Open a multi-currency business account

It is an e-money account, not a bank account. Instead of deposit protection (FSCS), e-money institutions must safeguard client funds under FCA rules, held separate from the institution’s own money. Our safeguarding page explains the difference honestly.

That depends on whether you need to borrow. An e-money institution does not lend, so there is no overdraft and no credit facility here, and if you need those it stays a bank conversation. Plenty of businesses keep a high-street account for credit and cash handling and run the day-to-day trading, currency holding and payouts through an account like this one. What you should not do either way is run the business through a personal account. If you trade as a limited company the money is not yours to hold personally, because the company is a separate legal entity. If you are a sole trader it legally is yours, but personal account terms generally prohibit business use, and mixing the two makes your tax return far harder than it needs to be.

Legally, no. A sole trader is not a separate legal entity from the person running it, so unlike a limited company there is no requirement to hold business money in its own account. Two things push the other way in practice. Most personal account terms prohibit running a business through them, so you are relying on your bank not to notice. And keeping the money separate is what turns Self Assessment into an afternoon rather than a week of untangling a year of mixed transactions. We do onboard sole traders: the account carries your own name and sits separate from your personal one, and you are onboarded as an individual on name, address and proof of address. Our sole traders page sets out how it works.

If you trade as a company: a certificate of incorporation, your ownership structure down to every beneficial owner above the disclosure threshold, and identification for directors and owners. If you are a sole trader you are onboarded as an individual, so it is your name, your address and proof of that address, with no incorporation or ownership structure to evidence. Either way the part that matters most is the same: a clear description of your flows, meaning who pays you, who you pay, in which currencies and at what volumes. That is what most applications leave thin, and it is what decides how quickly the file moves. With a complete application, accounts open in as little as 48 hours.

Often, yes. EMIs in the group assess complex and specialist businesses on their merits (sector, flows and compliance posture) rather than applying a blanket sector exclusion.

Pricing depends on your currencies, volumes and corridors, so we quote rather than publish a rate card. Every cost is named and explained before you commit.