Bank account

[Pab]

Hi guys,

My business currently banks with Lloyds and I'm fairly dissatisfied with the service. I've been a personal customer for about 15 years without any problems but from a business perspective they've not delivered.

I'm considering changing to a new bank - partly because of the service but also to ensure our banking service is aligned to our growth plans.

I need a bank that makes banking in multiple currencies nice and simple, including receiving and making payments in EUR and USD currency accounts. We're not looking to borrow any money, have no debt to transfer and have plenty of money in our accounts.

If I'm to believe the tv ads, HSBC looks like the winner from a global banking perspective. Is that correct? How do they rank on service? Any other recommendations or experiences?

[David Griffiths]

Overall, there's often little to choose between the various banks. It's more likely to be down to the local relationship manager, but even then day to day events and transactional problems are not likely to be dealt with at manager levels.

Unfortunately, managers come and go, more quickly with some banks than with others. You can build up a good relationship with somebody, and then find that you don't get on as well with the successor, or the bank switches people around too quickly for them to settle in.

We moved on from Lloyds because at the time everything went through a call centre, who basically didn't have a clue about the problems. HSBC had two great local managers, but they moved on and got replaced by somebody who undid all of the good work. Worse, they replaced the quick deposit point with a machine that required you to feed each cheque in separately, and confirm the amounts - maximum of five cheques for each banking. Great for the bank, not so great for the customer - all we wanted to do was fly in, stuff the envelope through the slot and fly out again.

Next move to Barclays, who don't move managers around unless they want to. I've had the same manager for five years, with an excellent working relationship.

Basically, most of the transactions (with all banks) are done online, so there's very little contact with them. Of the three, Barclays have been best for us by a mile.

Having said that, for everybody who praises Bank A, there's going to be somebody who hates it!