PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Post Office: Small Businesses (3 March 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make representations to the Post Office on providing free business banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Asked by:
Jonathan Reynolds (Labour)

The provision of services at post offices is the operational responsibility of the Post Office. Post Office offers a Retail (consumer) Bank Account direct to its own customers and, like any other business, can only offer services which are commercially sustainable for the business. The Post Office does not offer a Business (SME) type Bank Account direct to small businesses.

In addition to its own consumer financial services, the Post Office has offered access to ‘basic bank branch’ services for business and personal banking customers of almost all high street banks for a number of years. The banks charge their customers at the applicable rate agreed in their customer terms and conditions. The Post Office provides the services free to the customer at the counter, based on a series of commercial agreements with the banks. These agreements have recently been reviewed and discussed as part of the industry response to the Government sponsored ‘Access to Banking Protocol’ from March 2015.

The Post Office believes that personal and business customers of all banks would benefit from being able to continue to access existing basic banking services at Post Office branches, making sure that all communities can access banking services locally.

Answered by:
George Freeman (Conservative)
9 March 2016