I’d disagree. They are functioning as any private bank would do except from they don’t have an application criteria for their bank account.
However for their business account they do. You can only open a business account with them via an accountant who will set up your account with Cater Allen for you and will have access to your account just as you would.
The purpose of a private bank account is to have features that Cater Allen has that other banks don’t such as having beneficiaries and account holder mandates etc.
I’ve just come back from foreign climes to test drive the Euro account. I started with low expectations and still ended up disappointed.
Contactless worked absolutely fine but each debit card transaction didn’t update the balance in online banking for at least two days. I’d previously linked it with my Lloyds account via Open Banking and could see a balance update there after about 24 hours. Still rubbish though.
I thought it would be a great family holiday spend asset if you choose the option to add 3 x other account holders / debit cards to the account, but it would be a complete nightmare to track spend and only vaguely suitable if running a high enough balance to ensure you don’t go anywhere near running out of money.
It’s beyond useless due to how slow it updates. Only usable if you have bags of money and never have to worry about running out, but then you have a million better options.