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Ask HN: Can you recommend new bank-in-an-app for UK

8 points by lifeisstillgood ↗ HN
So I have been happy with the monzo bank, it came highly recommended and it has been putting in a lot of effort as a challenger bank. However I just got told it wont be offering a business bank service (and frankly I just want to escape my existing horror show)

So - looking for a business bank, in the UK, that can do current accounts right. any suggestions please?

19 comments

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nailer
SVB finally dumped their awful 'UK Services' menu for faster payments. If you've heard rumours of SVB sucking here, that was why, and now it's gone and replaced by something decent. No complaints so far and you can actually speak to people. They're not really a 'bank in app' like Monzo, Starling and Atom but they're decent and have business accounts.

I wonder if TellerAPI has SVB support? You could make your own damn app.

Rjevski
I've asked the question on the Monzo forums - hopefully some people know of good alternatives for business accounts: https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-like-bank-for-businesses...

There's Tide but to be honest their app currently feels like a cheap knockoff (pretty sure it's PhoneGap/Cordova under the hood as well) so personally I wouldn't recommend it but you can always give it a try and see for yourself.

dbbk
So far it seems like the only major players here are [Tide](https://www.tide.co/) and [Coconut](https://getcoconut.com/).

However I'd also have a look at the TransferWise Borderless account, it may be of interest to you if you deal with currencies other than GBP.

thenomad
They're using NetVerify by Jumio for identity verification.

I still don't trust any service asking me to scan and send a copy of my passport, and I've yet to hear/read anyone saying "it's OK, you can trust Jumio for BLAH reason".

I'd love to find out they are trustworthy as it seems they're becoming omnipresent.

richardknop
The problem is they are trying to go fully digital. So no branches and stone buildings. But they still need to follow KYC regulations. So how else can they verify your identity digitally, without meeting you in person? I wish there was a better way too btw.
dbbk
Pretty sure Monzo don't ask for your passport as part of KYC?
richardknop
Yes they do. Either passport or national ID. Not sure if EU driver's license is enough or not. Plus also you need to take 5 second video of yourself where you say your name.
dbbk
Oh odd, I don't recall doing any of that. I joined before they got their banking license though.
thenomad
I completely understand from their point of view - but unfortunately from my point of view that doesn't really reassure me much.
aosaigh
Have you seen Revolut?

https://business.revolut.com

I've been using them for Euro/Sterling conversions and it's been great personally. They recently just launched a business account. There is a significant waiting list at moment (I'm around ~750).

tommy5dollar
I'd recommend Tide... they've not done much recently but it seems they were setup with only £2m initial funding and they've just secured another £14m on top so I'd expect them to start releasing new features soon.
BillinghamJ
My understanding is that all their development has been outsourced/offshore, which is frankly extremely disappointing.

We have had numerous problems

- crazy login processes involving receiving OTPs via post after 5 days

- waiting 2 weeks to receive cards

- slow and unhelpful support responses

- failure to follow up with responses to issues after promising to do so

- poorly built non-platform-specific app - not sure how they made it

- still no multi-user support

- even a case where our balance didn’t match the sum of our transactions, the issue was acknowledged, and now - after 6 months - STILL has not been resolved

At present, there is no remotely decent option for UK business banking. It’s a shame.

ElxOthman
You can try N26 (originating from Germany), they even provide some cashback on business accounts.
aosaigh
Last I checked, they weren't real business accounts, they were just secondary personal accounts that could be used by sole traders. Is this still the case?
tonyedgecombe
I think you are out of luck at the moment, I use HSBC which I don't really like but seems to be the least awful of the high street banks.

I don't trust any of the banking apps, I have a dedicated linux machine I use just for banking.

zhte415
Wait a few months... Open Banking and PSD2 are around the corner, literally a few months, and banking apps will explode.