By Ivan Maryasin, General Manager (Growth), Business Banking

When founders think about scaling their business, the focus is often on hiring talent, entering new markets, investing in technology, and winning new customers. Few spend the same amount of time thinking about how they’ll scale the financial infrastructure that supports them.

Yet as lower mid-market businesses grow, banking can become a hidden source of operational friction rather than an enabler of growth.

When growth outgrows banking infrastructure

Operational complexity tends to scale faster than team size or revenue. A business generating less than £5 million in revenue is likely to have a straightforward banking setup: a single legal entity, a handful of accounts, and relatively simple payment flows.

Fast forward a few years and the picture often looks very different. There may be multiple legal entities, overseas operations, acquisitions, investor reporting requirements, approval hierarchies, and hundreds of payments. Finance teams find themselves managing a web of accounts, systems, and processes that were never designed for a business of that size or complexity.

As a result, finance teams often spend too much time reconciling payments, tracking cash across accounts, and pulling together information from multiple systems. As businesses continue to grow, these manual processes become increasingly difficult to manage.

The outcome is reduced visibility, slower decision-making, and greater operational risk. According to PwC’s 2025 Global Treasury Survey, around 40% of treasury teams still do not operate a centralised banking or payments model, despite growing pressure for better visibility and control across increasingly complex organisations.

These challenges are not insurmountable, but the businesses that scale most successfully are those that recognise them early and invest in infrastructure that can grow alongside them.

An underserved middle

Many growing businesses find themselves caught between two banking models.

Traditional banks offer scale and balance sheet strength but often rely on legacy systems and fragmented processes. Meanwhile, digital challengers have simplified banking for smaller businesses but can lack the capabilities, flexibility, and relationship support required as organisations become more complex.

The result is an underserved middle: businesses that have outgrown simple banking tools but are not large enough to receive the attention traditionally reserved for major corporates.

For these businesses, managing banking efficiently isn’t simply about having an account. It’s about having the tools and expertise to support increasingly sophisticated operations.

That includes being able to manage multiple legal entities and accounts through a single online banking login, giving finance teams one consolidated view of their organisation rather than forcing them to switch between multiple platforms or credentials. As complexity grows, that kind of visibility can make a meaningful difference to both efficiency and decision-making.

Just as importantly, businesses need access to experienced people who understand the challenges that come with scaling. Technology can automate processes, but when businesses are expanding, acquiring companies, refinancing, or navigating periods of uncertainty, having a dedicated banking partner who understands the business and provides consistent, proactive support becomes increasingly valuable.

Banking should evolve as your business grows

As finance teams grow, banking increasingly becomes part of the organisation’s operating infrastructure. Managing multiple entities, overseeing approval workflows, maintaining visibility across accounts, and understanding cash flow in real time are no longer nice-to-haves. They are fundamental requirements for scaling successfully.

Expectations of banking partners are changing as a result. Businesses increasingly want the efficiency and usability of modern technology alongside the confidence that comes from having an experienced relationship team supporting them.

At OakNorth, we’ve built our Business Banking proposition specifically around these needs. Every customer is supported by a dedicated Business Partner, providing a single, consistent point of contact who understands the business, its ambitions, and the challenges it faces as it grows. Combined with technology designed for scaling businesses, this delivers the best of both worlds: high-tech capabilities backed by high-touch support.

Growth brings opportunity as well as complexity

Growth doesn’t just create operational complexity; it also changes how businesses should think about managing their cash.

As companies scale, they often build larger cash reserves to support investment, acquisitions, or future growth. Leaving those funds idle means missing an opportunity to improve treasury efficiency and generate additional returns.

Having access to a range of competitive savings products — including easy access, notice and fixed-term accounts — makes it easier for businesses to put surplus cash to work while maintaining the flexibility they need. As part of a broader treasury strategy, effective cash management becomes another way that banking can actively support growth rather than simply facilitate day-to-day operations.

Looking ahead

The strongest banking relationships will combine technology, data, and human expertise. Technology should remove friction, automate routine tasks, simplify complexity, and provide greater visibility across an organisation. Equally, experienced banking partners who understand a business’s ambitions and can provide tailored guidance remain invaluable.

Growth inevitably creates complexity. The businesses that navigate it most successfully are those that invest early in the systems, processes, and partnerships that allow them to scale with confidence.

Banking should be part of that foundation—not an obstacle to it.