Business Account - Dual Authorisation online banking

CouncillorC

Can anyone recommend a bank account where we can have dual authorisation for online banking. I am a parish councillor and currently we have a number of authorised signatories on the parish council bank account, but still only use cheques. In this day and age we should have the ability for our clerk to raise the payments online and then at least 1 or more of us authorise the payment, we ideally need the account to be as cost neutral as possible so an account that is free or a small monthly fee would be ideal.

colsten

Most High Street banks offer the kind of account you want - -  though due to the present restrictions, you may not be able to apply for some as some can only be applied for in Branch.

https://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/information/bank-accounts-for-community-and-voluntary-organisations/

Zanderman

colsten said:

Most High Street banks offer the kind of account you want - -  though due to the present restrictions, you may not be able to apply for some as some can only be applied for in Branch.

https://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/information/bank-accounts-for-community-and-voluntary-organisations/

The OP is looking for a bank where online payments need dual authorisation - if I'm reading it correctly.
I don't know that these do exist.  But am happy to be shown to be wrong.
The link you're giving doesn't say any bank supports dual online authorisation though - indeed the page implies that this would have to be done on a DIY basis, not by the bank:

Most banks now offer internet banking and the use of debit cards. These are very convenient but do not generally give the security of a cheque payment that requires two signatories. Your group will need to set up an internal system to ensure the account is checked on a regular basis and that all internet and card payments have to be approved by two people. For more information on how to look after your money and keep your accounts, see our information sheets Your Group’s Money, Role of the Treasurer and Financial Rules.

Robin9

Barclays have a system where the first signature sets up the payment and a second authorises it.   We are on an initial version where the first signature sets its up and pays it - we have an audit trail with a bookkeeper checking all payments against bank statements.

Eco_Miser

Zanderman said:

The OP is looking for a bank where online payments need dual authorisation - if I'm reading it correctly.
I don't know that these do exist.  But am happy to be shown to be wrong.

I believe the Lloyds Treasurer's Account offers dual authorisation. (I was going to set one up a few years back, but my co-signatories wanted to stick to cheques only)

ParishC

Hello CouncillorC, I am a parish clerk looking for exactly the same thing. I wondered if you had managed to find a bank that fulfilled your requirements? I have three that I am hunting this down for. Would really appreciate a reply. Thanks

cx6

As far as I know, dual authorisation does not exist.

A work around might be to have two accounts - let's say one at Lloyds, one at Barclays.

The main one is at Lloyds where all the funds are held. Barclays has zero balance.

Person 1 'pays' outgoings by using their credentials to sign on and transfer the required payment money to Barclays.

Person 2 then uses their credentials to log onto Barclays and pay the real payee using the funds transferred by person 1.

ParishC

Thanks, cx6 dual authorisation does exist but just not with online banking.

However, I am just on the phone with Lloyds at the moment and the man from Del Monte says Yes. Sorry, I am excited. They have a Treasurer's account which will allow online banking with multiple signatories, it is free if you are under 50K turnover, you can still pay in cheques at the post office.

However, at the moment they are not taking new accounts if you have an account elsewhere for another couple of weeks, but if you already have an account with them you should be fine.

Also, they are not performing a Switching service , yes, pain but it can't be all good news.

Have a good day, Ladies and Gents.

penners324

Metro is the only option that let's you do this in app.

BlueC

I have been looking into this for our organisation too. Old thread but it features high on Google so I thought I would add my findings here.

Firstly, Barclay's online banking and apps definitely have built-in dual authorisation for their clubs, associations and charities account (basically a fee-free small business account if you meet their eligibility criteria). At the time of writing they are not accepting any account switches but are accepting new organisations who currently have no banking facility.

Secondly, there is a good comparison list here of bank accounts and there is specific mention of dual authorisation for many of them: https://scvo.scot/support/running-your-organisation/finance-business-management/bank-accounts/comparison

Hope this helps someone. I will update with any further findings.

soulsaver

Research Santander Corporate.

There may be a 'free up to 'n' transactions ' but their charges are at transactional level so you'd need to investigate total cost based on number & nature of your transactions.

The OP asked about 'dual' authorisation but described a process that appears to need just one of several people to authorise a payment run: 

If the process required is where a person(clerk), not authorised to trigger the payment run, sets up several payments maybe over a period, and those are 'held' waiting final authorisation by one of several authorised, I believe Santander Corporate can provide this.