Library, Partner

Case Study: HSBC’S transformation as a bank for small business

  • HSBC Kinetic is a bold move by the 6th largest bank in the world.
  • It’s an app-only digital bank servicing small businesses and a chance for the 160 year old bank to remake itself.
close

Email a Friend

Case Study: HSBC’S transformation as a bank for small business

The past few years have shown that business banking customers no longer have to wait days or weeks to apply and receive loans to open bank accounts and transact. Many new options are being offered by fintech firms that don’t have to deal with large legacy technology stacks and legacy thinking. This frees them up to focus on servicing small business needs and delivering good banking experiences. Large incumbent banks don’t have this luxury.

HSBC Kinetic is a bold move by the 6th largest bank in the world. It’s an app-only digital bank servicing small businesses, but for the financial institution established in the 1860s, it’s much more than that. With Kinetic, HSBC is building experience in agile development environments, in the cloud, and with a branchless app that offers automated onboarding, in-app overdrafts, a controllable debit card and a range of personal financial management budgeting and cashflow tools.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with fintech software provider Strands to create a visual and audio case study about HSBC’s transformation as a bank for small businesses.

Working with Strands, Kinetic built a powerful transaction categorization engine within HSBC that is aligned to the UK’s tax office. By categorizing those transactions, the business bank saves its customers days every month trying to manually reconcile what category spending should fall under.

Customers get a cleaner view of where they spend their money. With some additional analytics, Kinetic gives customers a monthly breakdown of the changes in their spending per category.

Additionally, Kinetic uses Strands to take business finance management up a level by building personalized insights for customers. The bank’s smart engine analyzes spending trends to understand all the bills a small business has coming up in the next few weeks to tell it whether it’s likely to hit zero or go into my overdraft. From here, the app gives business customers options to take relevant actions.

A customer can top up his account from another bank or can cancel a payment, amend the payment, or reschedule it for a later date. Or if you need funding, HSBC has options which customers can access straight through the app.

Download the case study to learn

  • Why HSBC created a new brand — Kinetic — to service small and medium businesses
  • What HSBC learned about small businesses’ needs after speaking to 3000 of them
  • What Kinetic, a digital bank without branches, says about the future of the 170 year old banking institution
  • How the bank offers services not traditionally offered by financial institutions to best serve its clients

Download the Case Study: HSBC’S transformation as a bank for small business

0 comments on “Case Study: HSBC’S transformation as a bank for small business”

Artificial Intelligence, Banking, Partner

How Temenos is co-creating AI products with banks, not just for them

  • Banks struggle with AI adoption due to outdated data systems and cultural resistance; Temenos' Barb Morgan addresses these foundational challenges.
  • Morgan talks about how Temenos is helping the industry in evolving towards gradual AI deployment, market-centric innovation, and customer-driven product development approaches.
Zack Miller | June 20, 2025
Banking, Partner

“Take a hard look at your current ecosystem. If you were to double the assets under your management today, would your current ecosystem sustain that growth?” Finastra’s Kristen Lista, on what FIs need to do to compete in SME lending

  • Traditional banks are losing market share to non-bank FIs who are proving to be more agile in their SME lending approaches.
  • Finastra’s Principal Product Manager Kristen Lista joins the Tearsheet podcast today to discuss how consolidating technology and decreasing the time between application and access to funding can fuel traditional bank's SME lending approaches.
Rabab Ahsan | June 17, 2025
Artificial Intelligence, Banking, Partner

AI in banking: Finally getting past the demo stage

  • Banking executives at Temenos Americas 2025 revealed AI has moved from theoretical discussions to real deployments with surprising successes and practical challenges.
  • The Florida forum exposed a critical truth: banks succeeding with AI aren't those with biggest budgets, but those mastering rapid execution.
Zack Miller | June 12, 2025
Modern Marketing, Partner

Why e-commerce brands have the processes but lack the resources to execute personalization programs

  • Over the next five years, businesses that excel at creating tailored experiences and communications stand to capture $2 trillion in revenue.
  • Despite recognizing personalization's value, only 50% of organizations have established dedicated personalization teams with proper expertise. Learn how businesses can realize topline benefits from finetuning their personalization programs across four key dimensions: culture, resources, processes, and effectiveness.
Rabab Ahsan | June 03, 2025
Banking, Partner, Payments

With chargeback volume set to hit 324 million in 2028, merchants and issuers need to find a way to protect their bottom line

  • Factors like the increase in digital payments adoption are contributing to a rise in the global volume of chargebacks, and a significant chunk of this volume will reside in North America.
  • Today's story gives an industry-wise breakdown on chargebacks, and a deep dive on what strategies merchants and issuers are currently using to combat chargebacks and where they can improve.
Rabab Ahsan | April 15, 2025
More Articles