Countingup launches its mobile based business current account to sole traders

by Startacus Admin

Countingup has launched its mobile based business current account to sole traders at the top of its 'wait-list', coming only months after Countingup raised $750k lead by Frontline Ventures.

Countingup is the first UK challenger bank to focus on the 4.5 million sole traders, freelancers and contractors; and the first to promise plug and play accounting built in. Sole traders looking to simplify self-assessment can join the wait-list as more accounts and Mastercards are made available.

Tim Fouracre, the founder and CEO of Countingup, commented, “Countingup is the fastest Challenger bank to launch in the UK. Inception to launch of our business current account has taken just over four months and that’s down to a fantastic team who are determined to make running your business as simple and as automated as possible”.

Tim Fouracre qualified as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG in 2007. He founded cloud accounting software company Clear Books plc in 2008 and was its CEO for nine years. 

With the 31 January self assessment tax deadline looming, many sole traders and their accountants will be frantically trying to get their tax return submitted. In 2017 some 5m tax returns were filed at the last minute. Add to this the Government’s Making Tax Digital plans to increase the number of tax filings to 5 per year from April 2020 and the size of the burden on business owners becomes apparent.  Countingup will change all this with automated bookkeeping and tax returns.

The launch of the Countingup banking app allows a sole trader to open a current account on their smartphone in just 5 minutes. The account comes complete with a UK sort code & account number and a contactless Mastercard. Tim Fouracre commented, “Sole traders have been neglected by the mainstream banks who focus on larger businesses. Often sole traders are forced to use personal accounts because the process of setting up a business account is arduous, slow and expensive. This creates a huge headache when trying to make sense of your business finances.”

Fouracre adds, “We’re launching today with banking. The accounting functionality will be rolled out throughout 2018. We’re already providing a profit and loss report and automatically categorising transactions from the beginning”.

Best of luck from Startacus HQ to Tim and the team. We will be sure to keep an eye on how Countingup progresses - you can bank on it! 

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• #sole trader
• #countingup
• #banking
• #fintech
• #smartphone
• #
• #freelancers

Published on: 24th January 2018