Opening start-up business bank accounts

Opening start-up business bank accounts

Didn't find your answer?

Having opened many personal business bank accounts over the past 45 years, I have suddenly been confronted by what seems to be ridiculous barriers.

I would like to know :

What are your recent experiences as Accountant/Adviser?

Did you find the account opening staff refusing to talk with you, the adviser (or even company secretary)?

Recent experience:

1. Bank A suggested that we do not apply there as it would take many weeks!

2. Bank B said to apply inline as it would be quicker. Application submitted online on 10th August. This was followed on 12th August with an acknowledgement stating that there would be a follow-up phone call lasting 20 or so minutes. The caller would ONLY speak to the Director/Signatory. I sat in with the call, was introduced by the Director and answered the business questions. Subsequently, I was appointed Company Secretary and felt able as such to chase up progress. This was NOT ACCEPTABLE. So - a subsequent call was made after getting together with the Director. Late in August we were verbally advised that stage one was complete and that there would be a follow-up call to the Director to complete a couple of questions before the account was allocated. This did not happen. A further chase resulted in a Branch appointment on the "19th of September" where the Business Manager began the "account opening process". When we advised her of recent events, she went online, verified what we said, and she re-submitted the original application saying that mandates would be sent out and received in three days. This was followed up later that day by a telephone call from the Bank wanting to talk to the Director "only" and, (they would not even admit to me who the call was from) and from a subsequent email it was clear that we were back at stage one at the account opening procedure. An email to the Business Manager was followed by a reply saying that they were "trying to sort the mess" but we must talk to the account opening people who have "some further questions".

We spent the remainder of that afternoon trying to make contact. We did not.

I am not new to this Bank. I have half a dozen business and personal accounts there, one of which was opening in the "eighties".

In March I opened a start-up company bank account in one week with Bank A. I am now told that that could take up to 16 weeks.

On trying to track down what is going on, bank staff just say that that things have now changed at that I "best try other Banks as our check lists make it impossible to quickly open accounts".

This has been a costly exercise and we have now missed the peak season for this new business.

This is worse than when the MLA was first introduced and I feel I must research an alternative to the usual high street banks.

Advice and comments please.         

Replies (3)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By bernard michael
20th Sep 2014 10:37

The short answer is they don't want start ups as they cause too many problems for jobsworths

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Manchester_man
20th Sep 2014 14:54

The whole local banking system has become a shambles.

I had similar problems when opening my own ltd company account. The 'business manager' was fresh out of school and insisted on seeing my qualifications before she would open the account. This was because when she clicked the drop down box on the computer for 'type of business' the computer apparently asked for evidence of qualifications so she was only following what the computer said!
She knew absolutely NOTHING about accountants and evidently knew very little about business in general.
Told me I wasn't showing on companies house as director so I checked whilst sat there on my phone and I was clearly listed.
Told me that the company couldn't have just one director / shareholder. I had to enlighten her on the Companies Act 2006.

I wish it was like it used to be when bank managers knew their stuff. When they knew their local business community. When you could ring the manager directly.

This, by the way, is one of the main high street banks.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Adam Claydon
20th Sep 2014 15:27

Building up relationships with local bank manager

The key to sorting these problems is to not have them in the first place.  Build up good relationships with local bank managers and find out what they specialise in.  eg bank A might prefer startups where as bank B is looking for larger corporate customers.  So when a client comes a long who is needing to open a bank account, listen to their needs and recommend the most suitable bank and always do the introduction yourself.  You will find that if you introduce a client to the bank they are happier to share information.

It's all about networking and who you know not what you know!!

Thanks (0)