Which bank for a general client funds account?

Santander say they won't do an undesignated account.

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We have our practice bank accounts with Santander so thought it would be a good idea to have our client funds account with them too but they say they don't offer that service for accountants (only solicitors and estate agents).  They will open up designated accounts for every single client we get tax refunds for but surely this isn't necessary.  The money comes in from HMRC one day and leaves the very same day to pay our fees and the rest to the client.  The amounts could be a few thousand pounds but never anywhere near £10,000.  We are an ACCA memeber firm and their guidance suggests an undesignated account would be acceptable but as Santander disagree I'm wondering what other small practices do?  Can anyone recommend a good general client funds account?

Thanks in advance

Replies (10)

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By daniel_
24th May 2018 15:47

We have an undesignated client account with Lloyds. However we've had it for many years, I'm not certain they haven't changed their policy since.

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By James Green
24th May 2018 17:59

We have undesignated account with Lloyd’s

We opened it in 2016.

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ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
24th May 2018 18:02

This is the exact reason that I moved to Barclays last year. They even gave me 6 months free banking whilst I shut the Santander accounts down.

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Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
24th May 2018 18:03

Plus the Barclays app opens on fingerprint, not the password & PIN like Santander.

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Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
Quack
By Constantly Confused
29th May 2018 17:12

Quote:

Plus the Barclays app opens on fingerprint, not the password & PIN like Santander.

My Santander app opens to my fingerprint...

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By birdman
29th May 2018 10:52

No idea why Santander wouldn't offer to accountants, as it's basically just a "no right of offset/aggregation" clause and debiting bank charges to the office account, so the nature of the account holder's business is surely irrelevant? If correct you'll have to move bank imho, as I doubt another bank would offer this as a stand-alone service.

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By johnjenkins
29th May 2018 11:30

I took out a treasurers account with Santander many years ago for that sole purpose. I'm not sure if they still do it but it works perfectly for me with no bank charges.

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By Clear123
29th May 2018 15:08

I am also ACCA qualified and banked with Santander. They wouldn't give me a client account, which was a shame as I liked the way the account operated. I had to move to Barclays in order to get a client account, but they wouldn't provide it as a stand alone account so I had to move my business current account to them as well. Their fees are £1 a month cheaper than Santander but you have to pay to bank cheques which Santanter don't do.

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By SXGuy
30th May 2018 09:49

I opened up a santander business account a few weeks back. Client account was offered but did say extra checks would be done before approval. But they didn't say I couldn't have one.

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By BigBadWolf
02nd Jun 2018 16:37

https://www.santander.co.uk/uk/business/savings/client-saver

the above seems to suggest it would be open to all businesses regulated by an appropriate body, I would have thought ACCA would make that list.

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