Types Of Bank Accounts
Client Trust Account (CTA)
This is akin to a ‘bridging account’ that gives new companies the ability to carry out certain banking operations before they have their own account. These accounts are not designed as a long term banking solution but as a temporary arrangement to help clients access basic banking services while they get their own banking arrangements in place. For our American clients, we often refer to these accounts as an Escrow account – with the exception that it can be used as a checking account for processing regular business transactions, as opposed to a one-time transaction.
We offer our clients a CTA service, which provides them with a sub-account under the PB Ltd umbrella. It sits under your company name and as such can serve as evidence of your continuing banking operations in the UK. As a trust account, the client doesn’t have direct control of the account: while you can receive funds from external sources, you must issue instructions to the PB team to make payments via for payroll for instance.
This is done using an authority form and our team is always available to carry out requests as and when. You also get full transparency and visibility over all account activity via your Xero accounting software portal. There are limits to the size of funds that can go through the account but these are spelled out and agreed to at the account’s inception. The payment authority is an official document signed by the directors of the company that dictates who from the client side can act on the finance held in the account, together with any financial limits, as appropriate.
We offer the CTA’s as a facility along with another service from the Paul Beare team, such as payroll, or our Sponsorship Licence service for intra-company transfer, or sponsoring skilled migrants.