Revolut and Starling Bank have both announced new business banking initiatives today, hoping to appeal to the UK’s smaller traders.

Starling has opened up its business account to hundreds of thousands more UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by inviting companies with more than one person of significant control (PSCs) to sign up.

The multi-PSC account comes 16 months after it launched a mobile business bank account for single-person businesses, which now has almost 60,000 customers.

It also follows the award in April of a £100 million grant from the RBS funded Capability and Innovation Fund. Starling is using the grant to build a full suite of digital banking products, intelligent forecasting tools and digitally-enabled relationship management functions; as well as lending products.

Starling’s new business account has no monthly fees, no fees for making a payment to another UK bank account and no fees for withdrawing cash via ATMs. PSCs, who are also directors in the business, will be able to gain full access to the account and development is underway to make it suitable for more complex businesses which require greater control and individual access permissions.

Companies will be able to apply for an account in minutes and, once approved, instantly make payments to suppliers - including international payments - and receive real-time balance updates and spending insights from their smartphones. They will also be able to make cash deposits and withdrawals at any of the 11,500 Post Office across the UK.

The account will give businesses access to the Starling Marketplace, including accounting software integration with accounting services Xero and FreeAgent, and insurance services through InsurTech firm Zego.

Anne Boden, Starling founder and chief executive, said: “With funding from the Capability and Innovation Fund, we are reshaping the SME banking market, using technology to help businesses thrive.”

Meanwhile, Revolut for Business has today launched two business account plans with zero monthly subscription fees, designed to support startups from freelancers to corporates.

It is also announcing changes to the pricing structure of the plans, introducing a customisable model that provides more control regardless of a businesses' size. Users will be able to tailor the features of their plan according to their business needs and upgrade or downgrade their plans at any time.

James Gibson, product owner at Revolut for Business, said: “We understand first-hand how frustrating it can be for ambitious entrepreneurial businesses to get the support they need to kick off their journey to success.

“Using our own experience, we’ve developed a brand new free offering which will save our customers time, money and give them the flexibility and control they need to operate both locally and globally.”

In the last two years, Revolut has signed up over 100,000 businesses and rolled out a feature set which includes the ability to create instant multi-currency accounts, issue physical and virtual corporate cards, make and receive transfers in 28 currencies, add team members or accountants to their account, set permissions and define payment approval flows, and integrate with apps such as Slack, Xero, FreeAgent and Zapier.

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