Global macroeconomic turmoil might seem far from the day-to-day concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises, but those issues are getting ever closer to the heart of their business. Inflation, supply chains, labour shortages and commodity prices were just some of the challenges thrown up in the awards period.
SMEs had the same worries as their bigger cousins, and often fewer resources to cope with them – something that made them all the more reliant on their banking partners. Many have had to find alternatives to key commodities sourced from overseas and to hedge input price increases.
“The most critical thing was thought leadership around geopolitical risk, economic risks, anything that could impact clients’ businesses,” says Raul Anaya, president of Bank of America’s business banking unit, which caters to more than 20,000 companies with annual revenues of $5 million to $50 million. “Being a banker to so many different companies in so many different industries, we have a great perch.”
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