NICVA has been working with other representatives of the voluntary and community sector, as part of the Civil Society Group, along with the charity regulators across the UK to highlight banking issues and seek an improved offer from the banking sector to the voluntary and community sector.
We have met with a range of organisations such as UK Finance, Consumer Council, Treasury officials, charity regulators, Competition and Markets Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority to highlight the many issues with banking.
Much time and effort has been spent to date on highlighting the issues to the key stakeholders and we continue to work as part of the Civil Society Group to advocate for better banking for voluntary and community organisations.
The Civil Society Group conducted research in Spring 2024 to ascertain if organisations are still encountering problems with their banks so we can continue to advocate for better banking services for voluntary organisations. Thank you to all who contributed to this survey. The report has now been published.
Charity Banking Challenges Report 2024
The Civil Society Group has just launched a joint report on the challenges and barriers charities face with banking. The report – Charity Banking Challenges 2024 – reveals that nearly all respondents (92%) have experienced at least one difficulty related to banking in the past two years.
The report points to a variety of problems that charitable organisations face, despite ongoing efforts by the banking and charity sectors to improve banking services. The results indicate a systemic issue that requires urgent attention.
1,899 representatives – mainly trustees and volunteers from small to medium-sized charities – took part in a survey launched by the Civil Society Group in March 2024. 167 of the respondents were from Northern Ireland, and 32 of these also operate in the Republic of Ireland; 46% were from urban areas, 20% from suburban areas and 34% from rural areas.
Specific feedback from Northern Ireland
- Two thirds of respondents (67%) said they had encountered problems with adding or removing signatories from their account, and 43% said their trustees had needed to attend in person to verify their identity.
- Almost two out of five (39%) said they had been asked to provide personal information for all their trustees, even those who were not signatories to the bank account.
- Bank charges for operating accounts (55%) and paying in cash/cheques (47%) were also frequently cited as a challenge.
- Across the Northern Ireland respondents, 74% said their organisation used online banking. Just over half of respondents (51%) whose organisations used online banking have procedures in place to detect/prevent online fraud.
- The majority (53%) said banking took up over an hour a week, with nearly one quarter (22%) saying they had to spend over three hours each week on banking.
The main findings across the UK
- Nine in ten (92%) of respondents experienced one or more issues related to banking.
- Over three quarters (77%) found changing signatories on bank account mandates difficult.
- Four in ten (40%) had been asked to complete checks that were not designed for charities or voluntary organisations.
- Nearly a third (32%) had found it difficult to open accounts with a new bank.
- Over a quarter (29%) stated that a requirement to provide personal information for all trustees, not just signatories, was problematic.
Alongside the difficulty of administration, respondents said that communicating with their bank was a challenge and, at times, had been a source of stress. This was exacerbated by a lack of access to bank branches.
- Over a quarter (27%) couldn’t get clear explanations from their banks.
- Two in ten (21%) reported that communications sent by their bank had left them worried or feeling threatened.
- Over a third (37%) reported their nearest bank branch is between three and ten miles away, with most respondents indicating that it takes them 10 to 30 minutes to reach
- Nearly one-third (29%) said it took between 30 minutes and one hour to travel to the nearest branch.
Recommendations for charities
The report makes recommendations for banks, charitable organisations and regulators. The recommendations for us as charitable organisations are below:
- Shop around and consider your current and future needs when assessing potential providers of banking services.
- Ensure you are adhering to good standards of financial governance.
- Help your staff, volunteers and trustees who are involved in accessing banking services understand what their bank or financial institution needs from you.
- Ensure you understand the Consumer Duty and how it is being applied to your account(s) and relationships.
- Ensure you know how to complain to their bank or financial institution, and how to progress unresolved complaints to the Financial Ombudsman.
- Take positive steps to communicate with your bank or financial institutions, particularly when unusual or one-off activity is anticipated.
- Take steps to challenge your bank or financial institution when communication does not meet the requirements of the Consumer Duty, using the complaints procedure if necessary.
Download the full report
Resources
If you are looking to open a bank account for your organisation then please see NICVA's updated comparison table of bank accounts available to organisations in N.Ireland.
UK Finance has also recently launched its voluntary organisation banking guide which includes a glossary of terms used by the banks and an account finder, however it doesn't include a comparison table or the wait time to open an account.
