2015 - 2016

Bank accounts

Transactional account

Mrs S was a trustee for a charitable organisation’s trust. She wrote to the bank on behalf of the other trustees requesting changes to the signatories on the charity’s accounts. Mrs S said that the accounts were owned by the trust.

However, bank records show that the charity owned the accounts, not the trust. Due to the apparent dispute between the trust and the charity over account ownership, the bank declined Mrs S’s request and froze the accounts. Mrs S complained to us as she wanted the suspension to be lifted and the signatories changed.

We can only investigate a complaint where the complaint is being made by the customer who received the banking service from the bank complained about. It is not within our powers to determine who the rightful owner of an account is.

In this instance the customer is the charity because the accounts are held in its name. The trust has not received a banking service in relation to the accounts held in the Charity’s name, and on this basis we were unable to investigate this complaint further.

See our Quick Guide to Stopping and freezing accounts for more information about when a bank can suspend the operation of an account.