Zenith Bank details

steveinfinity

I've opened up a 3 year fixed interest account with Zenith Bank using the link from the moneysavingexpert website. It then asks me to make my opening deposit to a Barclays bank account.

• Our Account Number: 13892603
• Our Sort Code: 20-32-53
• Bank Name: Barclays Bank Plc
• Account Name: Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd


This seems a little strange to me. Any thoughts?

woody_56

?????????????????????you have to cautious.

Zanderman

steveinfinity wrote: »

I've opened up a 3 year fixed interest account with Zenith Bank using the link from the moneysavingexpert website. It then asks me to make my opening deposit to a Barclays bank account.

• Our Account Number: 13892603
• Our Sort Code: 20-32-53
• Bank Name: Barclays Bank Plc
• Account Name: Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd


This seems a little strange to me. Any thoughts?

Not sure what you think is odd. Zenith Bank are not a UK 'High Street' bank - so will be using one of the conventional uk banks for handling money. Lots of the newer and alternative banks do the same - especially for savings accounts. They ask you to pay in via their generic account at a given bank and they then allocate your money to a savings account with them - assuming you included the relevant reference number of course (otherwise they won't know it's your money).

Having said that i have zero experience of Zenith bank, so can't comment on whether they normally use Barclays or not. So if you're worried about it wait until someone who has used them replies!

Zanderman

Btw, having looked at their 3 year account, I see it's 1.95%. Which is more than matched - at the moment - by UBL at 2% via MSE links or by Gatehouse Bank at 2% if opened via Raisin. Just saying!

steveinfinity

Zanderman wrote: »

Not sure what you think is odd. Zenith Bank are not a UK 'High Street' bank - so will be using one of the conventional uk banks for handling money. Lots of the newer and alternative banks do the same - especially for savings accounts. They ask you to pay in via their generic account at a given bank and they then allocate your money to a savings account with them - assuming you included the relevant reference number of course (otherwise they won't know it's your money).

Having said that i have zero experience of Zenith bank, so can't comment on whether they normally use Barclays or not. So if you're worried about it wait until someone who has used them replies!

Thanks for the reply. I have no experience of these newer /alternative banks but what you say does make sense. Perhaps I’m being over cautious.

Bleg

If in doubt do 'nowt'

G_M

Zenith is regulated in the UK and appears on the FSCS websearch here.

It's not unusual for smaller or overseas banks, and also smaller UK building Societies, to use UK High Street banks to process their money.



Zenith FAQ say:

Once your application is complete you will receive an email with the account number and sort code you need to deposit funds into your account. You must send the payment from your nominated account.

However I'm surprised they dont mention needing a reference. Usualy all funds would go to their bank account and then be divided to clients' savings accounts via the reference (savings account number).

EdSwippet

G_M wrote: »

However I'm surprised they dont mention needing a reference. Usualy all funds would go to their bank account and then be divided to clients' savings accounts via the reference (savings account number).

My guess is that they did include a reference number, but the OP (prudently) trimmed it from their post.

I opened a Zenith account a year or so ago, but in the end didn't fund it because something better turned up at the last minute. The email they sent me at the time had the same bank details as quoted by the OP, followed by a unique reference for me to use. Also, Zenith confirmed by email that these details had come from them:

> Genuine correspondence from Zenith Bank (UK) Limited will always be from an email address ending @zenith-bank.co.uk.
> However, be aware that fraudsters do have the ability to mask the sending email address so that it seems as if it is from a @zenith-bank.co.uk email address.
> Should you receive an email which appears as if it is from Zenith Bank (UK) Limited but you are unsure of its authenticity, please forward the email, with internet headers if possible, to us at info@zenith-bank.co.uk and we will confirm whether the email was sent to you by us and actions you can take to prevent receiving scam emails in the future.

Ideally, a bank operating this way would publish their customer paying in account details on a Zenith bank operated web page, making them trivial to confirm without going through the two-stage email process above. Most others seem to. However, Zenith don't appear to do this (or if they do, I haven't found them).