Business bank account for holding company

[JCKST1]

Evening guys,


I run a few a few companies and we use various banks, the main company is with Barclays and has been for about 8 years, the two smaller companies we are with Starling & tide as they are sufficient for their needs.

They all work ok, Barclays being the main one which has quite a bit of money in the account and approx 500k in turn over however in the whole time I have been with them I have never really seen any loyalty, incentives or even a call for an update which personally I think is a bit stty of them.

I am now moving to a holding company set up via my accountant and will initially be putting approx 140k in the account to start with another 60k-80k by the end of the year. This company will be mainly used to purchase assets cash which will then (after work) be moved to some of the sub companies or sold for a profit so it will have quite a high turnover and regular large payments put in it.

Obviously I need an account for this holding company and Barclays was my first thought but then I think if I am doing the above there should really be some benefits for choosing them again?

Can anyone else recommend a bank who might be able to help, I am not interested in Starling/Tide etc as I need a 'proper' bank for this, some of the assets will be BTL properties so it would be good to build up a relationship with the bank/account manager.

I have heard of Barclays premier business banking if thats an option or an alternative?

[StevieBee]

In what way is Starling et-al not a 'proper' bank?

I've put similar sums to you through three of the big ones over the past 20 years but currently using Starling and Metro and would say that these are the best of the lot in terms of service.

Metro even has biscuits for the dog!

[JCKST1]

StevieBee said:

In what way is Starling et-al not a 'proper' bank?

I've put similar sums to you through three of the big ones over the past 20 years but currently using Starling and Metro and would say that these are the best of the lot in terms of service.

Metro even has biscuits for the dog!

In regards to a 'proper' bank I mean one I can go to on the high street to withdraw cash at varying levels and have someone on hand should I need assistance.

As mentioned above I am with Starling and Tide with my other companies and they dont do anything wrong but sometimes you need a high street bank and as mentioned one who I can perhaps work with for years to come in regards to moving properties in to a mortgaged portfolio, additional lending etc. This is where the online banks fall short.

[simonrockman]

Run away from Tide. Very fast. We got a payment they deemed suspicious, so didn't put it into our account. They just sat on it. They didn't tell us they had done it so I was ready to bk my customer for non-payment before we found out what happened. It took days of extreme action to get it sorted.
Extreme including turning up at their office to find that it was an empty floor they had never moved into, lots of social media posts and ultimately posting the CEO's private email address on their support forum. Until I did that they ignored all emails.

[JCKST1]

simonrockman said:

Run away from Tide. Very fast. We got a payment they deemed suspicious, so didn't put it into our account. They just sat on it. They didn't tell us they had done it so I was ready to bk my customer for non-payment before we found out what happened. It took days of extreme action to get it sorted.
Extreme including turning up at their office to find that it was an empty floor they had never moved into, lots of social media posts and ultimately posting the CEO's private email address on their support forum. Until I did that they ignored all emails.

We use it on a very basic business/side line but I am very wary of the new pop up banks, I previously tried N26 for a basic personal EU account to pay utility bills etc at a property abroad. There wasn't a huge amount in the account (maybe 2-3k) and all of a sudden the account was locked, no warning, the app was not letting us log in etc and this went on for about 4-5 weeks, due to some technicality we had fell outside their T&C's and that was it, they sat on our money until they could be arsed to look in to it. The calls/live chat were to an indian call centre who were reading from a script telling us to email the support team.

It was a right pain in the arse because all out bills then were overdrawn and we had to set up another EU account shortly after, this is why I want to stay away from these banks with the holding company, if I am purchasing a property cash at below market value its about being quick and if for some reason my account gets locked then from past experience its not easy where as HSBC, Barclays etc I can go to the bank or have a proper account manager to fix the problem.

[simonrockman]

JCKST1 said:

We use it on a very basic business/side line but I am very wary of the new pop up banks, I previously tried N26 for a basic personal EU account to pay utility bills etc at a property abroad. There wasn't a huge amount in the account (maybe 2-3k) and all of a sudden the account was locked, no warning, the app was not letting us log in etc and this went on for about 4-5 weeks, due to some technicality we had fell outside their T&C's and that was it, they sat on our money until they could be arsed to look in to it. The calls/live chat were to an indian call centre who were reading from a script telling us to email the support team.

It was a right pain in the arse because all out bills then were overdrawn and we had to set up another EU account shortly after, this is why I want to stay away from these banks with the holding company, if I am purchasing a property cash at below market value its about being quick and if for some reason my account gets locked then from past experience its not easy where as HSBC, Barclays etc I can go to the bank or have a proper account manager to fix the problem.

For Tide an Indian Call Centre would be the luxury service. The battle I had with them was crazy, and I was not alone. The forums are a litany of complaints. But they have taken action. They are shutting the forums. When I visited the ghost office the security guard told me that there was a regular stream of angry customers and indeed while I was there another turned up. They deem rapid resonse, from sending an email to support, to calling you, to be 36 hours. Mostly they send a standard holding email and ignore you. I would never go near Tide again.

[Al Gorithum]

It's surprisingly difficult to open a business account at the big banks recently. Covid hasn't helped but the compliance regulations for KYC and AML are very stringent so they're nervous of new accounts.

IIRC, turnovers up to £2m are deal with at the SME management level, but there are 2 levels higher. I've just opened an account for a £100m revenue business.

[sleepezy]

I had major hassle setting up an account for a holding company when I tried to use any of the online banks - I simply got 'computer says no' with the automated application process and given that experience I wouldn't use them either.

I used the same mainstream bank as my trading companies - all set up quickly and easily, and left me glad I didn't use a Tide or similar for those companies. That said I think the challenger banks are fine for very small enterprises in general.

I'm not sure what you're expecting from Barclays with a company turning over only 500k - you won't really have a relationship manager at that level (unless you're in the risk team ) and the RM you may have will simply have too many clients to have any level of personal contact.

Also, be careful with shifting assets about particularly with properties - you don't want to trigger stamp duty or costs of avoiding it unnecessarily (yes, I know there are reliefs but there are also restrictions) but I presume you're getting advice given you're already talking to your accountant.

If you're putting a new hold co above a trading company (or companies) I'd use a lawyer (at least I did when I did it)

[LooneyTunes]

JCKST1 said:

In regards to a 'proper' bank I mean one I can go to on the high street to withdraw cash at varying levels and have someone on hand should I need assistance.

As mentioned above I am with Starling and Tide with my other companies and they dont do anything wrong but sometimes you need a high street bank and as mentioned one who I can perhaps work with for years to come in regards to moving properties in to a mortgaged portfolio, additional lending etc. This is where the online banks fall short.

If you want to drop in and meet the manager on the high street then you’ll find that this is where many banks fall down too. Few have their business banking teams on the high street (and when I dealt with a couple who did, the business relationship managers were about 12 and knew sweet FA).

Go a step higher from Business to Corporate banking (if you qualify) and the RM almost certainly won’t be on the high st. You can still get/deposit cash but the person dealing with your account won’t be in branch.

The main benefit of having holdco/opco structure with the same bank is that you benefit from (virtually immediate and often free), book to book transfers when you move money and often integrated account management (see all accounts in one place).

If you’re buying properties cash, do you have a personal banking RM? If so, if you’re happy with the service you’ve got from them, my suggestion would be that you ask them to introduce you to the relevant business/corporate team (and help access the best one even if you might not otherwise qualify). There can be more to it than simply turnover, even though this is often a pretty blunt filter.

As an aside, given what you want to do, hopefully your accountant is good and having been through the structure has taken you through the considerations around VAT groups and SDLT exemptions, if not, deficit have a chat with them about these.

[simonrockman]

Al Gorithum said:

It's surprisingly difficult to open a business account at the big banks recently. Covid hasn't helped but the compliance regulations for KYC and AML are very stringent so they're nervous of new accounts.

For the business I work for, we ended up with a Barclays account because the CFO had a relationship with them through other businesses she looked after. I'm disappointed that we didn't go with the CEO's bank: Drummonds.

I think if I was looking for a new account I'd go to Handelsbanken. But that's for private accounts, not business.

[LooneyTunes]

simonrockman said:

I think if I was looking for a new account I'd go to Handelsbanken. But that's for private accounts, not business.

Much depends on the individual office with HB. Some are great and people rave about them but the one near me was awful and did not deliver what they said they would. Moved on after a few months. Unless things have changed they won't be able to sort his cash needs either.

[Al Gorithum]

LooneyTunes said:

Much depends on the individual office with HB. Some are great and people rave about them but the one near me was awful and did not deliver what they said they would. Moved on after a few months. Unless things have changed they won't be able to sort his cash needs either.

Handlesbank isn't accepting new business at the moment.