When working out what to do with surplus business cash, some business owners or finance directors decide that they should hunt around for the best possible interest rate.

For example, you could probably put around £1 million in 12 separate, one-year fixed-term rate accounts, offering an average of approximately 0.9% – that’s around £9,000 gross. This is obviously a higher return than doing nothing.

The downside is that you have to deal with 12 different banking institutions. This means doing all your “Know Your Customer” (KYC) and anti-money laundering, as well as all the account opening and switching when that first year ends.

Pros
  • Higher interest rate, giving you some growth
  • More Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection, reducing risk.
Cons
  • More effort unless you use a cash management service
  • The interest rate might not see your cash keep up with inflation.

 

There are a couple of services worth looking into to minimise the hassle of all this activity. One is Flagstone IM and the other is Octopus Cash, both allowing you to keep the 100% protection of the FSCS while partially automating the process.

These services can minimise the work that you have to do. However, they do both take a small fee, and the amounts that can be put with them is dependent on the number of banks they have on their own platform.

Download your guide

For six alternative strategies to finding a high-interest account, download your free guide to managing surplus cash in your business.

Alternatively, email hello@cordinerwealth.co.uk or call 0113 262 1242 to speak to our team directly.

Please note

This article is for information only. Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.