The Quest for the UKMP Bank Account

#1

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls I have recently stepped into the dark and murky world of small business banking in the hope of finding one which meets the needs of the UKMP.

My target was the UK section of Danske Bank. (Previously Northern Bank Ltd.)

This is what I was presented with:

Danske Bank enterprise Account. It carries a £12 monthly maintenance cost.

Manual transactions carry small fees, online transactions are free.

A full specification of the Enterprise Account’s features are stated on this website http://www.danskebank.co.uk/en-gb/Business/Pages/Business.aspx

Hover your mouse over the section labelled Small Business to access the relevant material.

The account can meet all of our requirements except for international signatories. It is UK law that all signatories on the account must present the original documents for identification and verification. Specifically a passport or utility bill with your current address on it.

Scanned signatures are totally illegal in the UK.

However, signatories are allowed to live wherever they like in the world as long as they present the documents in person.

If all signatories are present to set up the account, it can be active within one month.

It can be controlled 100% online.

…

Furthermore, the rich must be destroyed!

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#2

So the purpose of this thread was to see whether anyone had any opinions as to this offer from Danske bank and whether they think there’s anything missing from this. It’d be interesting to hear from people who run a business or are familiar with business accounts as the same banking needs apply to a party.

#3

Níall neglected to mention that he exchanged several emails, phone calls and actually met with the director of the local branch, which has proved really useful as it’s shown us that parties are essentially treated as businesses from a banks perspective and shown us what we need to take into consideration. Thank you Níall!

I think the best way to go about this is to create a spreadsheet comparing the different options. Tomorrow I’m going to create one a shared one on Google Docs and will look at the small business account offering of 3 different banks.

Send me a private message with your GMAIL if you’re reading this and would like to help with researching UK small business accounts - your assistance is much appreciated.

#4

This is the spreadsheet we’re working from: http://goo.gl/eXKX1a

If anyone would like to jump in and do research with us, please drop a PM or comment on here (you’ll need a Google account).

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#5

I think it is worthwhile for you to consider Santander as a strong candidate. As I have entered into the spreadsheet, this bank will provide a small business account with all ‘day to day bank transactions’ which includes withdrawals deposits cheques, online and all that for free.

Fees are only incurred after you go above a pre agreed limitation on how much you can withdraw. The monthly fee is the only thing you have to pay if you stick by the limits and don’t use the card outside the UK or on non-visa ATMs.

In addition to this, some Post Office branches can do transactions for you.