Business Bank Account

mirkomar

Hi forum members!

I am in the process of setting-up a company in Ireland and arrived at the point where I need to open a bank account for the company.
We are 2 partners, both coming from abroad (no residence in Ireland), and need a basic company account with Internet access (online banking). Our company is going to be active in the IT field, and in terms of banking we do not require fancy stuff just the possibility of receiving bank transfers and executing payments (online).

Can any of you indicate a good bank for a start-up?
Is it a problem if we do not have a residence in Ireland (but the company does)?
Any experience and advice is welcome as we are new to all the procedures in Ireland.

Thanks in advance to all contributors!

srsly78

You will need both directors signatures, and a copy of your certificate of incorporation.

How did you get around the whole "one director must be resident in Ireland" thing? You haven't actually set the company up yet at all?

Don't choose BoI anyway, their business banking is woeful. Am in process of changing over to Ulster Bank myself.

mirkomar

srsly78 wrote: »

You will need both directors signatures, and a copy of your certificate of incorporation.

How did you get around the whole "one director must be resident in Ireland" thing? You haven't actually set the company up yet at all?

We are both from EEA so there was no issue with the "one director must be resident in Ireland".
From my understanding, only if the directors are from outside Europe there are problems and a specific proceeding.
The company is ready, we just need to open the bank account.
I've been looking at BoI but am not convinced yet.

mirkomar

srsly78 wrote: »

You will need both directors signatures, and a copy of your certificate of incorporation.

How did you get around the whole "one director must be resident in Ireland" thing? You haven't actually set the company up yet at all?

Don't choose BoI anyway, their business banking is woeful. Am in process of changing over to Ulster Bank myself.

Thanks for that, in fact I was not convinced by BOI, I'll look at Ulster now.
Do you use the online banking services? Are the Ulster online services OK?

mirkomar

Ulster's Bankline (online banking) seems interesting, is there anyone who has experience with it or with Ulster in general?

mirkomar

I found this info online:
Ulster Bank was heavily exposed to the Irish property boom and bust.

In the first nine months of 2011 the bank wrote off more than £1bn in bad loans, mainly related to property.

It was the RBS division with the single biggest write-off in that period.

The current situation/crisis could be an issue for Ulster?

srsly78

All the banks were heavily exposed and got bailed out to some degree or other (boi less than others I think?). If this is a problem your only option is the newcomers to the market like KBC. Don't know much about them, might be personal accounts only.

Eoin

I'm with BOI and their online banking website is so bad that it alone is making me consider changing.

mirkomar

I'm also considering www.nationalirishbank.ie and www.aib.ie, any feedback on them please?

Maxjoseph

Hello guys, very interesting issue to be discussed for young entrepreneurs.

I have just the same doubt right now and I would like to underline that, in times like this, also the stability of the institue is paramount...

At the end of the day I will not be impressed by some more fancy HTML on a webpage, if the stability of the Bank is not quite good.

srsly78

Well don't open a bank account in Ireland then :rolleyes: Most of the banks were nationalised anyway. The real question is does the deposit guarantee apply to company accounts...

If Ireland leaves the euro it won't matter which Irish bank you choose.

mirkomar

Is it a real possibility for Ireland to leave the euro?
Amids all the European fears, the euro seemed to resist because it brings several advantages especially for who is doing business across Europe. Of course there are several issues to be solved, but the crisis might be pushing the politicians in the right direction.
What is the perspective from Ireland on the euro?

srsly78

We would rather have it than the punt :pac:

JD Dublin

I'm about to change from Ulster to B of I, because the manager of B of I is more approachable. Ulster's online banking is great, and it cuts the time I spend on administration every week. So not just a great HTML, time saved too.

I haven't used B of I online banking yet, but I have used Irish Permanent which I found to be just as good as Ulster. I suspect that they all use the same basic program at the back of their operations, it's just the front page that looks different.

Ulster are okay but they are very stuck in the mud. I think they have been told by head office to forget about business accounts, stick to some good savers - like people that don't have kids and mortgages. Following on from that they are very conserative about lending money etc.

Ulster are okay for online stuff - I switched to them about 10 years ago due to National Irish woeful foreign transfer capabilities, which they were unable to do in the local branch.

srsly78

BoI staff have always been very helpful to me. The only problem is their fees are crazy (once your 2 years free wears off) and their online system is the WORST, you really need to check out what you are getting into here...

JD Dublin

srsly78 wrote: »

BoI staff have always been very helpful to me. The only problem is their fees are crazy (once your 2 years free wears off) and their online system is the WORST, you really need to check out what you are getting into here...

I'll ask them in advance for the list of fees, but Ulster Bank charge too.

Don't know about the online system so I can't comment there, but I'll let you know how I get on.

Now AIB, they really know how to charge you. I had an overdraft there about 15 years ago, and the assistant manager I dealt with accidently let it slip that they kept me in between what my nominal overdraft was i.e. the oficial overdraft, and their 'shadow' overdraft. The 'shadow' overdraft was higer, but only by a few thousand. I was getting cheques put through while between the official overdraft and the 'shadow' overdraft I was paying referral fees - good business for the bank eh? And no downside for them, coz they had assessed that I was 'good' for the 'shadow' overdraft.

MyPerfectCousin

If your main concern is the online banking, do not choose BOI. I can't comment on the other banks' online banking systems as I haven't used them, but I will be looking to leave BOI once my free period is over because the online system for business banking is so bad.

Maxjoseph

MyPerfectCousin wrote: »

If your main concern is the online banking, do not choose BOI. I can't comment on the other banks' online banking systems as I haven't used them, but I will be looking to leave BOI once my free period is over because the online system for business banking is so bad.

Hi guys,

could you please explain what's so bad about BoI online system ? is it the interface or lack of functionalities ?

My accountant has his account in the same bank, so I was thinking about going with BoI to simplify things.

Eoin

It's this horrible java applet that only runs on internet explorer. I can only get it to run properly on one computer, so can't do much at home. The windows can't be resized, and often some text is not visible because it's not quite in the visible area - or sometimes field captions are just not there.

It's got these certs that have to be renewed. When you request a new one, you have to wait until they ring to confirm. But if you request it out of business hours, then they might forget.

I don't know if it's the app or just BoI in general, but it can take over 24 hours for balance transfers to take effect (e.g. from current account to your own credit card account). It's just way too complicated for sole traders or small operations.

Overall, it's just a ball ache for me to use.

JD Dublin

Maxjoseph wrote: »

Hi guys,

could you please explain what's so bad about BoI online system ? is it the interface or lack of functionalities ?

My accountant has his account in the same bank, so I was thinking about going with BoI to simplify things.

I just use Ulster for statements etc, and for the kick of looking up a lodgement minutes after I've made it in the bank. I have never used it for transfers, I just couldnt be bothered with the set-up that seemed to entail.

So if anyone can shed light on this I'm all ears ( before I join them as a customer!)

srsly78

In addition to what the poster above said about it only working with IE and having some very strange bugs... The BoI business online system seems to have been designed over 10 years ago to handle the needs of some sprawling megacorp. It supports full audit trail, multiple authorisers, loads of features that I have no need for. This all makes it hideously complicated and frustrating to use for a small business customer! One cannot be told how complex this system is, one has to experience it for themselves :pac: They even charge you e15/month for it.

It doesn't show my company card statement on it, I have to go fill out of load of forms in triplicate and apply to get this "feature" added.


Note this is totally different from their brand new personal online banking system, which seems pretty good.

MyPerfectCousin

If you search the forum you'll find a lot of the complaints have been listed here already.

As the sole user of my account I need four different passwords to use it and need to change them every three months. Security is great, but not when your credentials change so often and are so complicated that you need to write them down! (Admin account needs a two-part password, user account needs a password, and digital cert needs a password)

The interface is completely non-intuitive. Multiple actions often need to take place to accomplish a single event. (You can't just make a payment. You have to request a payment, store it for authorisation, and then go to another area to authorise it yourself!)

It's glitchy. Especially the java-based digital certificates. But even the most basic part of the site - your account transaction history -- suffers from inexplicable glitches. Transactions that are there now might not show up tomorrow, etc.

It's enough to pull your hair out.

Eoin

srsly78 wrote: »

Note this is totally different from their brand new personal online banking system, which seems pretty good.

365online has just been given a face lift - it has also been around for about 10 years, but it's so much easier to use. I'd happily use it for my business stuff too, but that can't be done.

JD Dublin

Eoin wrote: »

It's this horrible java applet that only runs on internet explorer. I can only get it to run properly on one computer, so can't do much at home. The windows can't be resized, and often some text is not visible because it's not quite in the visible area - or sometimes field captions are just not there.

It's got these certs that have to be renewed. When you request a new one, you have to wait until they ring to confirm. But if you request it out of business hours, then they might forget.

I don't know if it's the app or just BoI in general, but it can take over 24 hours for balance transfers to take effect (e.g. from current account to your own credit card account). It's just way too complicated for sole traders or small operations.

Overall, it's just a ball ache for me to use.

Eoin they are all like that - both Ulster and Irish Permanent make you use Internet Explorer, they cant use Firefox - I'd say they wont pay developers ( programmers that is ) to do a secure version. The digital certs are a must too, so if you want to use online banking you're stuck with that.

srsly78

Oh... and the icing on the cake is: They only let you search 3 months back with it. This forces you to go pay them to get statements printed (pay per page). What a joke!

Hilariously, I think their personal online system lets you search further back than the business one.

JD Dublin

srsly78 wrote: »

In addition to what the poster above said about it only working with IE and having some very strange bugs... The BoI business online system seems to have been designed over 10 years ago to handle the needs of some sprawling megacorp. It supports full audit trail, multiple authorisers, loads of features that I have no need for. This all makes it hideously complicated and frustrating to use for a small business customer! One cannot be told how complex this system is, one has to experience it for themselves :pac: They even charge you e15/month for it.

It doesn't show my company card statement on it, I have to go fill out of load of forms in triplicate and apply to get this "feature" added.


Note this is totally different from their brand new personal online banking system, which seems pretty good.

euros15 per month - FFS what planet are they on, this alone may swing my decision to give them a miss.

mirkomar

Several online articles (January/February 2012) indicate that RBS requires Ulster Bank to cut jobs. Somewhere there was an analysis indicating that this will impact the level of service (I can't find it again but sounds logical).
From my understanding it seems that at the moment they are employing 5000 persons, a cut of 950 is almost 1/5.
Is there someone that has an account with Ulster?
An "insider" experience would be helpful.

JD Dublin

MyPerfectCousin wrote: »

If you search the forum you'll find a lot of the complaints have been listed here already.

As the sole user of my account I need four different passwords to use it and need to change them every three months. Security is great, but not when your credentials change so often and are so complicated that you need to write them down! (Admin account needs a two-part password, user account needs a password, and digital cert needs a password)

The interface is completely non-intuitive. Multiple actions often need to take place to accomplish a single event. (You can't just make a payment. You have to request a payment, store it for authorisation, and then go to another area to authorise it yourself!)

It's glitchy. Especially the java-based digital certificates. But even the most basic part of the site - your account transaction history -- suffers from inexplicable glitches. Transactions that are there now might not show up tomorrow, etc.

It's enough to pull your hair out.

Sorry - Out of laziness and because things change over time, I have not gone into the older threads.

Personally I am not interested in transfers - I just want to look up my balances every so often and ( after a little cry ) print out my statements etc. Mind you 15 per month for this 'facility' does seem a little rich.

Ulster have a similar system - I gave up long ago trying to memorise the passwords, I just wrote them down. The passwords only give you 3 chances - after that you have to apply to get a change so you dont want to be doing that too often.

Also I only use the computer in work coz of the digital certificate problem.

JD Dublin

mirkomar wrote: »

Several online articles (January/February 2012) indicate that RBS requires Ulster Bank to cut jobs. Somewhere there was an analysis indicating that this will impact the level of service (I can't find it again but sounds logical).
From my understanding it seems that at the moment they are employing 5000 persons, a cut of 950 is almost 1/5.
Is there someone that has an account with Ulster?
An "insider" experience would be helpful.

I have an account with Ulster, and they seem to be driving away customers by the hundreds. The local branch used to have queues out the door - now there are hardly ever queues ( unlike the Bank of Ireland for example ).

The staff there are pleasant and easy to deal with, but at a corporate level I'd say they are trying to get rid of the Irish operation.

Maxjoseph

For whtat I have seen other Banking on line services cost even more that BoI , am I wrong?

Eoin

JD Dublin wrote: »

Eoin they are all like that - both Ulster and Irish Permanent make you use Internet Explorer, they cant use Firefox - I'd say they wont pay developers ( programmers that is ) to do a secure version. The digital certs are a must too, so if you want to use online banking you're stuck with that.

Oh dear - thanks for saving me some time anyway.

Edit - I know that I'm not paying 15 a month for my banking.