New bank relationship benchmarking service
First-ever banking measurement tool could save quarrying businesses thousands of pounds
WHAT is said to be the first-ever bank relationship benchmarking service for UK business customers was launched this week by bmbal (BM Business Advisory Ltd), providers of specialist banking and treasury advisory services.
Called Business Banking Measured (BBM), the free online tool identifies where businesses are incurring unnecessary banking costs and outlines steps that can be taken to eradicate those costs to make thousands of pounds of financial savings.
For businesses operating in the mining and quarrying sector, getting the right banking support to ensure that their cash and debt liquidity requirements are optimized to deliver a project on budget is crucial, as is reviewing international payments, foreign exchange and international cash-management services.
The BBM banking assessment tool, available at bmbal.com, scrutinizes these and other banking services to identify their suitability and effectiveness. It also identifies where banking relationships can be made more effective and efficient, and where savings could be found.
Speaking about the tool, Ben Martin (pictured), chief executive officer of bmbal, said: ‘Mining and quarrying businesses need to be confident that they are getting the most suitable banking services and products to ensure their working capital costs are minimized, without harming their operational needs, and from the correct banking partner. Yet, by failing to review their banking relationships regularly, many are simply leaving money on the table when they could be benefitting from thousands of pounds of savings.
‘So far, on average, businesses that have trialled the banking measurement tool are finding potential annual savings in excess of £56,000 each. That’s a huge extra expense these businesses are incurring because their banking relationships are simply not fit for purpose.’
The BBM tool allows business owners and financial directors to identify areas for improvement in their banking relationships simply by answering a series of questions. The assessment takes less than 10 minutes to complete, reviewing 27 questions via drop-down answers, and no confidential information is required.
After completing the questions, the user receives a tailored client report which identifies key areas for savings. This report is available for free, but for users interested in further detailed analysis, a more extensive report is available for a fee.
According to bmbal, both reports provide business owners/directors with the information they need to start a year-on-year assessment of their banking relationships and to make improvements that will save them time and money, as well as providing peer group comparisons that are not available elsewhere.
