Countingup the First Challenger Bank to Focus on UK Sole Traders

January 24, 2024         By: Payment Week

Today Countingup launches its mobile based business current account to those sole traders at the top of its wait-list. 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”.

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.”

In addition to the banking hurdles faced by small businesses, the vast majority don’t use accounting software. This means that often their only engagement with their business finances is at the end of the tax year. They and their accountants miss opportunities to improve the profitability of their business. Fouracre recognises this and 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”.

Today you can join the wait-list by downloading the Countingup app from Google Play or the App Store. The business current account is free to get started with and accounts will be made available to sole traders under a controlled roll out.


About Countingup:

Countingup is your accounting and banking in one place for sole traders, the simple way to run your business. Countingup was started in September 2017 by Tim Fouracre. Countingup is venture capital backed.

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.