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Best Bank for SMEs

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  • 12-09-2003 10:08pm
    #1
    STaN
    Registered Users Posts: 2,127 ✭✭✭


    Who would you recommend & why.

    Don't bother recommending ACC, muppets :)


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    #2
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,370 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    BOI give free (free normal stuff anyway) banking for start-ups for the first 2(?) years.


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    #3
    Specky
    Closed Accounts Posts: 914 ✭✭✭Specky


    I think this is another one of those not very black and white questions.

    You can look at the "on paper" stuff and decide which bank offers the best deal but that won't necessarily result in you getting what you want.

    When we first started up we went with BoI because they looked good on paper but my branch were crap (actually I didn't realise they were crap until we moved banks then I began to realise what we had been missing out on).

    Free banking is nice for a start ups if you're doing lots of trading because every penny counts but even though it is expensive in Ireland if it breaks your company then you've got something drastically wrong.

    What I found was most important was whether your branch manager is someone you can work with. Is he/she knowledgeable and experienced in business banking (a lot of them aren't, they've landed in the job after selling private mortgages for years and know nothing about business).

    Is the person you are going to be dealing with someone you'd be comfortable asking for money?

    After I moved from BoI the manager of the new bank was brilliant, I really got on well with him and I had a sense that he was interested in what we were doing and he was trying to see where the bank could fit into my business. This, I think, is what the bank manager should be doing. Unfortunately this guy was good so inevitably he got promoted to another bigger branch and now I've got a right prat as a manager who avoids talking to customers and really doesn't seem like he's got any understanding of what our business is about.

    I'm not going to mention the bank or the branch because I don't really think it's relevant....it isn't BoI and it isn't AIB by the way. There's not much difference between the on paper offering regardless of who you're dealing with (I don't think) but there's a big variation in the quality of business account managers and that's what I think is important.

    Shop around and interview the banks. Choose the person you can work with.

    Don't be afraid to move banks if you aren't getting what you want.


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