How to choose a business savings platform

By choosing the right savings platform you can save on fees, help protect your money and earn interest.

Sophie Barber's headshot

By

Sophie Barber

Posted

Fact checked

Research by Flagstone shows that 72% of businesses leave their surplus cash idle, potentially missing out on a significant amount of interest. That’s why it’s worth looking at a business savings platform to help earn more from cash reserves.

What is a business savings platform?

A business savings platform connects your company with tens or hundreds of high-interest savings accounts in one place, allowing you to spread your cash between banks while managing it all with a single login and dashboard.

A well-known and well-renowned example of a business savings platform is Flagstone, but there are also smaller platforms such as Akoni and Bondsmith.

How does a business savings platform work?

Rather than applying over and over again at separate banks, you complete one onboarding and verification process with the platform. This takes away a good chunk of admin burden!

Your business cash is placed into a holding account, and you can then access a dashboard to choose where to allocate your funds. There’s typically a wide range of providers and products, including both instant access and fixed term or notice accounts.

What to look for when choosing a platform

Platform fees

It’s always worth checking what you will be charged when signing up to a business cash platform.

Some business savings platforms, such as Flagstone, don’t charge fees. Instead, the company receives a small share of the interest you earn on your savings. That’s usually deducted before the interest rate is shown to you, so you still get the advertised rate.

Other platforms, such as Akoni and Insignis, do charge fees instead of (or as well as) taking a share of the interest you earn. These may include:

  • Platform fees. Annual percentage charge on the funds held on the platform
  • Deposit fees. Percentage-based fee per deposit

If you’re unsure, make sure to read details about fees on the platform’s website before signing up – or ask their customer service.

Panel size, quality and diversity

It’s important to look for a business savings platform that not only has a good-sized panel of banks and building societies, but also one that’s diverse and focused on quality. You should make sure the panel is made up of FCA-regulated and UK-based banks with FSCS protection. Research by Flagstone revealed that the average mid-sized SME holds £620,000 in cash reserves. Spreading your business’s cash across savings accounts with different banking groups can help keep more of your eligible deposits within FSCS protection limits. The FSCS protects eligible deposits up to £120,000 per individual, per banking group.

Minimum deposits

The majority of business savings platforms have a minimum deposit requirement, so it’s worth checking this before you sign up. You might find it’s around the £100,000 mark, which means most businesses are still able to use the platform, as research shows the average small SME holds around £225,000 in cash savings.

If you have less than £100,000 that you want to deposit in business savings, you might consider going direct to a bank in this case, as you will be FSCS protected up to £120,000 per bank or building society.

Multi-currency deposits

A lot of businesses are globally connected and may need to manage money in multiple currencies. A good business cash platform will allow you to secure your different currencies all in one place – and still earn competitive interest on your cash balances. For example, Flagstone offers USD and EUR accounts.

Ease of use

The best business savings platform is one that reduces administrative burden. A single password to gain access to your entire savings portfolio, and the ability to switch to better rates in just a few clicks, help you earn competitive returns on your business cash, rather than letting it sit idle.

How rates compare to going direct

Some business cash platforms take a small portion of interest from the provider before giving it to you, so you might get slightly better rates by going direct. This is worth noting if you have a small sum of business cash that you could put in one high-interest account.

However, if you’re a business with a decent sum of cash, you should weigh that up against the cost of your time and energy – and whether you think you’d stay on top of your cash reserves when going direct. If you have accounts with 5 or 6 different banks, will you really take the time to track each one and keep on top of the most competitive rates?

You might not easily find the best deals by trawling through hundreds of banks, whereas a business savings platform makes it easy to compare rates from multiple banks in one place. Some platforms, like Flagstone, also offer exclusive rates (this is where a savings rate is designated as exclusive to customers of the business savings platform by participating banks and building societies at the time of publication).

Trust and reputation

It’s worth looking at portals like Trustpilot to see how users have reviewed the experience of using a particular business cash platform. A platform that partners with a large number of high-quality banks and building societies – including major names – is also a good sign.

Frequently asked questions

How does FSCS protection work with a business savings platform?

FSCS protection covers your eligible business deposits up to £120,000 per authorised bank or building society. So, you can hold more than £120,000 with a business savings platform, but you want to ensure that this is spread between different banks and building societies when looking at your portfolio in the dashboard.

Do all savings platforms support business accounts?

No, not all savings platforms are built for business accounts. For example, while Raisin is a marketplace for personal savings accounts, it doesn’t offer support for business savings or surplus cash.

How do business savings platforms make money?

This depends on the platform. Some platforms, like Flagstone, don’t charge fees but instead receive a small share of the interest from partner banks before advertising the rate with customers. Others charge a platform fee or a fee on deposits made with the platform – typically as a percentage of the total sum held or deposited.

Do I get a worse rate than going direct to the bank?

Not necessarily. Although a business savings platform may take a small portion of interest earned, meaning a slightly lower headline rate, the best platforms also compare rates across hundreds of accounts – so you get access to the most competitive deals on the market that you might not see otherwise.

Can a charity use a business savings platform?

Yes, most business savings platforms accept applications from charities that meet the specified criteria. However, there might be different deposit requirements for charities compared to other business types, so it’s worth checking with the individual platform.

How long does it take to open an account?

Your business will need to be approved before your account is opened, but this shouldn’t take more than a few days in most cases. A good business cash platform will have a speedy sign-up process and quick approval times. For example, with Flagstone, over 75% of business applications are approved within 24 hours.

We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables is provided by Defaqto. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Sophie Barber's headshot
Written by

Senior content marketing manager
Add to Preferred Sources

Sophie Barber is a senior content marketing manager for Finder in the UK. She has over 5 years experience in writing and publishing clear, concise and informative articles that help consumers make informed decisions. See full bio

Sophie's expertise
Sophie has written 99 Finder guides across topics including:
  • Personal finance trends and statistics
  • Cost of living and money saving tips
More resources on Finder

More guides on Finder

Go to site