How financial institutions can better serve small and medium businesses (SMBs) using AI
Small business owners increasingly rely on integrated software platforms to manage daily activities including sales, marketing, payments, customer management, accounting and administrative workflows. As these platforms become central to SMB operations, they are beginning to integrate financial services into the same software environments.
Recent examples point to this trend. TikTok has launched a debit card for eligible creators, while Squarespace offers payment and capital products alongside its website-creation capabilities.
4M Merchants supported by SumUp across 37 markets globally1
$1.1T Cumulative GMV on Shopify since inception2
+131% Annual increase in shoppers on TikTok Shop, 20253
The next phase of embedded finance may be shaped by AI-enabled capabilities. These capabilities could allow platforms to support business forecasting, surface potential management actions and automate certain authorized tasks for business owners.
To illustrate the resulting challenges and opportunities for the financial services industry, Visa advisors have outlined a potential future state for SMB financial management: what it could look like for SMB owners and operators, what it could mean for the broader financial-services ecosystem and how Visa can help organizations navigate this changing strategic environment.
Meet Jack, owner of Bottles4u, an online retailer selling water bottles. Jack manages most of his daily business activities with a web-based software package called StoreWise.4 Jack does not spend his time switching between banking portals, accounting tools and supplier systems; rather, his financial life is managed within the same software he uses to run his business.
Agentic commerce creates demand
Business forecasting supports better business decisions
The agentic CFO recommends a course of action
Smart underwriting turns business data into credit access
Strategic payments optimize how suppliers are paid
24/7 support resolves issues in the flow
Automated reconciliation removes manual work
Back-office bliss reduces administrative burden
The future state outlined above has broad implications for financial services providers across distribution, marketing and servicing:
Although these conditions represent only one potential future state, market signals suggest that SMB financial services may continue evolving toward more embedded, software-led experiences. Financial services providers should consider reassessing how they serve this segment as software platforms and other ecosystem participants expand their roles in customer relationships.
- Our consultants help design future-ready SMB propositions aligned to evolving customer needs. This includes evaluating opportunities in embedded finance, payments, lending and data-driven services, as well as identifying how alternative data and new ecosystem capabilities can strengthen customer value propositions.
- We help financial institutions identify the right partners, platforms and integration models. This includes determining where deep ecosystem integration is required and where issuers can play a valuable role in enabling open-banking-like data sharing.
- We help optimize performance over time through data and analytics. This includes supporting stronger underwriting and risk capabilities by identifying relevant additional data sources and advising on how to incorporate them into credit assessment processes.
Learn what it will take for payments-industry leaders to stay ahead in 2026 — from stablecoin strategies to digital defense to agentic commerce.
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Sources/Footnotes/Disclaimer
- Sumup, 2026.
- Shopify, 2026.
- Tiktok Newsroom, 2025.
- Illustrative example only. Names, businesses, products, platforms, and scenarios are fictional and are not intended to refer to any actual company, product, service, individual, or customer relationship.
Forward-looking statements. This content may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are identified by words such as “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “projects,” “could,” “should,” “will,” “continue” and other similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made, are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control and are difficult to predict.
As-Is Disclaimer. Case studies, comparisons, statistics, research and recommendations are provided “AS IS” and intended for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for operational, marketing, legal, technical, tax, financial or other advice. References to AI and data reflect market trends and illustrative examples, not prescriptive guidance or performance guarantees. Visa neither makes any warranty or representation as to the completeness or accuracy of the information within this document, nor assumes any liability or responsibility that may result from reliance on such information. The Information contained herein is not intended as investment or legal advice, and readers are encouraged to seek the advice of a competent professional where such advice is required.
