Eligibility

  • Incorporated in the United Kingdom (UK)?

    Who we serve

    The Bank of London provides business and corporate bank accounts, and other bank products and services to the vast majority of company types incorporated in the UK (including the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar) who hold an active and current status on Companies House, including:

    Companies limited by shares (LTD).

    Limited liability partnership (LLP), or partnerships.

    Public limited companies (PLC).

    Public sector companies & government and non-government organisations.

    Royal charter companies (RC).

    Special limited companies, such as limited by guarantee, unlimited companies, industrial and provident societies, etc.

    Who we cannot serve

    We are a business and corporate bank, which means we cannot provide bank accounts, or other bank products and services directly to:

    Individuals, meaning retail consumers.

    Sole traders and freelancers, meaning a business that does not have any legal identity separate to its owner.

    Micro-entities, meaning a company that has an annual turnover of less than £750,000 GBP and less than 10 employees.*

    Dormant and shell companies, meaning a company without any active business operations, without significant assets and does not have any other income.

    * Waived for new start-up companies who are seeking to become regulated by either the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and/or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) within 24 months of opening bank accounts, or other bank products and services with us, or who have entered into an agency bank agreement with us.

    Industries we cannot serve

    We serve the vast majority of industries; however, we cannot work with the following industries:

    Arms, Defence and Military, defined as nuclear proliferation, and the manufacturing and mass-distribution of weapons, explosives, or armaments.

    Adult Services, defined as escort services, strip bars or strip clubs.

    Unlicenced Drugs, including cannabidiol products.

    Mining, defined as the extraction and mass-distribution of minerals, fossil fuels or precious metals and stones.

    Unregistered Gambling.

    Company director, shareholder, and ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) nationals

    Companies with differing director(s), shareholder(s) and/or UBO(s) nationals (passport holders) may apply for bank accounts, or other bank products and services with us.

    However, if any of your company director(s), shareholder(s) and/or UBO(s) are nationals of one of the countries listed below, we cannot provide any bank accounts, or other banks products and services to your company:

    ALL The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) defined list of black and grey list countries, available here.

    ALL of the following: Belarus, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Congo (Republic of the Congo), Cuba, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

    Qualified exception: People’s Republic of China*, Russian Federation*, Türkiye*, United Arab Emirates (UAE)*, Ukraine*.

    * A company with director(s), shareholder(s) and/or UBO(s) who are nationals of this country may be eligible, however certified proof of residence outside of the country is required and nationals cannot be active on the UK, EU, US, and/or UN sanctioned list(s). 

    Non-exhaustive eligibility criteria

    Please be aware that the above eligibility criteria are broad and non-exhaustive, and we may ultimately decide that we can’t work with your company for other reasons.

    Apply today

    If you’re a UK incorporated company that meets the above eligibility criteria, you can apply online today, here.

    Any questions

    We always try and reach further to help businesses grow. If you're unsure about something or think your business might be an edge case, don't hesitate to contact our client partner team, here.

  • Incorporated outside the UK?

    Who we serve

    The Bank of London provides UK based, GBP business and corporate bank accounts, and other bank products and services to many company types incorporated outside of the UK.

    However, there are exceptions to this and all applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

    Who we cannot serve

    We are a business and corporate bank, which means we cannot provide bank accounts, or other bank products and services directly to:

    Individuals, meaning retail consumers.

    Sole traders and freelancers, meaning a business that does not have any legal identity separate to its owner.

    Micro-entities, meaning a company that has an annual turnover of less than £1,750,000 GBP / €2,100,000 EUR / $2,400,000 USD and less than 10 employees.

    Dormant and shell companies, meaning a company without active business operations, without significant assets and does not have any other income.

    Industries we cannot serve

    We serve the vast majority of industries; however, we cannot work with the following industries:

    Arms, Defence and Military, defined as nuclear proliferation, and the manufacturing and mass-distribution of weapons, explosives, or armaments.

    Adult Services, defined as escort services, strip bars or strip clubs.

    Unlicenced Drugs, including cannabidiol products.

    Mining, defined as the extraction and mass-distribution of minerals, fossil fuels or precious metals and stones.

    Unregistered Gambling.

    Companies incorporated in the following jurisdictions we cannot serve

    ALL The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) defined list of black and grey list countries, available here.

    Any counties currently active on the UK, EU’s, US and/or UN sanctioned list(s).

    ALL of the following: Belarus, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Congo (Republic of the Congo), Cuba, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Nicaragua, People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, Somalia, Sudan, Türkiye, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

    Company director, shareholder, and ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) nationals

    Companies with differing director(s), shareholder(s) and/or UBO(s) nationals (passport holders) may apply for bank accounts, or other bank products and services with us.

    However, if any of your company director(s), shareholder(s) and/or UBO(s) are nationals of one of the countries listed below, we cannot provide any bank accounts, or other banks products and services to your company:

    ALL The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) defined list of black and grey list countries, available here.

    ALL of the following: Belarus, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Congo (Republic of the Congo), Cuba, Ghana, Iraq, Liberia, Libya, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

    Qualified exception: People’s Republic of China*, Russian Federation*, Türkiye*, United Arab Emirates (UAE)*, Ukraine*.

    * A company with director(s), shareholder(s) and/or UBO(s) who are nationals of this country may be eligible, however certified proof of residence outside of the country is required and nationals cannot be active on the UK, EU, US, and/or UN sanctioned list(s). 

    Non-exhaustive eligibility criteria

    Please be aware that the above eligibility criteria are broad and non-exhaustive, and we may ultimately decide that we can’t work with your company for other reasons.

    Apply today

    If you’re a non-UK, overseas incorporated company that meets the above eligibility criteria, and require UK based, GBP banking products and services you can apply online today, here.

    Further questions?

    We always try and each further to help businesses grow. If you're unsure about something or think your business might be an edge case, don't hesitate to contact our client partner team, here.

Still can’t find what you’re looking for?

Get in touch

FSCS Protected for your peace of mind

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is the United Kingdom’s independent deposit guarantee scheme, and it protects 
eligible deposits with authorised banks like ours.

To understand FSCS’s eligibility criteria and if you may be an eligible beneficiary, please read our downloadable FSCS fact sheet.

The Bank of London monolight logo

‘Bank of London’, ‘The Bank of London’ and ‘TBOL’ are registered trading names of The Bank of London Group Limited. Our registered office is at 100 Bishopsgate, City of London, EC2N 4AG, United Kingdom. Our company number is: 12844788. For further information please visit here.

The Bank of London is a bank authorised by the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority. Our Firm Reference Number or FRN is: 930379. For further information please visit here.

Eligible deposits with The Bank of London are protected up to a total of £85,000 (or £170,000 for joint accounts) by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the United Kingdom’s deposit guarantee scheme. Due to FSCS’s own eligibility criteria some clients may not be covered. For further information please visit here.

The Bank of London is a signatory to the voluntary code of conduct for indirect access providers, which governs how we provide eligible clients with indirect access services, including access to the United Kingdom’s payments infrastructure and interbank payments systems. Further information is available here.

Terms, conditions and fees for bank accounts, and other bank products and services are subject to change. Not all bank accounts, products, and services as well as pricing described herein are available to all jurisdictions or to all clients. Your eligibility for a particular bank account, product and service is subject to a final decision by The Bank of London. Your country of citizenship, domicile, or residence, if other than the United Kingdom, may have laws, rules, and regulations that govern or affect your application for and use of bank accounts, products, and services, including laws and regulations regarding taxes, exchange and/or capital controls that you are responsible for following.

‘THE BANK OF LONDON LOGO’, ‘THE BANK OF LONDON LOGO DEVICE’, ‘TBOL’, ‘BANKING ADVANCED’, ‘BUSINESS ADVANTAGE’, ‘TBOLClear’, ‘TBOLCore’, ‘TBOLPay’ and ‘REACH FURTHER’ are registered trademarks in the United Kingdom and other countries.

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