Finexer Research Reveals 90% of UK Businesses Struggle with Manual Banking and Payment Gaps

New research from Finexer reveals a persistent "automation gap" in UK mid-market finance, where only 10% of businesses have highly automated banking and payment workflows. For fintech professionals, this highlights a significant disconnect between the promise of digital transformation and the manual reality of B2B reconciliation and data entry.

What was announced

The report, titled ‘The Open Banking Data and Payments Automation Landscape,’ surveyed 418 senior leaders at UK organisations with 10 to 500 employees. These leaders represent sectors including accounting, ERP and financial management, FinTech, and B2B SaaS. The findings indicate that despite heavy investment in software, manual workarounds remain the norm. Specifically, 19% of respondents still rely predominantly on manual processes to match bank transactions against invoices or internal records. A further 45% use a mix of manual and automated systems.

The time cost of these manual processes is substantial: nearly a quarter of finance leaders (24%) report losing 20 to 29 hours every month to manual administration. Even more concerningly, 15% of businesses spend up to 39 hours monthly—equivalent to more than one full working week—on tasks like checking whether payments have arrived, matching payments to internal records, or re-entering banking and payment data. The research suggests that the difficulty of integrating banking data into legacy infrastructure and the complexity of regulatory requirements are primary drivers of this reliance on manual "bridge" processes. Finexer positions Open Banking as the alternative to enable financial platforms to connect banking data and account-to-account payments directly into existing finance systems.

"Losing several days every month to checking payments, matching transactions and re-entering banking data shouldn’t be considered a normal cost of doing business. Yet these findings suggest manual finance admin remains embedded in UK organisations."

Ravi Ranjan, co-founder and CEO of Finexer.

The companies involved

Finexer is an FCA-authorised Open Banking infrastructure platform specifically designed for mid-market B2B platforms. It focuses on providing the underlying connectivity that allows businesses to integrate banking data and payments into their existing software suites. The broader UK financial ecosystem supporting these mid-market firms includes entities like the British Business Bank, a government-owned development bank dedicated to making finance markets work better for smaller businesses. The British Business Bank often acts as a cornerstone for UK SME funding and market stability.

Another key player in the UK early-stage investment landscape is SFC Capital. Formerly known as Startup Funding Club, SFC Capital is a prominent seed stage investor in the UK, having been featured in several reports regarding the health of the British startup and fintech sectors. These organisations collectively form the infrastructure and funding environment in which Finexer operates, addressing the needs of the 10-500 employee segment highlighted in the recent research into the automation gap.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has extensively tracked the activities of the British Business Bank and its role in the UK's financial growth. Recent reports include British Business Bank Backs Molten Ventures Growth Fund with £75m Commitment, which detailed the bank's efforts to bolster growth capital. We also covered how the British Business Bank Unlocks £350m for UK SMEs via DF Capital ENABLE Guarantee. Furthermore, our reporting on the AI Dominates UK Small Business Equity as Funding Hits £12.3bn: British Business Bank Report highlighted the shifting investment trends in the sector. Finally, we noted when the British Business Bank Bolsters Board with Silicon Valley and Deeptech Experts to Drive UK Growth to enhance its strategic direction.

What this means

This data suggests that the "last mile" of financial digitisation is proving far more difficult to solve than the front-end user experience. While B2B SaaS platforms have proliferated, the underlying plumbing—reconciliation and bank data matching—remains archaic for the vast majority of firms. This puts immense pressure on mid-market ERP providers who must now decide whether to build deep open banking integrations or risk losing customers to more agile, automation-first competitors. The industry is moving toward real-time visibility, but if 90% of businesses are still manually bridging data gaps, the promise of instant financial insight remains a marketing aspiration rather than a functional reality for the UK market.