Interview with Angelo Caci, Managing Director of Syrtals Cards & Beyond

We can't take the 'red tape' in the professional world any more

In the face of the emergence of neobanks, is the position of the traditional players in travel payments still as solid as ever?

Angelo Caci - The major European and American banks have a great future ahead of them with key accounts thanks to their global reach, an argument that also works in favour of American Express and AirPlus. For a multinational, having a service provider to accompany them everywhere is an advantage. In France, banks are still by far the biggest issuers of B2B cards. For a company that has a traditional business relationship with its banker, it is natural to ask them to equip it with a corporate card.

But should these historic players remain vigilant?

A. C. - While large companies tend to favour a large-scale service provider, they also want it to modernise its offering. Generally speaking, we can no longer stand having 'red tape' in the professional world that no longer exists in the personal sphere. Smooth processesFlexible management and intuitive applications are becoming the norm. If the big players don't do their job of modernising and digitising, their key account customers will eventually tire of them. And they could then be seduced by all those suppliers who were not initially on their radar, because they were targeting SMEs instead, but who will have moved up the ladder in the meantime. So the wait is over, and it's important for all these players to be innovative, determined and proactive.

Do fintechs have a bright future ahead of them in the SME market?

A. C. - This is a significant customer base. Alongside the CAC 40 groups, there are companies by the hundreds of thousands whose expectations are not always well met by the banks. This is creating a major market for these new players. While the banks have made progress by embarking on a process of modernisation, these start-ups, starting from scratch, are nimble and bring new offerings to market much more quickly, like Mooncard, Qonto or Spendesk.