Choosing a bank account

The Girlguiding finance policy allows counties, divisions, districts, and units to open an account with any bank or branch as long as it is a recognised and well-known brand. The bank must also be part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and a registered banking organisation. The FSCS will protect funds of up to £85,000 in the unlikely event of a bank or building society failing.

A bank account should be in the name of the unit or level, as it appears on GO. If the name of the bank account and the unit or level is different, and this causes issues, the commissioner can insist that the bank account name is changed to match the name of the unit or level, as it appears on GO. A bank account must never be in the name of an individual.

Over the past couple of years, more banks are differentiating between organisations that are registered charities in their own right, and ‘community organisations’. This means that units, districts and divisions which are not registered charities, are finding that they are being charged for banking services.

We’ve pulled together information which we hope will be helpful in selecting a bank account. We’re not recommending any bank over another, and levels are free to choose to bank with institutions not on this list.