When Business Spending Looks Personal, Banks May Miss the Bigger Relationship

Richard Campion, Head of SMB at Visa Europe, argues that many small business owners are still being served through personal banking products long after their needs have outgrown them, and sets out how banks can use everyday spending signals to spot the moment a customer is ready for a dedicated business relationship.

In my experience working with small businesses, I have often seen how easily owners can fly under a bank’s radar. When starting out, they may use a personal card to pay for a software subscription, a supplier bill or a train fare to meet a client. To the owner, these are clearly business expenses; to the bank however, they look like ordinary consumer spending. This gap in recognition matters immensely. As a business grows, the owner will eventually need a dedicated business card, payment services, cash-management tools and working capital. Identifying these businesses earlier allows owners to separate personal and business spending, while enabling banks to offer support that truly fits their evolving needs.

In our research across France, Germany, Italy and the UK, we found that an SMB customer can generate roughly 7 to 12 times as much annual revenue for a bank as someone who uses their bank only for personal finances. Findings drawn from Visa’s new The Multiplier Effect: 2026 Small Business Banking Report, examines this difference in relationship value.

The challenge I see time and again is that business activity is often spread across personal and business products, or sits entirely within a personal banking relationship. In our report, we found that only 27% of European SMB owners surveyed use one main bank for both business and personal banking. As a result, a bank may observe a customer’s consumer activity without ever recognising the growing business behind it.

In practical terms, I believe banks are often already serving their future business-banking customers without seeing the full opportunity in front of them. Rather than collapsing everything into one account, banks should aim to identify needs and help business owners move towards dedicated products.

From personal spending to business needs

Consider a café owner starting out; they may not yet have a dedicated business card, so early business costs naturally sit alongside everyday personal spending. As the café grows, the owner may take on staff, face larger supplier bills, and develop more complex cash-flow needs, even if their banking profile hasn’t caught up with that reality.

If that pattern goes unrecognised, the owner continues receiving generic consumer offers at the exact moment their business needs cash-flow support, expense controls or a dedicated business card. Across the regions studied, our report found that SMBs with a relationship manager generated significantly higher combined value and held more products than those without a dedicated contact.  With greater visibility, banks are better placed to provide more relevant support at the moments business owners need it most.

Banks that use transaction analytics to surface consumer banking customers who are operating like small business owners can offer targeted outreach about business starter packages, turning a hidden segment into an active one.

Cards can open the conversation

A dedicated business card provides the owner with a practical way to separate supplier payments, travel, subscriptions and staff expenses from personal spending. It can also give the bank a much clearer starting point for understanding and supporting the business.

In the portfolios analysed globally, we found that cards and related payment services accounted for 44% of revenue from SMB customers. We also found that card-holding SMBs used approximately twice as many banking products as their non-carded counterparts. The learning here is clear: the business card is the starting point of a broader banking relationship.

Spend data tells us when a business is growing, when it’s under pressure, when it might need working capital and when it’s ready for the next product conversation. However, our research indicates that no single card-led approach fits every European market. In France, for example, SMB owners have a stronger preference for predictable, project-based finance. The right starting point always depends on the specific market and the business.

From a label to a relationship strategy

To turn these insights into strategy, I recommend three key steps:

First, recognise the business owners already in your customer base. Permitted data and careful segmentation can help identify customers operating businesses through consumer accounts. This must be done with clear privacy, consent and non-discrimination safeguards, fully in line with applicable data-protection requirements, including GDPR.

Second, make the proposition relevant. A solo consultant and a construction firm may both be classed as SMBs, but their cash flow and payment needs are fundamentally different. Products, controls and reporting should reflect those differences.

Third, connect the experience. A unified customer view matters only if a relationship manager or a well-designed digital service can use it to help the owner smoothly manage their personal and business needs.

The opportunity already within reach

For European issuers, the greatest opportunity lies in identifying these hidden SMB customers earlier and offering tailored support that fits their distinct business needs. Institutions that successfully strengthen these customer relationships and increase customer value will earn a practical competitive edge. As our research demonstrates, in many cases, those valuable customers are already sitting in your portfolio.

Disclosure: Visa is a payments network and issuer of the SMB card products discussed in this piece.