Small businesses choosing retail bank accounts
Proprietors of small businesses are shunning business bank accounts in favour of standard retail offers, a new study has shown. Research conducted by price comparison web site moneysupermarket.com found that over a million small businesses are currently using a retail bank account.Kevin Mountford, head of current accounts at the site, attributed the trend to the fact that retail accounts typically offer better rates on balances and overdrafts and also allow holders to benefit from the lack of transaction fees.He said: "It's not a surprise that so many home-based small businesses are looking to the retail current account market for the best options, especially as they tend to have a better offering." To highlight the scale of the disparity between the terms offered by retail accounts and business accounts, moneysupermarket.com cited the example of offers from Alliance & Leicester. Holders of the provider's business account can enjoy a return of 8.5 per cent on balances of up to £2,500, whereas its business account offers a rate of 5.73 per cent on balances of up to £999.
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