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Small business lender Prospa has integrated its Prospa Business Account with Xero to reduce administration for SMEs.
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Prospa integration to streamline business finance
23 April 2024
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The partnership between Prospa and Xero will help simplify business finance for SMEs by reducing the amount of manual input required, according to Prospa.
Prospa chief revenue officer, Beau Bertoli, said with small businesses becoming increasingly time and resource-poor, it has never been more crucial to adopt simplified backend processes and automate cumbersome admin tasks.
“SMEs can gain greater peace of mind and save valuable time as transactions sync automatically, allowing business owners to manage their finances from anywhere,” Bertoli said.
The partnership with Xero follows Prospa’s acquisition of the Zip Business loan portfolio, and a broader strategic partnership with Zip to help support more than 30,000 merchants with tailored business finance.
The strategic partnership will see Prospa become the preferred financing partner for Zip’s growing portfolio of merchants across Australia and New Zealand, giving them streamlined access to Prospa’s small business lending products to support their cash flow and other finance requirements.
“Our strategic partnership with Zip is a significant step forward in expanding our reach and capacity as Australia’s number one online lender to small business, and crucially will enable us to expand our impact on the small business community as they continue to navigate an increasingly turbulent economic climate,” said Bertoli.
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Recent research by RFI Global and commissioned by Prospa found that nearly half of small and medium businesses in Australia (46 per cent) anticipate a decrease in turnover by the end of the year due to economic pressures.
Over half, or 54 per cent, said they are likely to need to invest further into their business to generate future cash flow.
“Despite an overall downward trend in sentiment among SMEs which reflects these concerns, short-term business confidence continues to improve, reaching a 12-month high in December 2023 as 37 per cent of SMEs express high confidence in their five-year outlook,” the SME lender said.
Economic and supply chain conditions remain the biggest concern for businesses, with over half (59 per cent) of SMEs experiencing supply chain cost increases as a direct result of recent changes to economic conditions.
Labour pressures are also front of mind as businesses balance their books, with over half (53 per cent) battling rising labour costs as a result of a tightening economy, and a further 42 per cent claiming they would struggle to find replacements if any current staff were to leave the business.
“These findings demonstrate that while businesses continue to do it tough, Australia’s SME community is yet again proving its resilience by maintaining high confidence in their short-term outlook," said Bertoli.
“High fuel and material costs combined with growing public frugality have disproportionately impacted the hospitality, retail and wholesale and warehousing industries. However, as inflation begins to ease and with rate cuts on the horizon for later this year, with the right funding and support, the outlook for the Australian business community remains positive.”
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