Masterclass Banking 101: Starting and nurturing a positive relationship with a Bank

Irene Yiannourou, Manager of Large Corporate Centres at Bank of Cyprus, took the stage at Zena Palace for Inspire 2024 Entrepreneurial Festival. Bank of Cyprus is a proud gold sponsor of this year’s festival.

Yiannourou delved into how a startup can build and enhance its relationship with the bank. Modern businesses she noted have to face many challenges: economic crisis, geopolitical crises, wars taking place, the effects of the Ukrainian war, the challenge of digitalization, green transition and inflation.

Another major challenge for a startups is access to liquidity. Venture capital sources provide one way but there are also the banks that gives access to capital, liquidity and funding. As she noted there is a general negative notion towards banks deriving from interest rates to the perception from startups that it is very difficult to access funding due to the required criteria and bureaucracy.

She indicated that it is very important to understand how a bank comes to a decision to support a startup or business and, as she noted, an important factor affecting the decision is a good business model.

A well-supported business plan is required, based on realistic conditions and taking into account the sector’s challenges, what the ultimate goal is and the way it can be achieved. This information package should be prepared before they go to the bank.

Once it begins, this relationship needs to be constantly enhanced and have open communication with transparency, exchange of views, and frequent updates so that good or bad things that impact the company can be addressed.

There is always an idea, passion and development behind a startup Yiannourou said, however at the same time this requires to be be backed up by a business plan and info package to make the bank believe in their vision and embark to this journey side by side.