Eligibility criteria
To open an account, your business needs:
- an owner, director, senior manager or account signatory aged 18 or over
- to operate and be based in the UK, excluding the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Northern Ireland
- to be supervised by a designated professional body to prevent financial crime
Letting agents in England and Wales, must be registered with HMRC and a member of an approved client money protection scheme. In Scotland, they must be registered with HMRC, comply with the Letting Agent Code of Practice, and be a member of the Scottish Letting Agent Register Link opens in a new window.
You can’t open a Professional Firms Client Account if you’re a club, charity or society. Instead, we have specific clubs, charities and societies accounts.
Your business won't be able to open an account if:
- the person applying for the account is bankrupt
- any director has ever been disqualified as a company director
- there are bearer shares
You also can’t open an account if the business, its owners, or its controllers are linked to countries outside Virgin Money’s risk appetite – or the business is in an industry outside our appetite.
Business details
When you apply, we need info about you and the setup of your business, including:
- business activity
- business finances and turnover
- countries you trade with
- email and phone number
- Companies House name and registration number, if your business has them
Address history
We need your personal address history for the last 3 years. And we need it for anyone else who’ll use the account.
If your business is a limited company, partnership or LLP, we also need address history for all directors, partners and senior managers, as well as for anyone who owns or controls 25% or more of your business.
Proof of identity
As part of your application, you may have to provide ID and a live selfie to our verification partner, Mitek.
You can find out more about what you need to open a business bank account on the UK Finance website Link opens in a new window.
| Association of Accounting Technicians | Association of Chartered Certified Accountants |
| Association of International Accountants | Association of Taxation Technicians |
| Chartered Institute of Legal Executives | Chartered Institute of Management Accountants |
| Chartered Institute of Taxation | Council for Licensed Conveyancers |
| Faculty of Advocates | Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury |
| Financial Conduct Authority | Gambling Commission |
| General Council of the Bar | General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland |
| HMRC | Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales |
| Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland | Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland |
| Institute of Certified Bookkeepers | Institute of Financial Accountants |
| Insolvency Practitioners Association | International Association of Bookkeepers |
| Law Society | Law Society of Northern Ireland |
| Law Society of Scotland | Solicitors Regulation Authority |
| Client Money Protect | Money Shield |
| Propertymark | RICS |
| Safeagent (previously NALS) | UKALA Client Money Protection |