A survey of 17,280 small business banking customers carried out between January and December 2021 ranks 14 banks. Which bank has the best business bank account?
Consumer insight consultancy BVA BDRC conducts a regular independent survey for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In this survey, people with a business bank account are asked how likely they are to recommend their provider.
We’ve used the latest survey to list the best business banks, allowing you to compare the business accounts offered by the top providers.
Respondents are asked about their provider’s:
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BVA BDRC say the results show “the proportion of customers of each provider who said they were ‘extremely likely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend each service” to other SMEs.
Ranking | Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend | Previous ranking |
1. | Starling Bank | 86 per cent | N/A |
2. | Handelsbanken | 75 per cent | 1 (-1) |
3. | Metro Bank | 68 per cent | 2 (-1) |
4. | Santander | 61 per cent | 3 (-1) |
5. | Barclays | 58 per cent | 4 (-1) |
Nine other banks round out the rest of the ranking:
Ranking | Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend | Previous ranking |
1. | Starling Bank | 88 per cent | N/A |
2. | Metro Bank | 72 per cent | 3 (+1) |
3. | Barclays | 71 per cent | 1 (-2) |
4. | Santander | 70 per cent | = 4 |
= 5. | NatWest | 69 per cent | 2 (-3) |
= 5. | Lloyds Bank | 69 per cent | = 4 (-1) |
Here’s where the other banks placed:
Ranking | Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend | Previous ranking |
1. | Starling Bank | 84 per cent | N/A |
2. | Handelsbanken | 70 per cent | 1 (-1) |
= 3. | Santander | 67 per cent | 4 (+1) |
= 3. | Metro Bank | 67 per cent | 2 (-1) |
5. | Bank of Scotland | 59 per cent | = 7 (+2) |
Here are the results for the remaining nine banks:
Ranking | Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend | Previous ranking |
1. | Handelsbanken | 84 per cent | 1 |
2. | Starling Bank | 78 per cent | N/A |
3. | Metro Bank | 66 per cent | 3 |
4. | Santander | 61 per cent | 2 (-2) |
= 5. | Barclays | 59 per cent | = 6 (+1) |
= 5. | Lloyds Bank | 59 per cent | = 9 (+4) |
This is how the rest of the banks fared:
Ranking | Bank | Percentage of customers who would recommend | Previous ranking |
1. | Metro Bank | 74 per cent | 1 |
2. | Handelsbanken | 66 per cent | 2 |
3. | Santander | 58 per cent | 7 (+4) |
= 4. | Lloyds Bank | 57 per cent | = 3 (-1) |
= 4. | Bank of Scotland | 57 per cent | = 3 (-1) |
Here's how the other eight banks ranked:
*Starling Bank wasn't included in this category because it doesn't offer in-branch services
Here are more details on the products themselves, letting you compare business bank accounts from the top providers.
A new entrant to the survey, challenger bank Starling topped the rankings for overall service quality, overdraft services, and online banking.
Starling Bank business account holders pay no monthly fees or UK payment charges and get access to free 24/7 UK support.
The account is available to all business types and sizes, offering benefits including integration with a range of software solutions, FSCS protection, and free withdrawals in the UK and abroad.
Starling’s business customers can also pay for extra services, such as:
Handelsbanken came top in the survey for relationship management and account management, and was ranked second for overall service, in-branch service, and overdraft services.
It calls itself a local relationship bank, where each branch works as a local business. Handelsbanken say this helps them better understand their customers, the local market, and the community.
The bank offers a direct line to an account manager and team at your local branch, as well as current accounts in a range of currencies, and overdrafts (subject to status).
There aren’t any details about fees on their website, so you’ll need to get in touch with your local branch to find out what fees they might charge your business.
Metro Bank came third for overall service quality, but top for service in branches and business centres and second for online banking.
Its USP is that its branches are open outside of usual working hours, seven days a week.
To open a business bank account with Metro Bank, you need to have an annual turnover or balance sheet of up to £2 million. There’s further eligibility criteria around business owners being UK residents.
When it comes to fees, there’s no monthly charge for daily balances above £6,000. If your daily balance ends at below £6,000 in the month, you'll pay the monthly fee of £6.
You'll also get 30 free UK transactions each month, but if you exceed this limit, a fee kicks in at 30p for each transaction (balances below £6,000 don’t get the free transactions however).
Santander business banking came fourth in the survey for overall service quality and third for both in-branch and overdraft services. It offers free and discounted banking for startups, and two business bank accounts.
The Business Current Account offers:
The 123 Current Account offers:
Barclays, which came fifth in the overall rankings and third mobile banking services, has specialised products for businesses of different sizes.
Keen to try a new way of banking? “Challenger” and digital banks are becoming more and more mainstream, and often make entrepreneurship and small business management part of their core offering.
A challenger bank is usually a smaller retail bank, set up with the aim of competing with large, long-established national banks like the ones mentioned above.
There’s been a rise in the popularity of online-only and mobile-first banks in recent years and it’s interesting to note that Starling Bank topped the overall rankings as well as two sub-categories.
Here are two more challenger banks you could take a look at for your business:
There’s also been a rise in the number of sustainable banks, such as Triodos, which only finances projects and organisations that have a positive impact on society, culture, and the environment.
Whichever bank you choose, it’s important to research all of your options carefully and decide what’s best for you. Please only use this article as a guide, as part of your research.
Want to find out more about small business finance? Read our guides on the best accounting software, the best invoice apps, and bookkeeping tips.
How do you rate your business bank account? Let us know in the comments below.
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