[ubuntu-uk] Lack of support for small business

[Bruno Girin]

On 19/11/11 10:20, Gareth France wrote:
> Barclays are the ones who refused me. HSBC are the ones who seem to be 
> allergic to software. I wonder if their own PC's had pre-installed OSs 
> and if so where do the people they bought from bank?
>

Funny that, I didn't have any problem opening a business account with 
HSBC a few years back. Then again, it was for a consultancy rather than 
a retail business. What you may find is that it varies from one HSBC 
branch to another. Have you tried Lloyds? They are currently claiming 
that they are the best bank for small businesses so it may be worth 
checking if it's true (disclaimer: I'm currently on a contract with 
Lloyds). Anyway, I could understand if they were refusing credit but 
refusing to even open a business account is just ridiculous.

With regards to their cold feet about software, you have to understand 
that large banks are very, very conservative when it comes to software: 
they will only consider buying software if it comes from a very large 
supplier (IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Unisys, etc.) and has a very fat 
invoice attached. Some of them are gradually coming to terms with the 
fact that smaller suppliers like Red Hat are acceptable too. That 
attitude most probably extends to their branch staff.

Cheers,

Bruno