HSBC UK + VISA

MONEYSUPERMARKET: 2 IN 5 SMES USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ADVICE

Research conducted by MoneySuperMarket ahead of Social Media Day reveals that 41 % of 390 surveyed UK small and medium-sized enterprise( SME) decisionmakers turn to social media for business advice. The most popular topic for social media advice is self-assessment and tax returns at 31 %, followed by researching claimable business expenses at 24 %, while business banking and cashflow advice is the lowest at 14 %. Demographics strongly influence this behaviour: 5 % of owners with companies under five years old use social media“ very often” compared to just 2 % of those running businesses for over 35 years. Furthermore, only 6 % of microbusinesses with fewer than 10 employees utilise social media for support, whereas 25 % of medium-sized businesses with 50 to 249 employees use it“ quite often”. Thankfully, 44 % of decision-makers verify this social advice with accountants or official sources, prompting MoneySuperMarket’ s Alicia Hempsted to urge owners to fact-check all guidance against official government guidelines.

HSBC UK has teamed up with Visa to pilot an industry-first“ agentic commerce” system, successfully executing an end-to-end transaction using an AI agent on a live retail website. The technology allows consumers to delegate tasks like comparing products or booking travel directly to AI. Widespread merchant adoption will rely on Visa’ s existing card networks and robust biometric authentication.

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14 August 2026