Cloud accounting platform Xero announced a partnership with Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank. New Zealand-based Xero is working with the bank to launch a series of innovations to make small business banking easier.
The first enhancement in this series enables Commonwealth bank-clients to set up a direct feed of their Commonwealth banking transactions directly into their Xero accounting platform. This marks the 60th financial institution Xero has partnered with to offer direct feeds to its users.
Small businesses can automatically import everyday accounts, loan accounts, and cash-management accounts to view in their Xero accounting platform. The direct feeds do not import historical transactions and usually take only 24 hours—instead of the previous 10-day waiting period—to begin importing.
This development is part of Xero’s efforts to make things simpler and more efficient for small business owners and their advisers. With direct feeds, they can view and manage their business bank accounts and accounting ledger together, on a single platform.
Last month Xero integrated with Wells Fargo, the largest small business bank in the United States, and already has partnerships with Silicon Valley Bank and City National Bank. Brett Pitts, head of digital for Wells Fargo, said that the partnership is “a very important first step.”
Xero most recently presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014 when the company’s Head of U.S. Partnerships David Pollock spoke about building an API-driven ecosystem for small businesses. At FinovateSpring 2011, CEO Rod Drury debuted the company’s Business Identification solution.