A person reads every application.
See what we accept and decline before you apply. An overseas director or a short trading history isn't a reason to say no on its own.
Ahvanah has applied to the FCA to become a small electronic money institution. That application hasn't been decided yet.
Half of them were never going to get an answer
Fintechs solved the price problem. Then they created a new one — automated onboarding that declines lawful businesses at scale, with no reason given and no way back.
- 50%
- of UK fintech firms have been rejected opening a business account
- 14%
- succeeded in opening with one of the nine largest UK banks
- 67%
- of debanked businesses took over 30 days to find a replacement
- 15%
- were still unbanked after 90 days
UK industry survey research. Citations to follow.
The same application, two pipelines
Nothing about the business changes between these two columns. Only what happens when the model cannot resolve it cheaply.
Automated onboarding
minutes- Application submittedCompany details, directors, ownership
- Automated model scores itStructure, geography, trading history
- Flag raisedOverseas director · layered ownership
- Declined"We are unable to offer you an account at this time"
No reason given, no appeal, no indication of what would change the answer. Two thirds of businesses in this position spend over thirty days finding somewhere else.
Ahvanah
days- Pre-check, before applyingSix questions in the browser. Nothing sent to us
- Application submittedAgainst criteria you already read
- Flag raised, then read by a personOverseas director · layered ownershipA named reviewer, not a rota
- A decision within five working daysAccepted, or declined against a published criterion
The criteria did the explaining before anyone applied, so a decline is never a mystery — and never a bespoke letter we cannot legally write.
Lawful businesses with an awkward shape
None of these is unusual. They're just harder for a model to underwrite than a person.
Creative and digital agencies
Project income, overseas contractors, irregular months.
Recruitment agencies
High volume of outbound payments to individuals.
E-commerce sellers
Income arriving from several platforms, in several currencies.
UK companies with overseas ownership
The structure that gets them declined everywhere else.
Gambling and adult content are outside our criteria and always will be. Business accounts are for registered companies; personal accounts are planned for later. All of that is published, not discovered on application.
Five things, in the order you will need them
Not a feature list. This is the order it actually happens in, starting the day you find somewhere that will take the account.
- 01Multi-currency accounts
You were declined, and you still have money to put somewhere.
A real account, in your company’s name
Your own sort code and account number, plus euro and dollar balances alongside them. Available, pending and reserved shown separately, each with the time it was last confirmed.
- Sort code and account number
- GBP, EUR and USD in one place
- Statements you can hand an accountant
- 02Payments
Suppliers and contractors need paying this week, not when a review finishes.
Send and receive, at home and abroad
Faster Payments and CHAPS in and out, international payments to supported routes, and bulk runs for a payroll or a contractor list. Every payment carries one of eleven states in plain words.
- Faster Payments and CHAPS
- Bulk runs from a single upload
- Confirmation of Payee before it leaves
- 03Currency conversion
The rate you were given is not the rate you saw quoted anywhere.
Our margin, as a number on the screen
Every quote shows the mid-market rate, our margin and the fee as three separate lines before you accept. The countdown runs on our clock, and an expired quote cannot be accepted — it has to be refreshed.
- Margin shown as a line, not a footnote
- Server-clock expiry on every quote
- The rate you accept is the rate you get
- 04Virtual cards
Your team is still putting company spend on a personal card.
A card per person, with a limit that holds
Issue a virtual card for anyone who needs one, set what they can spend and how often, and freeze it in a tap. Card numbers are shown through the processor’s own component and never touch our systems.
- Spend and velocity limits per card
- Freeze, unfreeze, terminate
- Card details never enter our systems
- 05Team access and approvals
One person can move everything, and nobody wanted it that way.
Two people on anything that matters
Give each person the access their job needs. Payments over a limit you set wait for a second approver, and the approval screen shows the exact payee, account and amount the server holds — if any of it changes, the approval is void.
- Roles and permissions per person
- Second approver above your limit
- Any change voids the approval
The rate, before you agree to it
Most providers put their margin inside the rate, where you cannot see it. Ours is a line on the quote, next to the mid-market rate it was taken from.
Supported routes only, and only once you accept a quote. Our cross-border partners aren't contracted yet — we'll publish countries and currencies once they are.
- Mid-market rate
- 1.18000
- Ahvanah margin
- 0.45%
- Transfer fee
- £3.00
- Your rate
- 1.17469
Earth at night: NASA Black Marble 2016, public domain.
Everyone shows you a balance. We show you the decision.
Two structural flags on this application. Neither means anything's wrong — an automated model would decline on both anyway. Here's what a person did instead.
This is the internal review record. Applicants see the outcome and which criterion it was decided against — never the screening detail itself, which we're not permitted to share.
- Company verifiedCompanies House 09482217 · incorporated 14 months
- Overseas directorDirectors identified2 of 2 · one resident in Portugal
- Layered ownershipOwnership resolvedHeld through one holding company · UBO identified
- Sanctions and PEP screeningNo matches
- Business activity evidenced6 invoices, 3 platforms, 9 months
Overseas director and holding-company structure both sit inside published criteria. Ultimate owner identified, source of funds evidenced across three platforms. No conduct concerns. Accepted.
What we accept, and what we decline
Automated onboarding declines on structure. We publish ours first, in plain English — so you know before you apply.
We accept
- UK-registered limited companies and LLPs
- Directors or beneficial owners living outside the UK
- Ownership held through one or more holding companies
- Companies trading for less than twelve months
- Income arriving irregularly, from several platforms or marketplaces
- Businesses declined elsewhere on structure rather than conduct
We decline
- Individuals and sole traders without a registered company
- Gambling, and businesses that depend on gambling
- Adult content
- Businesses we cannot identify the ultimate owners of
- Anything we are not permitted to explain a decline for
We don't give case-by-case reasons for a decline. Where financial crime is suspected, we're not legally allowed to explain at all. That's what the published criteria are for — said upfront, once, for everyone.
One plan, and the margin in writing
The conversion margin is where most business accounts make their money without saying so. Ours is on this page, and on every quote before you accept it.
| What | Price |
|---|---|
| Monthly account feePer company, not per user | £18.00 |
| GBP payments in and outFaster Payments | No charge |
| Currency conversionShown as a line on every quote, before you accept | 0.45% |
| Virtual cardsIssue and freeze as many as your team needs | No charge |
| Same-day GBP paymentCHAPS, where you need certainty on the day | £15.00 |
| International paymentOn top of the conversion margin above | £3.00 |
Indicative and not contractual. Final pricing will be published with the account terms once our application is determined.
Where the money sits, and who can move it
Everything on this page describes intended arrangements. Ahvanah’s application to the FCA has not been determined, and no provider named here is contracted.
- Segregation, not insurance
- Customer funds are intended to be held in a designated safeguarding account with a UK credit institution, separate from Ahvanah’s own money, reconciled daily.
- E-money is not a deposit
- Electronic money isn’t a deposit, and it isn’t covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Safeguarding protects you differently — we’d rather spell out the difference than let you assume.
- Strong authentication, no SMS
- Passkeys or an authenticator app, required before an account is activated. Payments and new payees trigger a further check. We do not use text messages as a security factor.
- Card details never touch us
- Card numbers are shown through the card processor’s own hosted component. They do not enter our systems, our logs or our error reports.
The ones worth asking first
Is Ahvanah a bank?
No. We’ve applied to become a small electronic money institution — we issue e-money and hold payment accounts, but we don’t take deposits or lend.
Can I open an account now?
Not yet. Our FCA application hasn’t been decided, so we’re not open for accounts. You can still check the criteria now, to see where you’d stand.
Why would you accept a company that a bank declined?
Most declines like that are structural, not conduct — an overseas director, a holding company, a short trading history. Automated models flag those as risk. We just read the application.
How long does a decision take?
Five working days from a complete application. If something’s missing, we’ll tell you what we need — the five days start when it arrives.
Will you tell me why I was declined?
Not case by case. The published criteria explain our thinking upfront. And if a decline is about suspected financial crime, we’re legally not allowed to say — pretending otherwise would be worse.
Does the pre-application check store anything?
No. It’s intended to run entirely in your browser and send us nothing — no email, no account, no record you ran it.
Do you offer personal accounts?
Not at launch. We’re starting with business accounts; personal accounts are planned to follow, with their own published criteria first.
Which currencies will you support?
Pounds, euros and US dollars at launch, in one account with one view across all three.