I’m one of five directors at Leigh Hackspace CIC, a CIC is like a Ltd, except profits are reinvested and assets are there for the benefit of the public.
We currently have a Co-op bank account, it’s been an absolute pain with adding additional directors with the various forms and customer services not understanding their own processes.
Our main Tool is Xero, this is connected to our business bank account and syncs every so often. We also use GoCardless for membership subscriptions, and iZettle for card payments.
Processes aren’t very well documented and customer service don’t fully understand it so making a change to the bank account can take a while.
I’m the director of a limited company, which is currently dormant, so not in the market for a new account right now. It has the free banking for life deal from Santander, which I got when it was called Abbey National. The only bank now that does free business banking is Starling.
Web access is a must have, along with ability to integrate with accounting software and export to spreadsheet.
At work, we manage money for some pretty large international companies. We mostly use Barclays Wealth for that. Probably not your target market, we need things like bank guarantees and letters of credit, which legacy banks are good at, and the newer Fintech banks don’t offer. Also things like being able to set up payments, and not have them go out until another person approves it. Budgeting stuff is not important as we have our own software which integrates with the bank for that.
I think you need to segment the market into different types of business.
Contractors and Freelancers with one or maybe a few invoices per month that get paid by bank transfer: Their requirements will be very simlar to a personal account + the requirement to analyse stuff for tax purposes, so links to accounting software
Small traders who sell to the public and receive cash + card payments
Internet traders who need to accept online payments and interface with their selling platform
Business with multiple owners and more than one person operating the bank account
The main feature I’d like to see is for the bank account to support the Open Banking protocol, so that any accounting package can get a bank feed directly into the accounts package without going through a third party like Yodlee. (I will not use third party screen scrapers like this because you have to give them your banking login details - which is a security risk).
I see the article refers to a fee. Before a bunch of people weigh in and complain, let me say I’d be happy to pay a fee comparable to my existing business bank, for Monzo levels of functionality and service.
Some of the most exciting news I’ve read in a while. Would really love to be part of the trial - Monzo is everything I’ve ever wanted from a bank and to be able to bring this to my business would be so refreshing.
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
A social media consultancy. Limited Company.
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Creating, chasing, reconciling invoices
Completing tax return
Generating expense claims with receipts
Creating work contracts for new projects
Predicting / managing cashflow as an independent freelancer
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Xero
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Lacks ability to receive payments in multiple currencies with low or no fees (only accepts £ or €)
No ability to have a linked business account to save / separate my tax liability funds across the year
Like that it connects to Xero for quick and easy accounting reconciliation
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Xero integration
Ability to receive payments in $, £, € with low or no fees
Ability to separate funds saved to cover tax liability across the year.
Ability to create, send, manage invoices all in one place alongside banking
Ability to create, manage expenses with receipts in one app/one place next to banking setup
Useful tools to predict upcoming cash shortfalls or to advise on cashflow linked to invoices still unpaid vs. account balance vs tax liability vs expenses vs. bills due … to help me better understand my financial position.
Smart ways to integrate how i manage my Monzo current account with my Monzo Business account.
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Sole director of 1-person limited company.
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
International bank features (most of my purchases are online in USD)
poor/non-existent budgeting options, meaning I need to set up a separate biz savings account for taxes. This is cumbersome and can’t be connected to direct debits so I need to schedule transfers ahead of when VAT/corp tax direct debits are due to come out.
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Xero for all invoicing, payroll and book-keeping.
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
International fees, poor online banking experience. Like that it connects to Xero, albeit the next day rather than in real time.
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Automatically push transactions into Xero immediately.
Separate pots for VAT and corp tax would be nice too.
Probably out of scope for this thread (as it’s not a current account feature) but the biggest win for my business would be a Monzo business credit card for the extra payment protection and 1 month’s cashflow security it gives, integrating into Xero.
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
LTD company, 1 director
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Expenses, VAT and interface with accounting software (currently sage cloud due to my accountant’s preferences)
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
HSBC Business Banking app, Sage, Excel, Expensify
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Slow, lack of history & tagging facilities as for my Monzo personal account. No expense tracking facility. On the positive side, it allows me to do all day to day banking, uses biometric security now, has an interface to accounting platforms for current account.
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
The core features of my Monzo personal account plus interface to accounting platforms. Direct link to Expensify or equivalent features built-in.
I signed up to the waiting list, but I imagine I’m probably not one of the first few to do it. Really, really want to be able to drop all challengers, and truly to #FullMonzo! XD
I’m Jack - I’m working on Business Banking alongside Jordan and the rest of the Business Banking Team
I just wanted to drop in on this thread and say a huge thank you to everyone who’s contributed so far! Your responses are hugely useful, and we’re reading every single one!
Please let me know if you’ve got any questions about our trial, or business banking in general. Happy to chat
I’d love to go monzo now for business though I use transferwise business account when transferring to the Irish business account I have with aib but that’s an old bank which was bailed out by the Irish government and charges heavily in fees for everything on personal accounts and business accounts not any better except two years free upfront on first account then downhill from there though having a monzo business account would make life so much easier for me when no bank in UK will give a business account I’m still finding life harder than it should be. I’m not big not got best credit score I ain’t going to pay in mega bucks to the account to generate massive profit for the bank I might have low balances etc but rbs said I used the account I had there like a personal account and they closed it was not happy one bit it’s time I was treated as a real person and not what a computer tells you as that’s not the real me the person behind the business and the one who will use the account.
Accounting. Mainly trying to get statements to send to the accountant, they wouldn’t accept just a CSV, HAS to be headed etc…
Just my accountants app
Easy to pop in and talk to someone when it’s urgent. The online 2FA is a joke. Their password ISNT case sensitive, so I can’t have a secure password. Srsly.
Ease. Easily to navigate, get my data and get back to my
Oh and identifiable different card. I can’t be making personal spending on my BS account and having to undo the mess.
Hi Jack. Nice to meet you. So is the trial underway, did my application make the first 100 on the waitlist? I haven’t received an email so I am guessing no. Do you know how much the business banking will cost? Good luck with the trial and hope you create something really useful