Mambu’s Kunal Galav On The New Demands From Customers In The SME Space

Why It Matters

Mambu’s unified, configurable platform equips banks to meet unfulfilled SME demands, driving deeper relationships and new revenue streams in a highly competitive market.

Key Takeaways

• SMEs demand integrated banking, accounting, and expense automation.
• Mambu offers flexible APIs for seamless ecosystem integration.
• Product Factory enables cash‑flow‑aligned, configurable lending solutions for SMEs.
• Real‑time sub‑ledger provides actionable insights for relationship managers.
• Unified platform anticipates SME needs before they arise.

Summary

Kunal Galav, head of product at Mambu, explains how the evolving needs of small‑and‑medium enterprises are reshaping banking expectations. Rather than brand‑new demands, SMEs are seeking fulfillment of existing pain points: consolidated account management, automated bookkeeping, tax filing, and expense controls that can be delegated to employees with spend limits.

Galav outlines three pillars of Mambu’s response. First, flexible APIs let banks stitch together the myriad fintech solutions SMEs already use, delivering a single‑pane‑of‑glass experience. Second, the Product Factory tool enables banks to configure bespoke financial products—such as cash‑flow‑matched loans—quickly, without extensive development. Third, a real‑time sub‑ledger supplies granular transaction data, empowering relationship managers to anticipate client issues before they surface.

He illustrates the concept with a retailer that imports goods from China, experiences peak cash inflows April‑June, but faces steady outflows for supplies year‑round. Using Product Factory, Mambu can craft a loan that disburses during peak months and aligns repayments with the retailer’s cash‑flow pattern, demonstrating the power of configurability.

The broader implication is clear: banks that adopt an integrated, configurable, data‑driven platform will win SME business, while those clinging to siloed legacy systems risk losing relevance. Mambu’s approach signals a shift toward ecosystem‑centric banking that anticipates client needs, potentially redefining the competitive landscape for financial institutions serving the SME segment.

Original Description

Kunal Galav, Global Head of Partnership Development at Mambu, sits down with FF News’ Douglas Mackenzie for a conversation about banking with SMEs and the new demands that are arising from customers in the SME space.

“I wouldn’t say that they’re new demands, I’d say that they are demands that have been unfulfilled in the current state of the industry. Imagine you’re an SME, you want your accounts to accounts to be in order and your books to be in order. You need your taxes to be filed. You have your employees so you need your expenses to be managed. You need to be able to manage employee accounts and set limits.”

“So the demand that will come is, can my bank do all these things for me? That’s where we as Mambu come in. We operate on three really simple principles. We’ve got flexible APIs which means we can easily integrate with the ecosystem that already exists. We live in a world where there are solutions available for SMEs but they’re all disparate. So with Mambu, you can actually get this combined.