Square Card Enters UK Amid Small Businesses Cash Flow Worries

Square is expanding its card offering into the U.K. for merchants seeking quicker funding access.

An executive from the company — an arm of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Block — told CNBC Thursday (Oct. 31) that it had opened registration for Square Card in Great Britain.

This marks the first time the business card will be available outside of North America, the report notes, since it launched in 2019.

Samina Hussain-Letch, executive director of Square U.K., told CNBC that bringing the company’s corporate card product to England would give merchants faster access to funds and help them more easily handle their daily expenses.

“When designing this product we went back to our mission of making commerce easy,” Hussain-Letch said.

The company’s in-house research found that small and micro businesses “prefer their funds to be consolidated in one place,” she said, noting that real-time access to funds was also a significant factor.

Already competing with the likes of American Express and Citi in the U.S., Square Card will have to contend with U.K. banking giants such as NatWest and Lloyds, the CNBC report says, as well as European FinTechs like Spendesk and Payhawk.

“We’ve had some great feedback about the benefits of having instant access to funds which really helps our small business sellers to run and grow, as we know that the number one reason small businesses fail in the UK is due to problems with cash flow,” Hussain Leitch added.

It’s a problem that goes beyond the U.K., as shown by PYMNTS Intelligence research into the state of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States.

“For many SMBs, limited cash reserves force a focus on immediate survival rather than long-term growth,” PYMNTS wrote last month. “Seventy percent of these businesses hold less than four months’ worth of cash reserves, leaving them vulnerable to operational disruptions. With more than 90% of their revenue consumed by operational costs, small business owners are often left juggling a fragile cash flow that threatens their stability.”

The reality is bleak, with 45% of American small business owners saying they forgo cutting themselves a paycheck because of cash flow shortages, and 22% struggling to pay basic bills, putting nearly a fifth of SMBs at risk of closure.

“The situation underscores the need for SMBs to rethink their cash flow strategies. According to the report, 45% of global CEOs acknowledge the necessity of re-evaluating business models to optimize cash flow management,” the report added. “The pressure is even greater on smaller firms, with 56% of CEOs from companies earning less than $100 million fearing for their future viability without changes.”