Ethical Business Banking

We reveal which banks are the most ethical providers of current accounts for small businesses, charities and not-for-profit organisations.

The score-table above compares providers of business current accounts. Many banks listed both here and in our consumer savings accounts guide also offer business savings accounts.

Most banks and one major building society provide business current accounts, and these tend to come with monthly fees and transaction charges.

Some banks also offer special accounts for charities and not-for-profit community organisations, and  you can find details of those below. 

We also look at the issue of ‘de-risking’ which has led to charities and campaign organisations losing access to account. 

High Street banks

For all their neglect of the small business sector over the years, the big banks remain dominant in the provision of business accounts in the UK. According to market research, Barclays, Santander, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, and RBS Group (now NatWest) hold 85% of the main accounts of small businesses.

This is hardly surprising – switching is rare, physical branches are still important for financial advice, and many business directors prefer the ease of using the same bank for business as they do for personal finances.

Most of the mainstream banks score badly in our ratings due to their many bad financial practices. Unethical financial practices are most definitely the norm in the UK banking sector.

Excessive directors’ pay and tax avoidance are still rife in the UK banking sector. Furthermore, the big banks get marked down across most categories because of their investment practices. Far too many banks lend money to unethical corporations and a lack of transparency doesn’t help them take positive steps forward.

Barclays and HSBC stand out, but for the wrong reasons – they are two of the world’s leading providers of fossil fuel finance. 

Traditional alternatives for business banking

Some of the banks with stronger ethics are the so called 'challenger' banks, see below for more information on them. 

Of the more traditional 'ethical' banks:

The Co-operative Bank still has a strong and wide-ranging ethical policy, and in some ways remains a better option than the new challenger banks because of its crystal-clear ethical policies. It also retains a small but diminishing branch network and a co-operative union of customers. 

Clydesdale/Yorkshire Bank, now owned by Virgin Money, offers over two years of free banking for businesses with a turnover of less than £2 million, plus their accounts for voluntary community organisations come with a debit card. 

Cumberland Building Society, now the only major building society to offer business current accounts, keeps its business practices simple by sticking to mortgage lending. Plus, it is mutually owned which helps to avoid the pressures of profit-hungry shareholders.

Triodos Bank has strong environmental reporting and ethical policies.

Unity Trust Bank performs well and has a clear and well-established commitment to providing banking services that have a positive social impact. 

CAF Bank (Charities Aid Foundation) is a charitable organisation and for providing services exclusively to not-for-profits. However the investment funds that it offers for charity investors are problematic. Its own named funds hold equities in a number of unethical sectors including oil and tobacco.

Challenger Banks

As a condition of its government bail-out, RBS has been tasked with boosting competition in the SME business banking sector. A pot of £425 million has been used to support challenger banks to increase and improve their offerings for small businesses.

A further £275 million is being used to incentivise RBS business banking customers to switch banks. Business account switching has seen a steep increase, in part due to the incentives of the scheme. 

(If you are switching accounts for ethical reasons and want to write to your previous bank to let them know why, we have published a template letter for you to use.)

Most of the first pot of cash has gone to challenger banks such as Metro, Starling, and Tide. But the scheme has been criticised for being opaque and having made questionable decisions. Serious irregularities were identified on Metro’s balance sheet before it received £120 million, and Starling’s CEO had a close relationship with the executive director of the body overseeing the distribution of the funds.

However, it is questionable how much of a shake-up will really be delivered by these packages. Notwithstanding the manifold issues, including a lack of transparency in awarding funds, the scheme appears to leave the power of the other four banking giants relatively untouched.
 

App-based business banking

It’s clear that in a bid to disrupt the ‘legacy’ high-street giants, most new banks are focusing on digital services. This makes sense, as the vast majority of small business’s financial activity is now conducted online.

After price, quality online and mobile banking is the top priority for small business owners when choosing a bank.

The growing assortment of primarily app-based business account providers, including Starling, Monzo, Revolut, Tide, and Coconut, offer not only their own account but also access to software that can manage other bank accounts and company financial administration.

However, the inability to provide face-to-face financial advice, the one activity that small businesses still prefer to do in-branch, means the lack of bricks and mortar will continue to be a double-edged sword for online-only banks.

Challenger bank ethics

The new banks are generally more ethical than the established names. However, it is an open question whether this will remain the case.

Starling Bank, for example, has some good statements on avoiding investment in certain industries such as fossil fuels and arms manufacture. But its environmental reporting and transparency commitment is not comprehensive. 

The Starling website also names its leading financial backers as Harald McPike, reported to be a “secretive Bahamas-based investor”, and Merian Global Investors. Merian was recently acquired by Jupiter Fund Management PLC, a company that receives our worst rating for likely use of tax avoidance strategies. With Starling’s sights set on rapid growth and an initial public offering in the coming years, it will have to work hard to not let its first ethical steps be diluted by the world of unethical finance.

Starling, Metro, Tide and Coconut all lose marks for lacking adequate environmental and carbon reporting.

Banking for charities and community groups

The brands ranked on the score table all provide current accounts for small business, but the offering for community groups and voluntary societies is much slimmer. Whilst the ‘challenger’ app-based banks listed above tailor their products towards making life easy for micro-businesses, they are still only for sole traders or registered companies. The banks that do have accounts for non-profit organisations tend to come with the stipulation of being a registered charity.

For example, in 2018 a customer of the Co-op Bank and member of Save Our Bank complained that they weren’t able to open an account for a voluntary association. In response, Co-op Bank clarified that their Community Directplus Account was only for registered groups: Charities, Co-operatives and Community Benefit Societies, Credit Unions and Community Interest Companies.

This policy was based on the bank’s risk appetite and regulation around fraud and money laundering. It acknowledged that it now didn’t offer anything for small community organisations, and that it would be reviewing the eligibility for its accounts in 2020.

When a small voluntary organisation does manage to open an account, they can miss out on important banking features, such as the use of a debit card. 

Ethical bank accounts for charities and community organisations

Bank 'de-risking' and the impact on charities

In 2018, we reported on the issue of ‘de-risking’, a process whereby banks, in a bid to comply with new international regulations against money laundering, freeze or cancel bank accounts that seem risky.

Unfortunately, many humanitarian charities rely on transferring funds to high-risk locations to carry out their work. This can raise red flags for cautious account providers – banks such as Co-op and HSBC faced criticism, in 2015 and 2017, respectively, for closing the accounts of NGOs with little warning.

Since this time, there has been less reporting of de-risking which suggests banks are applying greater care and thought before they freeze an organisation’s account. However, it is often unclear whether any concrete action has taken place.

In a 2019 report from the House of Commons Treasury Committee, Stephen Jones from UK Finance highlighted the need for better communication from banks, stating “In terms of access to banking, it is very important that, if someone is de-banked, they understand why they have been de-banked, why the institution has de-risked, and we are working with the FCA on better communications around that.”

The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill, due to come into force once the Brexit transition period ends, would create general exemptions and licenses for NGOs carrying out humanitarian work in sanctioned countries. This has been received as a positive step by some charity bodies. However, whether this will represent a major break from current de-risking practice remains to be seen.