Changing business bank signatories when directors or partners change

A director leaving the company does not automatically remove their banking access, and appointing a new director does not automatically give them payment authority. Company records and bank mandates are separate systems, so both need to be updated deliberately.

Report director changes to Companies House within the required period

GOV.UK says limited companies must tell Companies House about changes to directors and their personal details within 14 days. Changes in people with significant control can also create reporting obligations. Complete the legal update promptly because banks may compare their customer records with Companies House information during ongoing KYC reviews.

Keep the board resolution or other company approval supporting the change. If a director has resigned on 5 October, the finance team should know the effective date rather than waiting for the next confirmation statement. That date should drive access removal and bank-mandate work.

Tell the bank because Companies House does not rewrite the bank mandate for you

Bank mandates and user permissions are provider records. The bank may request a board resolution, updated Companies House information, identity evidence for new signatories or its own mandate form. Requirements vary, so contact the provider rather than assuming an online company filing changes banking authority automatically.

List every account and facility before making the change. A company may have a current account, savings account, foreign-currency account, merchant account and credit card with different user records. Update all of them, not just the main current account visible on the finance dashboard.

Remove online banking users, cards, authentication devices and recovery routes

A departing director may have more than formal signing authority. They can have a physical card, mobile-banking registration, hardware token, saved browser, payment-app connection and email address used for account recovery. Remove or replace each route as part of the departure checklist.

Do not ask the new director to continue using the old director's credentials. Named access creates a clearer audit trail and makes future removal much safer. If the provider still relies on shared credentials for any function, document that weakness and tighten the surrounding approval process.

Rebuild payment approval around the current management structure

Use the change as an opportunity to check whether existing limits still make sense. A small company that once had two founders may now have a finance manager and three directors. Decide who can create beneficiaries, upload payments, approve routine spending, approve large transfers and administer users.

For example, finance staff might prepare payments, one director might approve ordinary transfers up to £20,000 and two directors might be required for anything larger or for new beneficiaries. The bank's permissions should reflect the governance the company actually intends rather than preserving settings created years earlier.

Review personal guarantees, overdrafts and security when control changes

Removing a director from the online account does not automatically release a personal guarantee they previously gave to the bank. Likewise, appointing a new director does not automatically make that person a guarantor. Review loan, overdraft, card and security documents separately.

If the departing director is also a major shareholder or guarantor, speak to the lender early. The bank may need to reassess the facility or obtain replacement security. A company should not discover on renewal day that its overdraft depended on someone who left six months earlier.

Run a finance handover that preserves evidence and continuity

Before access is removed, make sure the company has current statements, beneficiary lists, finance contacts and knowledge of pending payments. A departing director should not be the only person who knows how payroll is released, where a banking token is stored or which supplier requires CHAPS.

After the change, test login, payment approval and emergency access with the remaining authorised users. Reconcile the first statement after the handover and review alerts for unusual activity. The objective is both security and continuity: former decision-makers should lose access while the current team remains able to run the business.

Keep one change log showing the effective date, Companies House filing date, bank notification date, users removed, users added and any facilities still awaiting lender approval. This prevents the company from believing a change is complete when only one system has been updated. For larger groups, repeat the check across every legal entity because a director can disappear from the parent company's bank while retaining authority over a subsidiary account.

Review supplier and payroll approval routes at the same time. If the departing director was the second approver for payroll or tax, replace that authority before their access is removed. Security is not improved if the company responds by sharing another director's credentials whenever a critical payment needs two approvals.