Small-Business Banking Has a Segmentation Problem

The term “small business” has traditionally functioned as a sort of economic shorthand. Banks, payment companies, FinTech firms, and even policymakers spoke about small-and-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as if they formed a single commercial bloc moving through the economy at roughly the same speed and under roughly the same conditions. But new findings in the May 2026 edition of the Main Street Health Index by PYMNTS Intelligence reveal that Main Street is no longer moving as one economy.