Santander Business Account

katies_mum

I have had my business account since the days of Giro Bank, now its Santander. This morning I received a letter requesting:

`Regulatory information required by 5 October 2012`. They are saying that in 210 new regulations came into effect requiring all banks to maintain records to help determine the eligibility of their customers under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and all banks must maintain records to help determine and check their customers eligibility at least once a year. The information it seems is used to assist the FSCS in paying out compensation quickly in the unlikely event that a bank goes into default.

They need to know:
The legal entity status of my business
Balance sheet
Turnover
Number of employees
and have sent a password and say it will take no longer than 5 minutes to complete. No later than 5 October 2012.

If you decide not to respond it will mean we are unable to record your eligibility on our records. This will not affect your eligibility in the event of a claim but it may take much longer for the FSCS to process.

Just wondering if anyone else had received one of these letters or if anyone knows about them. I really don`t know why I have to tell them details of balance sheet/turnover etc. I thought that the compensation scheme only worked upto £85,000 per organisation, my balance is lot less than that.

I`d be grateful if anyone has any advice or information.

Many thanks

innovate

They probably want the data so they can establish whether your business is eligible for the FSCS compensation or not. I believe only sole traders and small businesses with a turnover of less than £1m are eligible (apart from private individuals, obviously).

You can find the gory detail in the FSA handbook

FSA requirements for FSCS register
Eligibility

I reckon the information will help the FSA to establish whether there is sufficient money in the FSCS scheme.

katies_mum

Thanks innovate, I just don`t see why I should have to give them details of my business when they know exactly how much is in my Business Account, what difference could it possibly make what my turnover is? unless I`m missing something.

innovate

If I understand correctly, if your T/O is > £1m, or if you have more than x employees, you are not eligible for the FSCS protection. This information cannot be determined from how much money is in an account.

katies_mum

Not thought about that, thanks.

CleanShirt

Its so they can determine if you are eligible. They dont ask for it for the sake of it.

Look at the bottom of page 9 of their application form for full details of why.

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223423584193&cachecontrol=immediate&ssbinary=true&maxage=3600

Depending on the legal entity the number of employees and the turnover help ascertain if you are a small business under the companies act.