Business Banks / Accounts

pod

Are these the banks which most use for business accounts?

AIB
Bank of Ireland
National Irish Bank
Permanent tsb
Ulster Bank

I remember someone recently mentioning -Bank of Scotland- , yet I can't seem to find them listed in GoldenPages. Are they under some other name?

There are also other banks listed in GoldenPages, some of which I haven't even heard of:-

Scotiabank (Irl) Ltd
Rheinhyp Europe plc
Rabobank Ireland Plc
Premier Direct
Pfizer International Bank Europe
WestLB Ireland Plc
Metzler Ireland Ltd
Bank of America NA
Anglo Irish Bank
ACCBank


Does anyone know if these banks offer business accounts. If any do, does anyone recommend any of these banks in the second group?

dod

the second group are mostly industrial banks/ investment banks/ merchant banks etc., they wouldn't have any standard current accounts business.

Which bank you use really depends on the nature of your business, how well funded you are, and what facilities you will require from the bank during the course of your business. Bank of Scotland Ireland are supposed to be quite agressive in pursuing business accounts, I have to admit I haven't used them myself, but that's more through inertia than a deliberate decision. Their website might be of use to you: http://www.bankofscotland.ie/

Victor

Bank of Scotland - There is also Royal Bank of Scotland
Scotiabank (Irl) Ltd - longterm resident, but I'm not aware of a high-street functions.

Rabobank Ireland Plc - ACCBank's new parent

ACCBank - originally orintated towards farming, but has some merchant banking, mortgage and high-street functions.

Premier Direct - finance house

Anglo Irish Bank - merchant banking, mortgage, few high-street functions.

Pfizer International Bank Europe - Pfizer semi-internal finance arm

These are probably IFSC banks with no public presence:
Rheinhyp Europe plc
WestLB Ireland Plc
Metzler Ireland Ltd
Bank of America NA

pod

Does anyone know if any of these banks have a minimum opening balance?

AIB Bank
Bank of Ireland
National Irish Bank
Permanent tsb
Ulster Bank

Although the Bank of Scotland fees appear to be competitive, they seem to require a minimum opening balance of €50,000 according to this link...

http://www.bankofscotland.ie/companyinfo/press14.htm

Anyone know if there are any other banks in Ireland which offer a business cheque account; or are these the main six?

Victor

Likely nil with all of them. They may want to see money entering the account before giving you a chequebook.

pod

Thanks for this Victor.

I'm going to phone Bank of Scotland tomorrow anyhow; though do you happen to know if they offer another business cheque account which does not require €50,000 to open an account?

Or is that the only business cheque account they offer?

Victor

I had a business current account with Bank of Ireland that I opened with a nil balance (but 10 years with bank). Once I was lodging money they had no problem giving me a "big" (in area) cheque book. Note stamp duty and transaction charges on cheques.

pod

I rang a few banks recently and they all told me they charge €0.19 or €0.20 for each cheque which I lodge.

Though the Bank of Ireland told me they charge €0.37 for each cheque which I lodge.

I'm going to ring another BOI branch just to see if this is correct. Charging twice what all the other are charging...

Victor

There is also a quarterly charging option for about €12 for the first 90 transactions.

pod

Oh right, didn't know about that. I'll ask about that when I'm phoning.

Thanks again.