Xero Blog

This week we announced a strategic relationship with Wells Fargo, the largest small business bank in the US.

By establishing banking relationships around the world, we’ve been working to cement the bedrock of the financial web. The financial web, which incorporates a network of organizations sharing financial data, promises to connect financial institutions and small business owners, unlocking massive productivity and growth.

In the Wall Street Journal, Wells Fargo said it would like to use the new plan as a blueprint. “This is a broad cross-industry set of issues that need to be addressed,” said Brett Pitts, head of digital for Wells Fargo. This approach is “a very important first step.”

Servicing millions of small businesses, Wells Fargo is a massive piece of that puzzle. It’s an exciting milestone for us in the U.S where we can connect small businesses to the financial services they need to grow and thrive.

You will be seamlessly sharing your accounting data with your bank and your banking data with your accounting system as easily as you’re syncing bookmarks between your smartphone and browser or your location from your rental car.

For small business owners, these secure, direct integrations help small businesses capture a true picture of their financial standing and empower our mutual customers to better access financial services, giving them greater control over their data. We believe this will fundamentally rewire how small businesses operate, and light a fire in the engine room of our economies.

The foundation of the financial web enables small business owners, working in the cloud, to do their bank reconciliations on their mobile phone while riding the train into work, or capture a real-time view of their cash flow ending the monthly stress of catch-up. As simple as it sounds, it fundamentally changes how a business can operate – anytime, from any device with insights to help them make decisions on the fly.

To this point, I recently published an Inc. post that covers the 4 things banks are doing so you never need to visit them in person again.

A view backed up by Gene Marks who reported that the Wells Fargo and Xero deal will have a “huge” impact on every business:

“This is only the beginning. The door is open. More banks–your bank–will soon be doing the same. You will be seamlessly sharing your accounting data with your bank and your banking data with your accounting system as easily as you’re syncing bookmarks between your smartphone and browser or your location from your rental car. You will be operating faster and with less overhead (translation: people) because your systems are connected. You will make smarter decisions because your banking information will finally reconcile with your books.”

When we started Xero, we followed small businesses around to see how they work. We followed hundreds of small businesses and found that their workflows were the same – they would fire up their computers, open up the premises, log into their bank accounts, but they wouldn’t process the data. We changed the process to streamline bank reconciliation so small business owners start their day in Xero, process the data and are up-to-date every morning. They can see their cash flow status and know their business position before they make decisions.

You will make smarter decisions because your banking information will finally reconcile with your books.

It was in these early days of Xero that we realized if we can better connect banking and accounting, we can champion small businesses. More robust connections can improve access to capital and drive innovation, two elements required to generate jobs and stimulate our global economies.

In the US we have relationships with Silicon Valley Bank, City National Bank and Wells Fargo – which services one in three American households. We also have integrations with Paypal and Stripe, to name a few payments providers.

In the UK, with the addition of Barclays earlier this year, we have five of the top six banks already running direct feeds to Xero. This gives Xero coverage for over 90% of UK’s small businesses.

The Australian Financial Review wrote ‘Wells Fargo Joins Xero’s ‘Financial Web’  where Xero CEO, Rod Drury, mentioned Australia and New Zealand digital banking moving to the next level, and Australia becoming a test lab for the world. This is best seen in the connections with 50 Australian financial institutions where we have the best account coverage among the Big Banks for bank feeds, including National Australia Bank.

In New Zealand we have relationships with all the large banks. One-third of all New Zealand’s small businesses are on the Xero platform.

By growing the number of relationships we have with top tier financial institutions, we’re empowering our customers who want better access the  small business financial web, closer relationships with banks, and greater access to debt and capital. We’re just getting started.