Masthaven has launched a business savings account as the challenger bank seeks to expand its presence as a specialist lender.
The savings account was launched on Wednesday (12 September) and is designed to help small and medium sized firms put money away for tax bills or new equipment.
Business customers can save between £5,000 and £500,000 from six months to five years on competitive rates, with the 1 year account offering 1.65 per cent.
Simon Furnell, chief operating officer at Masthaven, has said the launch of the savings account will see the bank move towards an "SME bank as well as a retail bank".
He said: "Since we launched in 2016, we’ve welcomed over 13,000 new savings customers to the bank, and now we are extending our savings range to welcome businesses who prefer to bank differently.
"Just like our savings accounts, our business savings proposition is competitive, innovative, easy to use, online and backed by our experienced savings specialists.
"Our SME customers will be able to personalise their fixed term and manage their maturity options online, meaning the customer is able to choose and manage a product to fit around their needs quickly and efficiently."
Chris Daems, managing director of Cervello Financial Planning, said: "I like the fact that the challenger banks are going to disrupt the market and certainly it looks like the rates provided by Masthaven are better than the conventional large banks.
"Certainly more competition in this space seems to be providing more choice for consumers, and now business owners."
Figures released by the government in August showed SMEs increasingly turn to alternative finance to fund their operations.
More than £15m was sourced through the government-mandated Bank Referral Scheme since the scheme was launched in November 2015.
In the past 12 months, 670 businesses raised more than £12m of funding through the scheme, four times the amount raised in the previous year.
The scheme allows businesses rejected by a high street lender to have their details referred on to designated finance platforms, which will then seek to help them get a loan from alternative lenders.
