Small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) help economies across the world go ’round.
But despite their significant contributions to global commerce, local SMEs have long been underserved by traditional financial institutions when it comes to their own cross-border payments and international expansion goals.
“Most of the companies in the world are actually SMEs,” Pegah Soltani, head of payments products at enterprise crypto solutions provider Ripple, told PYMNTS. “They ensure competition and drive innovation … but at the same time, they remain very underserved.”
When incumbent financial players look at SMEs, the perceived value of serving these businesses has often been outweighed by the relative costs involved. As a result, small businesses have struggled to compete with larger companies that benefit from established global payment rails and correspondent banking relationships.