Vadim Culea: How to choose the right bank when starting your first business? Exploring the TISA formula

I believe in mathematics in business. Just as any venture must be launched with careful calculations of profit, the first bank should be chosen based on calculations: how much it will cost and how much you will gain from the future collaboration.

I recommend a general formula, which we can call the TISA formula – Transactions, Innovations, Support, and Applications. We can set a maximum score of 10 points and assign each category a weight of 25% in the final score. For simplicity, we select the top 3 banks per category.

Transactions  

Here we calculate the direct costs of the operations planned to be carried out through the bank. The math is mostly straightforward, but there are some particularities that need attention. So, we take the main operations the enterprise plans to execute through the bank and analyze the banks’ fees for these operations.

For example, if I open a coffee sales point, I anticipate at least the following types of bank transactions:

• payments in MDL (for purchasing products from suppliers);
• collections via POS terminals (from coffee buyers paying with cards);
• salary cards for employees who will sell the coffee;
• foreign currency payments for purchasing equipment from abroad at the start of the investment.

Next, we analyze the fees that banks propose for these transactions, include them in a table, and determine where it is cheaper for the company to operate. The fees are published by all banks on their official websites, under the corporate banking section.   

At this stage, it is necessary to pay attention to certain specifics that may be overlooked at first glance:

• the formula for calculating fees. In the case of POS terminals, for example, the fee for payments made with cards issued by the bank that installed the POS is lower than for cards issued by other banks. Therefore, it is more cost-effective to install a POS with the bank that has the largest number of cards in circulation on the market.
• Package offers. Some banks propose a single price for a bundle of transactions, which is lower than the sum of individual transaction fees. An example of this is the packages offered by maib -  Business Packages for Companies – maib banking solutions.

Finally, we will rank them according to the following criteria:  

1. the bank with the lowest fees – 10 points;
2. for an average difference of 10% compared to the winner – minus 1 point per percentage point.

Therefore, if a bank has an average price 21% higher than the bank in first place, the first-place bank will receive 10 points, and the second-place bank will receive 8 points.

Innovations

Here we analyze the banks’ offers in terms of innovation and technology. Continuing the example above, we would examine:

• payments in MDL: the possibility to make all payments remotely (3 points);
• POS-terminals: how modern the POS terminals are, whether they can integrate fiscalization operations, etc. (2 points);
• salary cards: whether there are benefits for employees, such as cashback, lower interest rates on loans, etc. (2 points)
• foreign currency payments: whether they can be made through the app, and if payments can be executed in both EUR and USD, etc. (3 points).

In this category, I would draw attention to banks’ ecosystem offerings. Some banks provide unique services that help save extra time and money — such as accounting and consulting services, procurement publishing, bancassurance, check your counterparty, and more. A key point to consider for those starting a new business is the training programs for entrepreneurs that banks organize. These programs offer practical advice that can directly help entrepreneurs grow their business.   

Here, we also apply a scoring system and select the top 3 banks in this category.

Support  

This is an extremely important category, representing the solutions banks provide to offer immediate support whenever needed. During business operations, particular situations will arise that require quick advice from banking specialists: what to do if something gets blocked, which documents need to be attached for a foreign payment, how to obtain a bank loan, how to switch to a new package, and so on.

Within this analysis, we examine the support channels offered by banks and the main customer experience indicators:

• branches - the possibility to resolve a request at any branch (3 points);
• dedicated business support phone line (3 points);
• chat on multiple channels: website, Telegram, Viber, Facebook. Notably, maib is the only bank in Moldova currently offering AI chat for business (2 points);
• chat within the Internet and mobile banking application (2 points).

The sources for this information are the banks’ official websites.

Here too, we select the top 3 banks and assign them a score from 1 to 10, depending on how comprehensive their solutions are.

Applications   

Probably the most important category. Here, we analyze - using available sources - the presence of an Internet Banking application, the availability of a mobile version, the list of operations that can be performed through the apps, 24/7 accessibility, as well as design and user-friendliness.

It is a bit more complicated to assess the performance level of the applications, since access to each app is only granted once you become a client of that bank. Therefore, it is necessary to identify other sources of information. Here, I recommend checking the banks’ Facebook pages or the “News” sections on their official websites, monitoring announcements regarding updates or new functionalities of the Internet/mobile banking apps, as well as reading the comments on these posts. Another source could be calling the support line to inquire about the functionalities of the Internet/mobile banking applications.

The main criteria on which I recommend applying a scoring system for a newly established enterprise in this category are as follows:

• existence of a mobile application (i.e., an app for mobile phones, not just desktop) – 3 points;
• ability to open new accounts directly from the app – 1 point;
• ability to make foreign currency payments – 1 point;
• ability to perform currency exchange – 1 point;
• ability to pay salaries to cards – 1 point;
• more than 2 transaction authorization options – 1 point;
• ability to make payments in the evening and on weekends – 1 point (this option allows entering payments at any time, including weekends, with funds reaching the beneficiary’s account immediately);
• existence of an integrated chat within the app – 1 point.

The points are summed up, and the top 3 banks are selected for this category as well.

Final ranking 

I recommend selecting the bank by analyzing two final criteria:

1. number of appearances in the four categories;
2. final score for banks with the same number of appearances.

I wouldn’t rely solely on the final score, because there can be cases where a bank is excellent in one category but extremely weak in another. For example, it might have very low fees for daily operations but offer no Internet Banking application at all etc. For this reason, the number of appearances in the top 3 for each category is more important than a very high score in just one area. This approach ensures that the selected bank performs consistently across all key dimensions.

Alternative approach

If you have limited time to choose a bank and the math above seems a bit complicated, you could go with market recommendations. According to an independent survey, the most recommended bank by administrators, owners, and accountants of small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova is maib, with a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 61. The next two banks in the top ranking have NPS scores of 49 and 44, respectively.

Another figure that could help with the final selection is the most preferred bank among newly established companies in Moldova. This bank is also maib - more than 50% of all newly created companies open their bank accounts with maib within the first six months of their establishment.

Finally, I would recommend also looking at figures related to SME lending. The first is the market share in loans granted to small and medium-sized enterprises. In this regard, the leader is maib - 37% of all SME loans in Moldova are provided by maib, while the next bank holds around 17%. The second figure is the number of loans granted—approximately 50% of all SME loans issued in Moldova over the past 12 months were financed by maib.

Disclaimer  

The recommendations in this article are intended for entrepreneurs starting their first business and not necessarily for those with more business experience who are looking for advice on changing their current bank. For this reason, I have only briefly mentioned credit products. Typically, banks offer very limited - or sometimes no - financing options for newly established companies. Therefore, for businesses that wish to switch their current bank, we could provide a separate list of recommendations if there is confirmed interest.