Can Former Employees Access Your Bank Account?

A few years ago, one of our directors left Insight Associates. She had authorisation to access our bank account and withdraw funds.

The day she left, we changed the mandate on our account to remove her access and give it, instead, to her replacement.

Unfortunately, the bank claimed they never received our instruction – which has severe implications.

First of all, if the person leaving your company does so on bad terms (you’ve possibly even fired them), you are opening yourself up to fraud if they can still access your bank account. In this case, our director left on excellent terms – that still doesn’t make it right!

Second of all, it is extremely frustrating when your staff members can’t do their job because the bank won’t allow them to sign for the right amount, or requests an additional signature – when your mandate says differently.

I can well imagine a situation where no one from your company has access to your account, simply because the bank never updated the mandate. 

Indeed, another client of ours has decided to leave his current bank, because it refuses to talk to him even though he’s been on the mandate for three whole years. They simply haven’t updated their records properly.

What happened to us, then, is actually surprisingly common. It’s not your bank manager who you trust implementing the changes to your mandate – an entire system has to work, and often it doesn’t.
So when things change with our clients, we always change the mandate on their behalf. But the next step is equally important.

You need to follow up with your bank, to make sure they’ve actually implemented your instructions.

You can’t just trust that the bank has done what it’s supposed to do. You must double-check.

Getting this right is a small but essential part of managing your company’s finances smoothly and professionally.

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