Online Banking for Clubs & Societies

The_Manager

I am involved in a club association that requires 2 out of 3 signatories to sign a cheque.

Our current bank will not allow us to have online services because they cannot offer the service to more than 1 person.

This all seems very archaic to me in this day and age and making a payment is slow and tedious when we have to send cheques around to people in the post to get 2nd signatures etc..

Is there a bank out there that allows a club/society account to have more than one signatory where payments etc can be approved by more than one person electronically, like via a card reader?

I am aware that business banking can be done this way, but what about clubs?

Thanks in advance.

SebH

Many banks offer facilities for clubs and societies, usually for free. They are considered to be business accounts but are just operated by that part of the bank - don’t think you need to be a “real business” just because it is a business account.

I believe that Lloyds, Barclays and Metro (at a minimum) offer such accounts.

Lloyds and Barclays both allow for multiple signatories to approve payments online. I think it’s called a “Community account” at Barclays and a “Treasurer’s account” at Lloyds.

Both banks also offer cheque imaging in their apps which you may find helpful. It will be easier to set up a new account if you are already a (personal) customer at the bank so, if you are not, consider opening a personal account first. You should be able to sort everything out from home either by phone or online.

Let us know how you get on!

General_Grant

CAF Bank has a current account named CAF Cash for charitable and not-for-profit organisations.
Payments out require two "signatories" and the authorisation is done with codes sent to registered mobile phones (after access to the site is gained with a username, password and OTP sent to the mobile).

Chino

The_Manager said:

I am involved in a club association that requires 2 out of 3 signatories to sign a cheque.
...
Is there a bank out there that allows a club/society account to have more than one signatory where payments etc can be approved by more than one person electronically

If the bylaws of your club require payments to be made by signatories on a cheque, have you checked whether they allow payments to be made by means other than cheque (e.g. electronically)?

General_Grant

Chino said:

The_Manager said:

I am involved in a club association that requires 2 out of 3 signatories to sign a cheque.
...
Is there a bank out there that allows a club/society account to have more than one signatory where payments etc can be approved by more than one person electronically

If the bylaws of your club require payments to be made by signatories on a cheque, have you checked whether they allow payments to be made by means other than cheque (e.g. electronically)?

Good questions.  Of course if the club rules (rather than "bylaws") specifically mention cheques exclusively then a minuted meeting of the committee should be enough to add other forms of payment which could be confirmed by a general meeting of members if the rules required that.

penners324

Currently opening an HSBC account for exactly this purpose. I also have a Barclays account.

penners324

CAF charge £8 a month

The_Manager

Thank thanks for the replies.

The constitution of the society does not specify how we carry out our banking, only that payments must be authorised by 2 out of 3 nominees.

The society currently banks with Santander, but I personally bank with Barclays, so I will investigate some more.

We are a small society for a sports team, a club if you will. We don’t really want to be paying any fees if possible, but if needs must, then so be it. We have maybe 20 banking transactions a year in total if that, in and out.

peterball1950

@The_Manager
How did you get on? I am secretary of a club banking with Nationwide, who have told us they won’t accept money being paid in soon. We applied for a Lloyd’s club account, and have been refused.  Looking around for other club accounts.
Pete