Money mules are people used to help launder money, often without realising that’s what they’re doing. They help move illegitimate funds (money gained illegally) between accounts so that the money then appears to be legitimate. They may be asked to receive money into their account, then withdraw it and put it into another account, sometimes in another country. Sometimes the money mules are offered compensation or commission.

Even if money mules don’t know the money they’re transferring is fraudulent, they are still committing fraud and money laundering, and could be sentenced to time in prison or to pay a fine.

Money mules are often recruited into this activity through false job adverts, or social media posts that promote quick money-making opportunities. Sometimes they are duped by fake social media profiles that pretend to want a romantic relationship with the victim to gain their trust and affection before asking this favour or blackmailing them. This is also known as romance fraud.

Never move money between accounts you don’t know and trust, especially because someone else has asked you to, or if you don’t know where that money has come from. If you are suspicious of money laundering, call us immediately on 0330 355 0355.

Vishing is where a fraudster uses voice messages or phone calls to try to steal identities, and financial information like your PIN, card details and Digipass code.

The term comes from the combination of ‘phishing’ and ‘voice’. Phishing is where fraudsters use email, regular phone calls and fake websites to dupe people into giving them personal details and financial information.

Vishing is specifically the use of a VOIP service (Voice Over Internet Protocol, or an internet phone service), which enables fraudsters to communicate with their potential victims via automated voice messages and the phone keypad.

Vishers can create fake caller ID profiles so that their phone number seems legitimate, and vishing requests sound urgent, to panic the victim into acting without thinking.

 Examples of vishing:

• Your bank account has been compromised
  You receive call from what appears to be Triodos Bank’s phone number. When you answer, you hear a recording pretending to be from Triodos, saying that your bank account has been compromised, and you need to call a freephone number to reset your security details. Calling this number, you would hear another automated message asking for your bank account number, Digipass code or other personal details via the phone keypad.
• You’re eligible for a loan
  You are offered loan or credit terms too good to be true (they probably are), and to receive the money, you just need to pay an upfront fee or provide your security details.
• You’re due a refund
  You receive a message that says you are due a refund. This is usually someone claiming to be from a trusted organisation. If you opt in – usually by pressing a number on your telephone - you will be redirected to a call centre agent who will attempt to defraud you or steal your information.
• Don’t miss this investment opportunity
  An automated voice message tells you about an investment opportunity too good to turn down. You’ll be encouraged to transfer money to invest in a company or service that doesn’t exist.
• You’ve won a prize
  Victims hear an automated voice message about a free offer or prize, and just need to pay postage, redemption or admin fees to claim. There’s often a deadline to hurry people into handing over their card details.

What you can do

If you receive an unexpected phone call with an automated response, hang up, search for the company’s genuine contact details online and check whether the call was legitimate. If it was, the company will be able to help you, and if it was a vishing attempt, letting the company know enables them to take action, and you will have protected yourself from fraud.

If the call relates to an investment opportunity, check the FCA register to see if the investor is regulated, and confirm the company exists by checking Companies House.

How to report a vishing scam

If you think you have been a victim of a vishing attack, call us immediately on 0330 355 0355. Then report to the FCA using their reporting form.

If you have lost money to suspected investment fraud, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

If the text is from a sender you know, or from a shortcode (five to eight digits long):

• Reply ‘STOP’. You shouldn’t be charged for this, and it will let the sender know you don’t want to receive their text messages.
• If you’re unhappy about receiving the text or continue to receive them after asking the sender to stop, you can complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) on 0303 123 1113 or online.

If the spoof text message (sometimes known as smishing) is from an unknown sender, or from an organisation you’re not familiar with:

• Do not reply or click on a link in the text. Responding confirms your number is active and could result in you receiving more messages or calls.
• Report the spam text to your network operator. Simply forward the text to 7726. An easy way to remember ‘7726’ is that they’re the numbers on your phone keypad that spell out the word ‘SPAM’. You may get an automated response thanking you for the report and giving you further instructions if needed, like forwarding on the number the spam text message was sent from. You won’t be charged for forwarding spam texts to 7726.
  

Do not respond to any email that asks you for information about your internet banking log in details. If you have received a suspicious email, do not respond and call our Contact Team as soon as you can during our opening hours on 0330 355 0355 to check if it is a genuine email.

Our Contact Team is available 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, and 10am-4pm on weekends for fraud related enquiries only.

Alternatively please email us at contact@triodos.co.uk from the registered email address we hold for you and mark it urgent in the subject line.

It can be very difficult to spot a fraudulent call. The best thing you can do if you get an unexpected call – especially if the person is asking you to make a payment or move funds, or rushing you to make a decision – is to call the organisation back on the number published on their website.

Fraudsters may call you or someone in your team and pretend to be a well-known business like BT, the bank, HMRC, the police, a supplier or even another person in your business.

Examples of what a fraudster might ask you to do:

• Move your money to a safe, secure holding account
  Fraudsters often call businesses pretending to be from their bank. They may ask you to move your money to a safe account because of suspected fraud or risk to your account. In reality, this ‘safe’ account is controlled by the fraudster. Hang up and report it to Action Fraud UK and your bank.
  
• Change the payment details of one of your suppliers
  Fraudsters often impersonate suppliers and ask businesses to pay into a new account – controlled by the fraudster. Check the caller is genuinely your supplier by calling back on the number on their website or, better still, by calling your direct contact at the company.
• Download something – software, a programme, app or other online tool
  Fraudsters may tell you there’s something wrong with your computer and it’s not secure. By downloading some software, they’ll be able to fix it for you. They might even offer you compensation or a refund for this inconvenience. In reality, the downloaded software could give them access to your computer. They may ask you to log in to your internet banking so they can issue your refund, when really they’re asking you to authorise payments into their own account. Triodos will never call you out of the blue and ask you to transfer money into another account, or download something onto your device.
• Tell them your Digipass codes
  Your Digipass codes give permission for money to leave your account. Never give these codes, no matter what they tell you. We will never ask you for these codes.
  

If you'd like to write to us, you can do so freepost at:

Freepost TRIODOS BANK

Our freepost address is Royal Mail registered and simple to use - write it on your envelope exactly as shown above (no stamp required) and your letter will get to us free of charge by second class mail.

For first class mail, you can post in the normal way to:

Triodos Bank
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AS

As an online bank, we don't provide counter banking services, but we're always pleased to meet with our business customers - simply make an appointment with your relationship manager.

Our regional business banking offices can be found at:

Triodos Bank
20 Old Bailey
London
EC4M 7LN

Triodos Bank
50 Frederick Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1EX

If you receive a call from Triodos, we’ll be happy for you to question who we are and call us back on the number published on our website, just to make sure. If you can, call us back from a different phone, as an extra safety precaution. Fraudsters can clone numbers, so it may look like the number we use to call you.

We will never call you to ask you to transfer money or for your Digipass codes, and we will never ask you to download software onto your device. If someone calls pretending to be from Triodos, and they ask you to do these things, hang up immediately and report it to us on 0330 355 0355.

We offer three impact investment funds - the Triodos Global Equities Impact Fund, the Triodos Pioneer Impact Fund and the Triodos Sterling Bond Impact Fund. All the Impact Funds are available in two different share classes, distribution and capitalisation.

The minimum initial investment per Impact Investment Fund is £1,000, and the minimum top up amount is £500 per fund.

The minimum holding amount is £500 per share class. This means that your initial investment must be at least £1,000 per impact investment fund and £500 per share class. In addition to this, you are not able to sell part of your holding and leave a positive balance of below £500, and you will either need to sell your entire holding in that share class or if applicable a smaller amount.

Tree-oh-dos

We are part of the Current Account Switch Service so customers can switch current accounts to Triodos Bank from another UK bank or building society quickly and easily.

Historically, smaller challenger banks such as Triodos had no option but to utilise one of the “big four” banks (RBS, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays) for payment clearing services.

So it is not unusual to see banks of Triodos’ size (or indeed some far bigger organisations) still utilising the “big four” clearing banks.

However, there is currently a real drive by the government, via the Payments Systems Regulator, to promote competition in the banking sector and to encourage innovation in payment systems.

This has resulted in a wider choice of clearing options (including alternative providers and/or direct clearing) now available to challenger banks.

While changing our clearing arrangements would be a very large undertaking we will continue to review the options in the future, remaining conscious of maintaining a high quality of service for all our customers.

Bank impersonation fraud is when a fraudster impersonates someone from the bank in order to trick a victim into making payments to a fraudulent account.

What a fraudster might do:

• A fraudster usually calls their victim, though may use email or another contact method. It’s likely they already know information about the victim, including their name and who they bank with.
• While impersonating the bank staff member, the fraudster might tell the victim their account is under threat and they need to make payments to a “safe account” or set up payments in order to “block the funds”.
• The fraudster might ask for details from the Digipass so they can access the account and make payments to the fraudulent account themselves.
• The fraudster might ask the victim to download screen sharing software so they can view or control the victim’s computer. This can make it easier to take control of the account.
• In any scenario, the fraudster will foster a feeling of panic in order to get the victim to comply with their requests as quickly as possible.
• Fraudsters might also impersonate other well-known, trusted companies such as Microsoft, Apple, BT or HMRC.

What Triodos Bank will never do

• We’ll never call you to tell you to log into internet banking or to make a payment to a “safe account”. If we believe your account to be under threat, we can block the account ourselves and do not need you to do anything from your end.
• We’ll never ask you for your full Digipass number or your Digipass PIN.
• We’ll never ask you to download any software onto your PC or mobile phone.

What you can do to protect yourself

• Never give out your personal details to someone who has called you unexpectedly.
• Never download any software onto your PC or mobile phone when asked by someone over the phone or by email – even if you think you are speaking to a trusted organisation.
• Never give anyone your Digipass number or your Digipass PIN. Triodos will never ask for this information.
• Do not let someone else use your Digipass – even a colleague or family member. Your Digipass is assigned to you as an individual and must only be used by yourself. If you leave your place of work, please let us know and we can arrange for your Digipass to be cancelled.
• If you are unsure about someone who has called you claiming to be from the bank or another company, hang up and call back on the company’s published telephone number.

Triodos Bank does not offer mortgages for personal or business customers in the UK at present. We regularly review the products and services that we offer along with customer feedback to determine and prioritise future enhancements. However this is not a product we are looking to launch in the foreseeable future. We do offer this product in some of our European branches but at present there are no plans to launch in the UK. More about our business lending.

(From abroad:  +44 117 973 9339)

We're open 8am-6pm Monday-Friday.

Lost or stolen card? Contact us to report it immediately - our card services team is here for you 24/7.

As a result of the UK’s planned withdrawal from the European Union (also known as Brexit), Triodos has made some necessary changes in our set up as a bank. We have created a new subsidiary company, Triodos Bank UK Ltd, wholly owned by Triodos Bank N.V. The new structure came into effect on 1 May 2019. Read more about Triodos Bank UK's change of legal structure.

Only for long-term funding. We don't fund build-and-sell projects.

A large number of co-workers are working from home; however our office remains open for business-critical functions and to ensure our services are resilient.

In order to protect our co-workers and to help reduce the spread of the virus, all our offices are closed to visitors from the general public at this time. This includes our head office in Bristol and our offices in Edinburgh and London.

Applying for any Triodos business or charity account involves just a quick call and an online application form - the whole process usually takes around 6-10 weeks, depending on the complexity of the application and whether we need to request further business documents and ID from you. You can help us to open your account faster by responding to any
requests for documents as soon as possible.

Read our key documents

• Terms and Conditions for businesses and charities
  
• Business banking tariff
  
• Interest rates for current & deposit accounts, for businesses & charities
  
• Summary box for appropriate account if you are applying for a deposit account
• Triodos Bank's Privacy Statement
  
• FSCS information sheet
  

To ensure our account is a good fit for your organisation, please take into consideration that we do not offer a debit or credit card on any of our business accounts, nor do we have standard services to access cash. You will have internet banking access to make payments and a chequebook if required.

Call us

We’ll ask you a few questions about what you do and how your organisation is set up. Depending on the account you're applying for, we may need to know your:

• First year 's expected deposits
• Details of international payments in and out of the account
• Business structure

Calls usually take no more than 10-20 minutes.

Complete an application form

After our call, we'll send you a follow-up email with a link to the online application form. You can also request a paper application form if you prefer, but this may extend the processing time.

We'll assess your application

We take a genuinely responsible approach to business, transparency and using money more consciously.

That’s why we assess organisations applying for our accounts to make sure their practices don't conflict with our ethos.

If you're unsure whether your organisation would fit with our values, give us a call.

You can also check our minimum standards - it lists the non-sustainable products, services and working practices that would exclude an organisation from banking with us.

We'll set up your account

If your application is successful, we’ll set up your account and send you a welcome pack.

We are committed to looking after our co-workers and mitigating any potential impact of the Covid-19 outbreak to the provision of our banking services. We have implemented our business contingency plans and have been following the Public Health England preventive measures and aligning with the appropriate international travel restrictions.

We look to support any customer who is concerned regarding fees and charges following the outbreak of Covid-19 (Coronavirus). If your circumstances are causing you to worry or causing you financial stress, please contact us so we can discuss with you any options to support.

Our Edinburgh office is a base for our business banking team in Scotland. 

Triodos Bank
50 Frederick Street
Edinburgh
EH2  1EX

Please note that in order to protect our co-workers and to help reduce the spread of the Coronavirus, all our offices are closed to visitors from the general public at this time.

If paid, cash dividends will be automatically paid by electronic bank transfer to your Depository Receipt Cash Account. Dividends will be converted from euros to sterling and will be subject to the euro-sterling exchange rate.

We may consider a request for a buy to let, but there would need to be a strong social aspect and the properties would need to be built or refurbished to the highest possible eco standards.

£20,000 per day for Personal current account payments

£100,000.00 per day for Personal savings account customers.

£100,000.00 per transaction for Business customers.

Yes, Open Banking services are also available to Business Current Account and Charity Current Account customers.

If someone accesses your business account without your authorisation, we’ll refund the full amount of money taken from your account, as long as you:

• have not given someone else your security details (including your digipass PIN)
• have used reasonable care when using internet banking (e.g. logging out at the end of each internet banking session and not leaving your computer unattended while logged in)
• inform us as soon as possible of any security breach or potential breach
• have not acted fraudulently
• have taken all reasonable precautions to safeguard your personal and financial details. Read our terms and conditions below for more

As an online bank, we don't have any branches or provide counter banking services via the Post Office, but you can call our friendly, Bristol-based contact team on 0330 355 0355 or if abroad on +44 (0)1179 739339.

Opening hours

• Monday to Friday: 8am-6pm (excluding bank holidays)
  
• Weekends: 10am-4pm (for calls about fraud, or blocked internet access on the personal current account)

Lost or stolen card?

Call us immediately - our card services team is available 24/7

Depository Receipts are traded in euros and dividends, if paid, are in euros. Your total return is therefore subject to the euro-sterling exchange rate. This may adversely affect the sterling value of any investment in Triodos Bank or the amount of dividends you receive.

Fraudsters are taking advantage of the uncertainty around Coronavirus (Covid-19) to try to access customer details and accounts. We’ll never ask you to log into Internet Banking, for Digipass details or to move money to a safe account. Be vigilant and call us on our published phone number if concerned. Visit www.triodos.co.uk/business-fraud for more.

Please be aware that as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union we have reluctantly concluded that we will need to discontinue the sale of new Depository Receipts to UK residents, which includes the issue of new Depository Receipts as part of the stock dividend scheme.

A security word is a word chosen by you to help us verify your identity when you phone us or at any other time when we need to validate that it is you asking us for information or to do something on your account(s) . The security word is a memorable word chosen by you and can be anything you want. You will have provided this either as part of an online or paper application, on a form you’ve sent us by post or you may have set or changed it when you were logged into your internet banking. For example it could be a memorable name or place or something that means something to you. For additional security we do not provide any guidance on what this word should be.  

We have now developed a policy for lending to businesses involved in tourism (accommodation providers / campsites / visitor attractions / recreation).

We are pleased to be working in conjunction with the Green Tourism . Green Tourism is the national sustainable tourism certification scheme for the UK, and businesses opting to join Green Tourism are assessed by a qualified grading advisor against a rigorous set of criteria, covering a range of areas, like energy and water efficiency, waste management and biodiversity. Businesses are awarded a business Bronze, Silver or Gold accreditation depending on the outcome of their assessment.

It is a condition of any lending (loan or overdraft) that a business is accredited to a minimum standard of Silver within a specified period of the facility being made available

From September 2019 the technology will be in place to enable other Open Banking providers and Third Party Providers to start integrating their apps and tools with Triodos Bank current accounts. Once providers have integrated their systems with ours, you’ll be able to start using their Open Banking products and services to connect with your Triodos current account.

At this stage you will be able to use Open Banking for two types of service:

• Account information – this means current account transaction details and account balances.
• Initiate payments – this means using an Open Banking service to make payments from your account held with us.

See the list of Open Banking providers.

If you are a personal customer and you only hold savings accounts with Triodos - you will have been provided with a username and password for logging into internet banking. If you came to a page which asked for a Digipass number, you were on the ‘Business Banking’ login page. When on the Internet Banking login page, if you click on the ‘Personal Banking’ tab located next to the ‘Business Banking’ tab, you will be asked for your username and password.

If you do not know your internet banking username or password you can reset your internet banking login details.

If you hold a personal current account with Triodos and you havent received a digipass or have lost your digipass please contact us on 0330 355 0355.

If you are a business customer and have requested a Digipass that hasn’t arrived or you have lost a digipass please contact us.

The current price in euro can be found on the Depository Receipt pages of the website. For the current price in sterling please call us on 0330 355 0355.

If we are unable to match the information you have entered on our password reset page with the information we hold on record you will need to call our Customer Contact Team on 0330 355 0355 or (+44) 0117 973 9339. We will be able to send a new password to you by post, this will be sent to your registered address. When calling us please have your account number and security details at hand.

If you are trying to log into internet banking for a business account you do not need a username and password but will have a Digipass and PIN. There are separate log in screens for business and personal customers so please ensure that you have clicked on the Business tab after you have clicked the Internet Banking login button.

Our friendly, Bristol-based contact team is here for you 8am-6pm Monday to Friday (except on bank holidays when we are closed).

The sort code for Triodos Bank is:   16-58-10

For foreign payments to a Triodos account the above sort code is not valid. Also mandatory information is needed to ensure a foreign payment reaches your account.

We’re here to support customers who may be impacted by Covid-19 (Coronavirus) - please contact your Relationship Manager to discuss what support we can provide.

No. In addition to capital raising services we also:

• Help charities bid for competitively tendered payment-by-results contracts, help structure the investment required to fund those contracts (often through a social impact bond model) and then help raise that investment from social investors
  
• Undertake company valuation services
• Provide due diligence services – for example, a social investor may ask us to appraise the risks attached to a prospective investment opportunity prior to making any such investment:
• Impairment reviews – for example, a charitable trust or foundation that holds several social investments may ask us to appraise the carrying value of those investments to see if there is any evidence of impairment
• Advise charities and mission-aligned “for profit” businesses on management buyouts and other forms of acquisitions, mergers and disposals

We do not provide regulated investment advice.

In 2010, the United States (US) Treasury announced the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It is intended to prevent tax evasion by US citizens, residents and organisations through the use of offshore accounts and is a key change for international information exchange policy. Under FATCA, Financial Institutions must comply with a number of obligations, including reporting on accounts held by US persons, including organisations.

A number of governments, including the UK, have signed agreements to exchange data with the US. Triodos Bank must check customer records and accounts to identify US account holders and report information on them. To do this we introduced new procedures from 1 July 2014.

For more information please visit www.irs.gov or speak to your tax advisor.

You can stop sharing your account information at any time. To withdraw consent you should contact your third party provider. You can also withdraw consent by logging into your Triodos Internet Banking and go to ‘Account Profile’ and then ‘Open Banking Consents’. If you use the Triodos mobile app you can find this under ‘More’, ‘Preferences and privacy’.

Fraudsters try getting money from organisations by sending fake emails and texts to gain access to their internet banking details. It can be difficult to spot a fraudulent email, but there are things you can check for clues it’s a fraudulent email.

• Check the sender email address
  Always check the sender’s email address to make sure it’s from the person you think. Fraudsters can change the ‘From’ name so it can look like it’s come from your bank, or a person’s name. If you hover over the name, the sender’s email address should be displayed. If it’s a company email address, an online search of the email address will often tell you if it’s a genuine address.
• Call the sender
  If you get an unusual request from someone you know, asking you to transfer money or download something onto your computer, and the email address looks genuine, there’s a possibility their email account was hacked. To be safe, it’s best to call them to make sure they sent the email and really made the request.
• Look for spelling mistakes
  Scam emails can often look odd, with a messy layout and spelling mistakes.

Common email and text scams to look out for:

• CEO fraud
  Fraudsters email employees pretending to be the owner or CEO of the organisation, asking them to make a payment or transfer.
• Supplier fraud
  Fraudsters pretend to be your supplier letting you know their payment details have changed.
• Invoice fraud
  Fraudsters send fake invoices claiming to be from a real business you work with. Sometimes they hack the emails of your supplier to send the invoice, so the email address is genuine, but the payment details are changed to those owned by the fraudster. It’s sensible to call your suppliers on the number on their website to verify their payment details before you pay new account details for the first time.
• Pretending to be a business
  In these messages, texts or emails, you might be asked to click a link that takes you to a fake website – for example, the website might claim to be the Triodos Bank website (See ‘How to check that a website is genuine’). On this site you could be asked to give your internet banking details. We will never send you a link to the login pages of internet banking.
• Spyware in links
  Some scam emails ask you to download something onto your computer or network – this could be a link to a website or an attachment. This tool could spy on your computer or lock you out until you pay a ransom or reveal your bank security details.
• Smishing (fraudulent text messages)
  These are text messages that appear to be from well-known businesses, claiming you need to click the link to update your details. Often the links are disguised with short links – like bitly links, e.g. https://bit.ly/2kwosxu. Tempting as it is to use the link, contact the company using the details on their website to verify that they sent the text, and that it’s safe to click on the link. Fraudsters will impersonate these companies to obtain your valuable information.
  

We do not currently offer a debit card on our business or charity accounts. The account can be accessed online via internet banking, and cheque books are issued with the account. We regularly review the products and services that we offer along with customer feedback to determine and prioritise future enhancements. Whilst it’s a service that we would like to offer, we don’t have plans in the foreseeable future to launch a debit card facility for business account.

We appreciate that some of our business customers may be impacted directly or indirectly by Covid-19 (Coronavirus). We are committed to supporting any viable business in managing through the impact and uncertainty. Please contact us to discuss what support we can provide.

No. This allows us to commit more money to ethical organisations that help people and the environment.

You need to be a UK resident to be eligible to apply for any of our savings and deposit accounts.

If you lose your connection after authorising a normal payment it will still be processed as normal - use the transaction history option to check the status of your payments. If the payment is not shown on one of these pages then it is still awaiting authorisation. If you lose your connection before authorisation they try logging back in and check the status of your payments. If you are unsure then please call the helpdesk. If you lose your connection after making an international payment, faster payment or urgent payment, please contact the helpdesk (call on 0330 355 0355 or alternatively you can email: internetbanking@triodos.co.uk) who will confirm if the payment has been successfully authorised or not.

It’s totally up to you whether you use Opening Banking services or not. If you don’t want to use Open Banking you don’t need to do anything, you can simply carry on using your current account as you do now with no change to how your account information is used.

Business (or corporate) identity theft is a type of fraud that involves a criminal stealing a company’s identity and using it to buy goods and services by establishing lines of credit with banks or retailers.

Organisations are often targeted because:

• They have bigger account balances
• They have higher credit limits
• Making large payments regularly isn’t suspicious
• Information is often freely available on their website or on the internet

How to protect yourself:

1. Protect company information
   Don’t share anything about your business online or publicly that could put your organisation at risk. Write a policy for your staff that includes guidance around social media use. Educate your employees about business identity theft so that they know what to look out for, how to help avoid identity theft, how to spot it and how to report it to minimise the impact.
2. Regularly review accounts
   Regularly review all account statements, credit reports, and business registration information.
3. Install security or anti-fraud software
   Invest in software that can assess risks and help identify fraud or suspicious activity.