Why we're different

What our customers and other business partners like about us is that we are a very straightforward traditional bank:

• We believe in offering our UK savers consistently competitive savings products
• We use these funds to support UK small and owner/managed businesses, providing a range of flexible products and services that can be tailored to suit most businesses
• We back this up with an attentive and responsive team of professional bankers who are experienced in their field and understand that every business is different, only recommending products that are suitable to your business
• Our customers have access to a relationship management team, contact is proactive and frequent so that customer gets to know and trust the team. Our team approach ensures continuity, even if staff move on
• We avoid ‘red tape’ and our short communication lines means that we can provide our customers with quick decisions

Our focus has always been on the small/owner-managed end of the SME marketplace. These customers have not always been well served by the larger banks where it is simply impractical or uneconomical to offer a truly personal relationship.

In our experience, what smaller businesses really want in the long run is a fair deal, responsiveness, consistency and reliability of relationship. In this respect, our relationship managers are key to any decisions we make in respect of our customers.

In building new relationships with brokers and customers, of course our UK heritage is important, as is the fact that we are UK authorised and regulated and members of the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme. However, what really works for us is that we understand the needs of small businesses because, as far as UK banks are concerned, we are a small business, too.