Most comparison sites are built by marketers. Business Expert was built by someone who spent over 45 years working inside the financial institutions whose products this site reviews.
That is not a slogan. It is a practical difference that shapes every review, every comparison table, and every piece of advice published on this site.
When you read a Capital on Tap review, a business bank account comparison, or a guide to invoice finance on Business Expert, you are reading analysis informed by someone who worked at a senior level inside credit card issuers, a licensed bank, and two of the UK’s largest insurance and pensions providers. Not someone who researched those products by reading a provider’s press release.
That is what makes Business Expert different. And in a market flooded with anonymous affiliate sites chasing commission, it matters.
The Experience Behind Every Review
Business Expert was founded in 2014 by Mike Smith and Tony Smith. Mike brings over 45 years of hands-on, senior business development experience across the full spectrum of UK business finance, gained at the institutions whose products this site covers.
| Credit Cards & Store Cards | Mike served as Head of Business Development at Laser UK, the UK operating group of the LaSer Group, jointly owned by BNP Paribas and Galeries Lafayette. Laser UK operated three entities: Creation Financial Services, Creation Consumer Finance, and Sygma Bank UK. At its peak the group managed over 4 million customers and financed more than £1.4 billion in credit annually. BNP Paribas remains the largest credit card provider in Europe. |
| Licensed Banking | Sygma Bank UK, part of the Laser UK group, was a licensed UK bank issuing Mastercard store cards and personal loans to UK consumers. Mike’s role spanned the group’s operations, giving him direct experience of how a regulated bank operates at the product and commercial level, knowledge that directly informs Business Expert’s banking reviews. |
| Insurance & Pensions | Mike held Business Development Director positions at Legal & General, one of the UK’s largest financial services groups, which also operated Legal & General Bank. He also held the position of National Development Manager at Sun Alliance Life & Pensions, a major UK provider of business protection and workplace pensions. He advised corporate and SME clients on financial planning, protection and pensions strategy at board level. |
“I spent decades on the other side of the table, helping structure products, helping set the pricing, and negotiating the terms that business owners then had to navigate. When I review a credit card or a bank account on Business Expert, I know what the provider is not putting in the summary box. That is what I bring to every page on this site.”
Mike Smith, Founder, Business Expert
This depth of cross-sector experience, spanning credit cards, retail finance, licensed banking, life insurance, and pensions, is rare in financial publishing. It is the foundation on which Business Expert was built, and the reason its reviews go further than most.
Why the Founder’s Background Matters to You
Financial comparison content sits in the highest-stakes category of online information. Google classifies it as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) because a poor decision based on bad advice can have serious, lasting consequences for a business owner.
Yet the vast majority of what you find when searching for business finance guidance is produced by:
- Affiliate marketing businesses whose editorial decisions are driven by commission rates
- Content agencies writing from desk research, with no hands-on product experience
- Large consumer finance sites that treat business products as a secondary category
- Anonymous sites with no named expert, no verifiable background, and no accountability
The result is that most comparison content tells you what a product costs. It rarely tells you how the product is actually structured, where the real risks sit, or what the provider is incentivised not to highlight. That insider knowledge is what Business Expert brings.
Built from the inside out
Our founder held senior roles at the institutions whose products we review. We understand how these products are designed and priced, not just how they are marketed to you.
Written for UK business owners
Every review on Business Expert is written specifically for UK SME directors and entrepreneurs, not consumers, not corporates. The questions we answer are the ones you actually face.
Transparent about how we operate
We disclose all commercial relationships clearly on every page. Referral fees do not determine our editorial assessments. We will recommend a product we earn nothing from if it is genuinely the best option for you.
Our Editorial Standards
Business Expert operates under a formal editorial policy. In plain terms, this means:
- Every review is based on publicly available product information, verified directly against the provider’s own published terms and conditions
- All pages display a published date and a last-reviewed date, as financial products change frequently and we update accordingly
- Where a product changes materially (new fees, eligibility changes, rate updates) we aim to update the relevant page within 30 days
- Commercial relationships are disclosed on every page that carries an affiliate or referral link
- Our editorial assessments are made independently of which providers pay referral fees. A product we earn commission from can still receive a critical review
- Pages covering high-stakes financial decisions are reviewed by Mike Smith before publication
- We do not publish content designed primarily to rank for traffic. We publish content designed to be genuinely useful to a business owner making a real financial decision
How we make money, and why it does not compromise our reviews
Business Expert is free to use. We earn referral commission from some providers featured on the site. When you follow a link and subsequently sign up for a product, we may receive a payment from that provider.
This is standard practice for independent comparison sites and is how we fund the research, writing and ongoing maintenance of the content.
It does not affect our editorial independence. We have recommended products that pay us no commission. We have given critical assessments to products whose providers are commercial partners. Our reputation for honest analysis is worth more to us, and to you, than any individual referral fee.
Every page that contains a referral link carries a clear advertising disclosure at the top. We do not hide commercial relationships in footer small print.
What Business Expert Covers
Business Expert focuses exclusively on financial and operational products for UK business owners. We do not cover consumer finance, personal credit cards, or retail mortgages. Our scope is deliberately focused so that our analysis can be genuinely deep.
| Business Bank Accounts | Current accounts, savings accounts, international accounts, reviewed with an understanding of what a growing UK SME actually needs from its bank, not what a consumer needs. |
| Business Credit Cards | Cashback, Avios, expense management, credit limits, reviewed by someone with direct experience on the issuer side of these products, including how approval decisions are made and where the real costs sit. |
| Business Loans & Finance | Unsecured loans, asset finance, invoice finance, bridging loans, development finance, assessed against real-world SME cash flow needs and director risk. |
| Payment Processing | Card machines, payment gateways, EPOS systems, merchant accounts, compared on the criteria that matter to a business taking payments, including contract terms and exit clauses. |
| Money Transfer | International payments, FX services, currency accounts, reviewed with an understanding of how exchange rate costs affect business margins over time. |
| Business Insurance & Pensions | Public liability, professional indemnity, business protection, workplace pensions, reviewed with direct experience of how these products are structured, underwritten and sold. |
About Business Expert
Business Expert was founded in 2014 and is operated by BusinessExpert (UK) Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 09048387). Our registered office is Level 18, 40 Bank Street, London, E14 5NR.
We are an independent comparison and information site. We are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and do not provide financial advice, lending, insurance or brokerage services.
The content on this site is for information and educational purposes only. If you are unsure which financial product is right for your business, we recommend speaking with a qualified financial adviser or your accountant.
Meet the team
Read more about Mike Smith’s background and career, and meet the editorial team behind Business Expert’s research and reviews.
Start Exploring
Whether you are choosing your first business bank account, comparing credit cards for your team, or trying to understand the true cost of card processing, Business Expert gives you the analysis to make a confident, informed decision.