Do MSB Business Checking Accounts Exist? How Do Money Service Business Bank Accounts Differ From A Traditional Bank Account If At All

Do MSB business checking accounts actually exist? Is there any such thing as a Money Services Business bank account? No

One thing you'll learn talking to lawyers, bankers, compliance experts, and anyone else in the MSB or money services business industry is that nobody will ever give you the same answer as someone else. Every lawyer will interpret laws differently, every compliance expert will answer questions differently and typically bankers will give you different answers as well.

One thing we have learned after talking to countless bankers is that there is no such thing as an actual MSB business checking account. Money Services Business (MSB's) have the same business checking accounts as a candy store or any other business, it's just that banks are supposed to excercise added due diligence in monitoring MSB bank accounts.

Do MSB Bank Accounts Exist?

This is an interesting point to note. If you are cold calling banks looking for a bank who will accept a MSB or money services business as a client, don't call asking if they offer MSB accounts, most will probably think its some type of special savings account. Banks typically don't have a MSB account, they may however have MSB customers.

When calling around to banks it's best to inquire about opening up a business checking account and then follow up by asking if their bank accepts MSB's as customers. Many bankers will probably seem confused, you may need to explain what your business does, explain to them the services you offer and you may even have to come up with comparable businesses to compare yourself to. Not all MSB's are currency exchanges but many times this is all banks understand so you may have to say, "we fall into the same category as a currency exchange."

Some MSB's have reported that though they would never lie about their activities or what they do, that simply walking into a bank like any other business owner, saying you want to open an account, and answer their questions upfront and honestly, many banks or personal bankers won't even make a big deal about the businesse's activities and will just open up an account. This may be good in that it gets your business a bank account but what happens if when evaluating their accounts they realize what you do and immediately close your account? What are you going to do then? You will be scrambling to get a difficult to obtain checking account for your MSB. For this reason we feel it's better to be upfront.