All of the major high street banks offer new start up businesses some form of free banking period but they are not all the same.
Additionally if you are switching accounts the limits are less and then once the free period is complete the tariff rates and charges are completely different. So here's our comparison tables.
The following comparison is for small businesses generally with a turnover of less than £1 million per year although this definition varies by bank.
Here's how the major banks compare for the business start-up banking accounts. Basically if you are a new business you can get day to day fee free banking for all regular transactions on your account. The free periods are as follows:
(a) - standard is 12 months but if you subscribe to some of their other services this can be extended to 24 months.
Other banks are available such as Abbey (soon to be rebranded Santander), Bank of Scotland, Cater Allen, Clydesdale Bank, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish.
If you want to switch your current banking account here are the free periods offered by the banks:
Once your free period is over with some of the banks you'll be generally moved over to their standard bank account which incurs fees. Here's how those banks accounts compare.
| Bank | Cheques | Auto Crs/Drs | Monthly Fee | Cash Deposit S/o | |
| Alliance & Leicester | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Barclays standard | 59p | 54p | £5.50 | 0.55% | 54p |
| Barclays automated | 79p | Free | £5.50 | 0.85% | Free |
| HSBC Business Direct | £1(1) | Free | Free | 2% | Free |
| HSBC Small Biz Tariff | 63p | 32p | £3.15 | 0.53% | 54p |
| RBS Current Account | 67p | 37p | £3 | 0.65% | 45p |
| RBS Business Plus | 84p | 0p | £5 | 0.95% | 0p |
| RBS Business Banking Direct | 0p | 0p | 0p | 0p | 0p |
The following banks offer free banking for life