devices and customer data in an easy, all-in-one cybersecurity solution.
"Owning a very small business often means each member of the team wears different hats, and usually cybersecurity expert isn't one of them," said Massimo Rapparini, General Manager & Head of Small Business Safety at Gen. "Unfortunately, cybercriminals are aware of this and often target such businesses – more than half (57%) of small businesses experienced a security, data breach or both in 20223. For entrepreneurs and small businesses, falling for just one phishing email can have a devastating impact."
Scams Taking Down Small Businesses
Small businesses face a barrage of scams and phishing threats, just like consumers. In fact, they are targeted more than large companies. Companies with fewer than 100 employees face an average of 350% more social engineering attacks than larger enterprises4, and according to data from Gen, cyber threats that rely on manipulating people account for 85% of attacks on small businesses in the US. Of these threats, phishing – for example, emails trying to trick you into clicking a link or transferring money – is the most common way cybercriminals try to access small business systems, private data, financials and intellectual property.
Businesses with under 10 employees often lack IT support, putting companies at great risk if cybercriminal attacks are successful – and many are. In 2020 alone, there were more than 700,000 attacks against small businesses totaling $2.8 billion in damages5. Norton Small Business helps small businesses disaster-proof their critical data to minimize the risk of financial loss.
Entrepreneurs Pursue Financial Freedom
Entrepreneurs often start their own businesses in pursuit of financial freedom and invest significant time, energy and personal savings to build their business. In fact, 61% of Gen Z small business owners believe entrepreneurship will lead them to retirement earlier than if they had gone straight to the corporate world6. Yet, small businesses are being heavily targeted by cybercriminals, leaving them at much higher risk of collapsing compared to larger firms when hit by a cyberattack.
With heightened risk and so much at stake, it's surprising that about half of businesses with under 50 employees have no cybersecurity budget at all7. The effects of a cyberattack extend beyond financial consequences, and it's time cybersecurity is pushed to the forefront of small business priorities.
Setting Up Your One-Person IT Department
Norton is your go-to partner to make small business cybersecurity simple with an all-in-one solution that provides 24/7 cybersecurity protection and a variety of features, including:
Secure Browser, Password Manager and VPN (virtual private network) to help secure day-to-day online activities
Automated PC cleaning and optimization to keep healthier PCs for longer
Secure Cloud Backup for PCs to help reduce the risk of loss of business data
Software and driver updaters to help keep software up to date, so there are fewer vulnerabilities for cybercriminals to exploit
IT coverage and maintenance for up to 20 devices
A 100% Virus Protection Promise8
"We've built our small business products and services with the same approach in mind as we do with our consumer portfolio, so entrepreneurs don't need to worry about becoming cybersecurity experts," said Rapparini. "Norton is here to make cybersecurity accessible and easy so they can focus on building thriving businesses."
Norton recommends these top 10 tips to protect your small business:
Learn tospot signs of phishing andteach your employees
Only click links or download attachments from known sources
Avoid sharing personal information or private company data over email
Alwayskeep your operating system, applications and drivers up-to-date
Make sure yourWiFi network is protected with a strong password
Regularlyback up your data
Require employees to use aVPN when doing company work on a public WiFi network (think airports and coffee shops)
Alwaysuse multi-factor-authenticationfor an extra layer of protection
Don't neglect mobile devices – make sure they are password protected and use security software
Invest in a cybersecurity solution such as Norton Small Business
About Norton
Norton is a leading Cyber Safety brand of Gen™ (NASDAQ: GEN), a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its family of trusted consumer brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner. Gen empowers people to live their digital lives safely, privately, and confidently today and for generations to come. Gen brings award-winning products and services in cybersecurity, online privacy and identity protection to more than 500 million users in more than 150 countries.
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