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Europe is currently in the grips of a cost of living crisis, with millions of beleaguered households on the continent in desperate need of help as spiralling inflation and rising prices play havoc on their finances. The findings expose the level of impact Europeans expect the cost of living crisis to have on their finances. In response, people across these markets told us they plan to take drastic action to rein in their spending, as well as turning to a range of third parties for financial support. Among those they would most likely turn to are their banks and other financial providers.

Financial services is a data-intensive industry in which banks and insurance companies have historically held large quantities of information. The development of the internet, the increase in new channels, and the introduction of technologies including cookies and trackers have helped not only to create a better user experience, but also to exponentially increase the amount of collected data, for the most part dark data. With the availability of new digital technologies and a higher degree of interconnectivity and interactions, new data sources have emerged that are a potential treasure trove for businesses.

SMEs, and in particular micro and small companies, are an important part of the European economy. The micro and small business segment includes over 25 million companies, with a total turnover of over €10bn, and employs just under 43% of the total number of employees in the European private sector. Despite the overall size of the segment, these companies have been, up to now, challenging for banks to serve. Due to the small size of these organizations, they are often classified and treated as retail customers. This, coupled with their limited accounting and financial management capabilities, limits their ability to access finance.