How to Open a Business Account with Barclays

A business account is an essential element of simplified and streamlined business accounting that your business can’t really grow without. Such traditional and well-established banks as Barclays may be the right choice if you wish to open a business account accompanied by proven expertise in your area of business and fundamental tools to manage your day-to-day financial operations.

While it’s not always mandatory for a business to have a separate business account, it still offers undeniable benefits. Having your business transactions separate from your personal transactions will save you time when you have to sort your company’s expenses, calculate profit, calculate taxes and perform other financial actions. Moreover, you’ll gain access to the expertise of business banking managers who’ll support the development of your business.

What You Need to Know About Barclays

If you’re looking for a bank with deep traditions, rich history and a track record of endured economic, political and other kinds of storms, this is probably it as the roots of Barclays bank reach 1690 when it was initiated as a goldsmith banking business. Today, it’s a global universal bank, headquartered in London, offering a wide range of products and services.

In terms of the operational structure, Barclays has two main divisions – Barclays UK and Barclays International, which are supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. The latter provides the rest of the company with technological and operational services. Barclays UK is engaged in UK Personal Banking, UK Business Banking and Barclaycard Consumer UK businesses, and Barclays International is composed of Corporate and Investment Bank and Consumer, Cards and Payments subdivisions.

Types of Business Bank Accounts

The Barclays Start-up Business account offers the following benefits:

• Free banking for the first 12 months is available for small businesses, including individuals setting up their first business bank account within the first 12 months of trading, and 8 GBP (approx. 9 EUR) thereafter
• Free invoicing and financial accounting software from FreshBooks, worth 228 GBP (approx 252 EUR) per year
• Secure online banking that includes such features as group payments and cash collection booking tools
• A UK-based team of business managers that can help you manage and grow your business by sharing advice on strategy, planning and cashflow
• Tailored specialist consultation from Barclays international team of high-growth and entrepreneurial experts

What’s more, the Barclays team reviews payment plans every year and contacts their clients to offer the best deal that could help save them money. This way, you could rest assured that when your circumstances change, you won’t be overcharged.

The Barclays Business Account for Turnover up to £400k and the Barclays Business Account for £400k-£6.5m Turnover are designed to enable everyday banking for established businesses that may also be looking to expand abroad.

 Both types of accounts offer the following benefits:

• Business advice (e.g. assistance in creating a strategy for growth and managing your cashflow)
• A network of specialist support the Barclays team can put you in touch with when your business requires different services in response to change or new opportunities
• Free invoicing and accounting software from FreshBooks where you’ll be able to manage invoicing and other processes
• Cashflow management
• Access to lending (overdrafts, lending and credit cards and more)
• Strong support if your business expands internationally (international payments and currency accounts, free insights into local markets, exclusive discounts for cost-saving and more)
• Barclaycard Payments service – a range of payment solutions to enable more sales
• Various initiatives and events where high-growth and entrepreneurship experts convey insights to fuel the growth of your business

The Barclays Community Organisations account is designed to support small non-profit organisations by offering the following range of benefits:

• Guidance and support from business managers, including strategic growth plans
• Free invoicing and accounting software from FreshBooks
• Access to a network of specialists that can help you go through changes
• Day-to-day banking customer support is available via your browser, over the phone or at your local Barclays branch
• Barclaycard Payments solutions facilitate donations by offering various payment methods
• Provision of social business support to encourage and sustain growth as well as create a bigger impact in the community (dedicated social business managers, funding and access to business networking and mentoring)
• LifeSkills resources – activities, lesson plans and exercises, designed to help young people prepare for the workplace – can be downloaded by a non-profit organisation for use with its youth group

You may also want to open a Foreign Currency Account in order to minimise the effect of fluctuating exchange rates. Other benefits are:

• Reduction of admin and other foreign-exchange costs
• Funds don’t have to be transferred to a sterling account
• US and Canadian dollar and euro transactions are settled on the same day and other currencies in two working days
• The account can be accessed 24/7 via the browser, over the phone or via Barclays mobile application

You can make international payments via the Barclays International Payments Services (BIPS). If you choose the standard payment method, funds will be received in Europe and North America between 3-4 working days and in the rest of the world within 8 working days if sent by 4 pm UK time. If you go for a priority payment method, funds will be received in Europe and North America within 1-3 working days and in the rest of the world within 7 working days if sent by 2 pm UK time. All online payments are processed as priority payments.

Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Credit Transfer is also available for Barclays clients to benefit from. You can access lower transaction fees and faster delivery when you’re transferring money to an EU country and you can supply the recipient’s International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and SWIFTC Bank Identifier Code (BIC). If the money is sent before 3 pm UK time, it gets delivered to the recipient’s account the next working day.

Why Choose Barclays

During its long banking history, Barclays has accumulated extensive industry knowledge and international expertise which help clients accelerate their path to business success and mitigate the risk of avoidable mistakes. The bank also keeps up with the age of innovation to offer cutting-edge products and address the most pressing business needs.

Barclays can undoubtedly offer its global network of experts that can help support the cross-border operations of any international business. You can expect world-class solutions, tailored business insight and easily accessible support in most countries of your business operations.

How Barclays Supports Women in Business

Barclays aims to support women in business who seek to realise their ideas and ambitions by providing them with the expertise, skills, loans and business knowledge through events and such resources as Female Founders Forum checklist. Female fintech founders are supported through such initiatives as the Female FinTech Collective, which is a Barclays founder-to-founder network led by females to support females. It gives access to mentoring, dedicated programmes and female founder events which help women grow their businesses.

Regardless of gender, every entrepreneur can benefit from Eagle Labs events where such topics as AI, environmental impact and ethics are covered. The topics range widely and can help every ambitious entrepreneur thrive in the business world.

Barclaycard Payments – Payment Solutions for Every Business

Barclays Payments offers various methods of and solutions for taking payments from your clients (electronically, via the phone, face-to-face and more). One of them – Smartpay Touch, a point of sale (POS) solution that enables businesses to accept all payment types in-store and anywhere else. Additionally, it monitors stock levels, manages bookings, and allows you to customise your customer experience.

A few reasons why you can rely on Barclays Payments:

• Accessible customer service
• Industry-leading platform
• Network reliability
• Transparent, competitive and flexible rates
• A dedicated data-security team who engages in fraud monitoring to ensure secure payments

Available payment methods:

• The Barclaycard Flex card reader was created to accept payments in-store, on the move, over the phone, or by mail order
• The Barclaycard Anywhere card reader fits into your pocket and enables you to take card payments on the move and manage them in your Barclays mobile application
• Barclaycard payment gateway enables your customers to pay online easily and securely
• A virtual terminal enables you to accept payments from your customers over the phone or by post

Requirements for Businesses

To apply for a Barclays business account, you’ll have to provide the following information:

• Basic business details – name, legal structure, incorporation date, date of the start of the trading, address of business operations, business correspondence address, contact details
• Your company registration number from Companies House, if applicable
• Tax information, including tax identification number, if applicable
• An estimated turnover – specify how much money your business expects to receive from trading over the next 12 months
• Previous banking details
• Names, dates of birth, residential addresses, National Insurance numbers and other personal details of the company directors and partners
• A description of your business activities (products and/or services)
• A breakdown of the number of your employees and their employment status
• If you trade with customers and suppliers outside the UK, specify all the countries they are based in and indicate a rough share of business turnover or the amounts per customer or supplier
• Specify the amount of funds you have invested or are planning to invest in your business
• The Source of funds will also have to be shared
• An estimated amount of money you plan to transfer into your Barclays business account over the next 12 months

The following documents are generally required:

• Proof of your identity (passport, national ID, or UK driving licence)
• Proof of your address in the UK (e.g. bank statement, council tax or other bills)
• Proof of address of business operations in the UK
• Business documents (e.g. incorporation documents)
• Proof of source of funds

The Process of Opening a Business Account With Barclays

The length of the application process varies depending on a chosen account type. Lately, it’s rather delayed due to the high volume of applications. For instance, a non-profit organisation can normally open a new account in eight weeks, however, these days it can take up to 12 weeks. This means you should adjust your expectations accordingly.

To open a business account with Barclays, you should take the following key steps:

• Think of all the banking services and products you expect to have linked to your new business account and possibly decide which type of bank accounts you wish to go for
• Prepare all the required documents – let us know if you need legal advice and our team will step in to help you
• Either visit the Barclays website to apply for a new account or reach out to the bank to organise a meeting
• If you wish to close your existing account at the same time when switching to Barclays, you may be able to use the Current Account Switch Service where your old bank will transfer any incoming and outgoing payments to your new Barclays account
• To avail of this option, you must have less than 50 employees and an annual turnover of less than 6,5 mill. GBP (approx. 7 mill. EUR)

During the application processing, the Barclays team carries out credit and fraud checks on all the involved stakeholders and takes such aspects as personal and business credit into account. If the application is successful, the Barclays team shares information on how the business manages the account with credit reference agencies.

If you wish to open a business bank account with Barclays, our team here at Regulated United Europe will be delighted to assist you. We have eight years of experience in helping clients open bank accounts with the most established European banks. We tap into our vast network of trusted partners in the European financial services industry to offer the most suitable and cost-effective solutions that improve the functioning of the businesses we serve.