Best bank for business (from humble beginnings to 7 figures) - FNB vs Standard Bank vs Nedbank

[TollieKop]

Which bank do you rate is the best for business?

The plan is to make several (30+ a month) international transactions (from supplier) as well as clients in South Africa to purchase from my company (probably 100+ times a month)

Due to estimated volume, a Pay As You Use account is not feasible (It may be considered if I could freely upgrade the account at a later stage)

Any advice/experience would be appreciated

*PS. Going to open the bank account once I feel like I have a solid favourite. I'm currently with Standard Bank personal account. Will decide which to use for business around next week or later

 

[tman]

Sounds like you need a bank specialising in offering good forex rates.

 

[TollieKop]

Sounds like you need a bank specialising in offering good forex rates.

Holy shit you might be right!

This USD is chowing me so bad actually, which is why I want to bring in stock now vs waiting for more capital, and risk the USD/ZAR being even worse

 

[ThatGuyJD]

I've seen FNB has dedicated forex accounts but haven't dealt with much of the other banks although Netbank also offer similar accounts.

Haven't dealt with the accounts myself, would probably be best if you just work through fees and regulations yourself on each of the offering by the banks.
Kak job but then you knows what's up.

 

[TollieKop]

I've seen FNB has dedicated forex accounts but haven't dealt with much of the other banks although Netbank also offer similar accounts.

Haven't dealt with the accounts myself, would probably be best if you just work through fees and regulations yourself on each of the offering by the banks.
Kak job but then you knows what's up.

Thanks for that

It seems FNB is the fav
I need to go look into that forex thing to make sure I spend wisely when purchasing overseas
@Dom - if you'd like, what's your take? (I told you before I was upset FNB took so long to sort out my bank admin and paperwork, but that was probably just bad luck, otherwise it looks like the superior bank)

 

[Dom]

Thanks for that

It seems FNB is the fav
I need to go look into that forex thing to make sure I spend wisely when purchasing overseas
@Dom - if you'd like, what's your take? (I told you before I was upset FNB took so long to sort out my bank admin and paperwork, but that was probably just bad luck, otherwise it looks like the superior bank)

The FNB Global Account (what I think is being referred to here) quite nicely simplifies ForEx - you can convert the chosen currency (you can open numerous with no fee (if not used)) in the FNB app and this can help avoid big exchange rate fluctuations.

The accounts are limited to the chosen currency (a separate one for USD versus GBP) but the exchange rate losses are very minimal & it helps you at least have a set value in that chosen foreign currency.

No monthly fee for just having the account & the fees only add up (FNB has lots of docs for this) when you use it but they are transparent with showing you what the fees will be - there is a flat once-off fee if you want a card that you can transact with in that currency (needed for some online purchases/transactions where ZAR is not accepted + they will not do a conversion).

My last bit, no need to go the ForEx route for buying off of well known international sites that allow ZAR conversions (Amazon etc.) as it adds extra complexity - it is more useful for sites that only quote prices in a currency that isn't ZAR (and obviously ship to ZA through some or another affordable + safe channel).

 

[bythecantloads]

Previous company I worked for had a couple of bank accounts (albeit in African countries) and they played the banks off against each other. If the one bank quoted them a spot rate of $x they woud go to the other bank and ask them to beat it, and more often than not it would happen. We are talking mere cents difference, but the amounts of transaction would make difference in the entire year.

 

[TollieKop]

Previous company I worked for had a couple of bank accounts (albeit in African countries) and they played the banks off against each other. If the one bank quoted them a spot rate of $x they woud go to the other bank and ask them to beat it, and more often than not it would happen. We are talking mere cents difference, but the amounts of transaction would make difference in the entire year.

That sounds great! I am literally starting from zero though, so I don't think I have the kind of money to pull that off

Maybe one day

 

[TollieKop]

The FNB Global Account (what I think is being referred to here) quite nicely simplifies ForEx - you can convert the chosen currency (you can open numerous with no fee (if not used)) in the FNB app and this can help avoid big exchange rate fluctuations.

The accounts are limited to the chosen currency (a separate one for USD versus GBP) but the exchange rate losses are very minimal & it helps you at least have a set value in that chosen foreign currency.

No monthly fee for just having the account & the fees only add up (FNB has lots of docs for this) when you use it but they are transparent with showing you what the fees will be - there is a flat once-off fee if you want a card that you can transact with in that currency (needed for some online purchases/transactions where ZAR is not accepted + they will not do a conversion).

My last bit, no need to go the ForEx route for buying off of well known international sites that allow ZAR conversions (Amazon etc.) as it adds extra complexity - it is more useful for sites that only quote prices in a currency that isn't ZAR (and obviously ship to ZA through some or another affordable + safe channel).

I'm almost set on FNB now. I see a few guys with experience in finance chose FNB too, so I think I'll choose that

What I will do is ask the supplier to quote me in ZAR, maybe they can, but I doubt it. If that does happen it would save me thousands actually

Then just to choose the best account with FNB based on my needs and budget - gonna give them a call tomorrow.
Leaving thread open in case anyone has something to add for Standard Bank or Nedbank

 

[CraigThePlague]

Standard Bank seems to be struggling with the reliability side of things as of late. 2 recent extended periods of outages( less than a day but probably a few hours), one which affected online banking and the other which affected point of sale and ATM transactions.

I may not sure if this is just chance but to me it seems that from a reliability Standard Bank is not up to scratch.

I see you say that you are with Standard Bank as a personal so even from a personal point of view it would be useful to have money accessible from a different bank in case something like this happens again

 

[TollieKop]

Standard Bank seems to be struggling with the reliability side of things as of late. 2 recent extended periods of outages( less than a day but probably a few hours), one which affected online banking and the other which affected point of sale and ATM transactions.

I may not sure if this is just chance but to me it seems that from a reliability Standard Bank is not up to scratch.

The contractor running their servers probably had issues recently

Where I do like Standard and had bad experience with FNB is customer service.
Although I actually think I just got unlucky with FNB since I read an article last week that showed FNB had the least complaints and Capitec/Standard Bank had the most

If this were international I don't think one could afford a day of downtime/failure. The supplier would have to requote and you'd end up having to track down the money in outer space. Locally it's okay but not international

 

[CraigThePlague]

The contractor running their servers probably had issues recently

Where I do like Standard and had bad experience with FNB is customer service.
Although I actually think I just got unlucky with FNB since I read an article last week that showed FNB had the least complaints and Capitec/Standard Bank had the most

If this were international I don't think one could afford a day of downtime/failure. The supplier would have to requote and you'd end up having to track down the money in outer space. Locally it's okay but not international

Thinking about it, I assume that you could still process a payment at a branch or via phone if need be, but still not an ideal situation for running a business

Also any particular reason that you are not considering ABSA?

 

[TollieKop]

Thinking about it, I assume that you could still process a payment at a branch or via phone if need be, but still not an ideal situation for running a business

Also any particular reason that you are not considering ABSA?

I don't really know to be honest - but it never scored well in the business rankings

If it is worthwhile for international, I would add it to my list, although FNB and Standard I know work well internationally

 

[g0nt4du]

My recommendations as follows for business accounts:
1. Domestic - FNB. Just from probability that the person/business paying you might also be FNB.
2. Overseas - Investec. Never seen FX rates from FNB that are even close to what Investec offers. High monthly fee yes, but customer service that's something FNB can dream of. If your FX transaction is say USD 20k plus then the fees component also starts making less of a difference.

Ideally you get a combination. 1 local bank account that is familiar and easy and then solve the FX problem separately. Bidvest also has good fx rates and you don;t need to deal with them directly.

 

[Africaned]

FNB Business banking is literally the best way to go. They really have their shit together in my previous experiences with them. They also make it super easy to take out loans for the business to acquire property, renovations, etc for if you want to scale up.
10/10 can recommend.

 

[TollieKop]

My recommendations as follows for business accounts:
1. Domestic - FNB. Just from probability that the person/business paying you might also be FNB.
2. Overseas - Investec. Never seen FX rates from FNB that are even close to what Investec offers. High monthly fee yes, but customer service that's something FNB can dream of. If your FX transaction is say USD 20k plus then the fees component also starts making less of a difference.

Ideally you get a combination. 1 local bank account that is familiar and easy and then solve the FX problem separately. Bidvest also has good fx rates and you don;t need to deal with them directly.

I applied for FNB last night. I went into the branch yesterday and their fees are great actually.

Your recommendation is excellent, thank you - I will definitely go this route (For now, FNB to keep things simple while starting)

 

[Maxwell]

Been with FNB Business since January. What a terrible bank!

You need to go in to a branch for everything, (For example changing my business address, they admitted themselves their FICA email address does not get responded to!) their branches smell like literal shit (Try Cresta on a Friday), getting a credit card was a mission. And whatever you do, don't click the back button when you're on their pathetic internet banking portal. Complete useless POS bank.

Rather stick with Investec.

 

[TollieKop]

Been with FNB Business since January. What a terrible bank!

You need to go in to a branch for everything, (For example changing my business address, they admitted themselves their FICA email address does not get responded to!) their branches smell like literal shit (Try Cresta on a Friday), getting a credit card was a mission. And whatever you do, don't click the back button when you're on their pathetic internet banking portal. Complete useless POS bank.

Rather stick with Investec.

I experienced this already once before (except the smell part lol), but it seems in the bigger scheme of things, it is a good bank