DBS, Xero unveil bank feed integration for SMEs

This links SME bank accounts to the cloud accounting platform.

DBS and Xero launched an API-driven bank feed integration allowing SMEs to instantly connect their DBS business banking accounts to Xero's cloud accounting platform.

The online integration is the first-of-its-kind in the region, as existing direct bank feed arrangements require SMEs to apply for the account integration via paper forms, and can take about 10 days to set up.

In a recent survey, Xero found that Singapore’s small business owners spend an average of 15.5 hours a month manually importing and reconciling their bank statements. Of these, almost a third (30%) spend between 20 and 40 hours a month manually reconciling.

Meanwhile, over two-thirds of small businesses (67%) cited manual bank statement reconciliation as a key challenge in managing their operations.

The two firms noted that this initiative eliminates the need for small businesses to undertake inconvenient and time-consuming activities such as manual data entry or importing bank transactions.

The technology driving this integration allows small business customers who use DBS IDEAL, DBS’s online business banking platform, to opt in to have their bank transactions imported automatically into their nominated Xero subscription every day.

DBS-Xero direct bank feeds are available free to all DBS business account customers who are Xero subscribers.