Banking on Britain

Entrepreneur

5 hours ago

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"The pace of change has never been as fast as it is right now – and yet it will never be as slow as it is today." Tom Wood, Head of Business Banking at HSBC UK, leans forward slightly as he delivers this line – part observation, part call to arms. In an economy still finding its feet after the seismic shocks of Brexit, Covid-19, and inflation, it's a quote that feels particularly apt. For UK entrepreneurs, uncertainty has become a constant. But so too has the need for evolution - in business models, funding strategies, and the role of their banking partners.
As the Head of Business Banking for one of the world's largest financial institutions, Wood is clear-eyed about the weight of this moment. "The UK's entrepreneurs have been looking to their banking partners for guidance navigating the fast changing and uncertain geopolitical environment," he says. "To do this, banks need to have strong relationships with their clients built on foundations of trust and understanding; both in terms of the entrepreneur's business as well as the broader economic environment." This is not merely marketing speak. In recent years, HSBC has sought to reposition its role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem - not just as a lender, but as a partner. "This is where HSBC really excels," Wood says, "bringing global insight to local business is where we come into our own."
Adapting to a post-pandemic landscape
Few have emerged from the pandemic unscathed, and for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), the aftershocks continue to reverberate. "Since the pandemic, UK SMEs have endured unprecedented levels of change; from navigating the post-pandemic recovery to rising energy costs, inflation and most recently tariffs," Wood says. "At the same time, in many industries, innovation and technology (such as AI) has made it easier for new entrants to enter and disrupt markets, forcing entrepreneurs to evolve their business models to defend against competitive threats and meet the ever-increasing expectations of their customers." It's a daunting list, but Wood is quick to praise the businesses HSBC works with. "Despite the above, the UK SMEs that we work with have shown incredible resilience through this period. Support and guidance through periods of uncertainty is one of the key ways that we look to support SMEs at HSBC."
Launching the HSBC Small Business Growth Programme
Resilience alone, however, isn't a business strategy. Recognising the challenges SMEs face, HSBC recently launched a new initiative to provide more structured support. "That's why we've recently launched the HSBC Small Business Growth Programme – designed to help small business owners not just survive but thrive," says Wood. "Built in partnership with Microsoft, WIRED Consulting and UpSkill Universe, the programme will provide business owners with practical and engaging tools and resources on topics that matter."
The initiative stems from what Wood describes as "countless interactions" with entrepreneurs across the country. "My team interacts with over 75,000 small business owners every single year," he says. "We really do understand how crucial access to insight, guidance, and support is - especially for founders and entrepreneurs at the start of their journeys. That's exactly why we created our Small Business Growth Programme; to help early-stage businesses grow with confidence, backed by the right expertise."
The funding challenge - and why it's not what you think
Access to finance remains one of the most frequently cited challenges among early-stage businesses — but according to Wood, the issue is more nuanced than a simple lack of available funding. "Access to information, business networks and role models are the main themes I hear when speaking regularly to small business," he explains. "Access to finance is of course another barrier, but the issue here is more about knowing what is available and appropriate for a business at their stage of growth rather than lack of availability."
Education, Wood argues, is crucial. "It's about matching the right funding solution with the stage that the business is at and the founders' ambitions. Speaking to a bank or other advisors can help entrepreneurs work out what is right for them." That's why HSBC is putting boots on the ground, investing in local expertise. "We have dedicated Business Specialists on hand in local communities to help business owners to better understand their options and make more confident decisions."
Reinventing the bank-entrepreneur relationship
For a bank with a 160-year history, innovation can't just be a slogan - it must be a structural reality. And HSBC is keen to demonstrate how it's evolving its own approach. "We are relaunching our Business Banking Proposition for UK SMEs in a big way with the HSBC Small Business Growth Programme," Wood says. "Alongside this, we are actively reviewing our product and proposition offering, with input from customers, to ensure the solutions that we offer meet the needs of SMEs." This includes a diverse range of funding models tailored to different stages of business growth.
"For small businesses with simple needs, our focus is to make it easier and quicker to access our finance solutions," says Wood. "For the more complex growing business, it's about how we adapt some of the solutions that we already make available to our corporate or international clients, expanding the product availability and tailoring the product features to make them more suitable for the SME market."
Practical support - not just products
As inflation and rising costs continue to squeeze margins, HSBC is also focused on offering hands-on help. One example? Business reviews. "A key part of our strategy at HSBC is to provide entrepreneurs more access to dedicated specialists on the ground, in local communities," says Wood. "SMEs can book in for a Business Review, virtually or in person, with one of over 100 business specialists in all regions across the UK." These reviews aim to give founders not just financial insight, but a clear-headed understanding of their options in a volatile environment. "HSBC's Small Business Growth Programme is packed with practical tools and resources to help SMEs to become more resilient and succeed," he adds.
Looking ahead: Sustainability, fintech, and a new generation of entrepreneurs
As start-ups increasingly build with sustainability and digital transformation in mind, the banks that support them must also evolve. Wood believes HSBC is prepared for what's coming. "HSBC has been around for 160 years – the world has changed a lot in that time and so have we," he says. "One of the keys to our success and longevity has been the ability to anticipate, evolve and deliver, first and foremost, client-centric solutions."
Listening, he says, is more important than ever. "Listening to what our clients are telling us, understanding where the market is going and sharing that insight is key," Wood says. "This approach has served us well in the past and will no doubt serve us well in the future, supporting the next generation of UK entrepreneurs."
In an age of relentless change, UK entrepreneurs aren't short on challenges - rising costs, technological disruption, supply chain uncertainty. What many are short on is time: time to think, to plan, to breathe. For all the talk of agility and innovation, what often matters most is something more grounded - access to good information, a reliable sounding board, and people who actually understand the pressures of running a business right now. That's the shift Wood wants to see in the banking world: less focus on selling products, more on showing up. If HSBC's new direction is to mean anything, it will be in how well its teams embed themselves in real business communities - not just with webinars and toolkits, but with a lived understanding of what it means to grow a company when the margins are tight and the path is unclear.
There's no shortage of ambition in the UK's small business sector. But ambition doesn't flourish in a vacuum. It needs networks, access, encouragement - and sometimes just a conversation that doesn't start with a sales pitch. Of course, banks alone won't fix the systemic issues UK entrepreneurs face. But they can make the road a little less lonely - especially if they remember that relationships aren't built through apps, but through attention. It's about listening before advising. And in a sector where too much support arrives too late, that might be a quiet kind of progress worth paying attention to.
In an era where speed is the only constant, Wood's parting message is one of cautious optimism - and an invitation. "Banks must keep up," he says. "Trying to be as simple and agile as possible and focusing on our customers is one of the ways that we are doing this in my team within SME Business Banking at HSBC." In an unpredictable world, that may be just what the UK's entrepreneurs need to hear.