Acting as a banking facility

The Firm must not use the Client Account as a banking facility.

This means that the Client Account should not be used simply to receive, hold or transfer money where there is no genuine underlying legal service or transaction requiring the Firm's involvement. There must be a genuine need for the firm to effect the requested transaction and it must not be a transaction that can be equally well effected by the client instead. This is not a matter of client convenience, this is a matter of necessity. For example, where the certainty of payment from completion funds is commercially required, or payment relates to necessary deal expenses that are part of dealing with completion funds, then a transaction is permissible.

Particular caution should be exercised where:

• funds are received and paid away with little or no legal work being undertaken;
• the purpose of the payment is unclear;
• clients seek to use the Firm to move money between accounts or jurisdictions;
• the legal work appears incidental to the movement of funds; or
• the lawyer cannot clearly explain why the Client Account is required.

If the principal purpose of the arrangement appears to be the movement of money rather than the provision of legal services, the matter should be escalated to the Director of Finance, Financial Controller or MLRO.

You must be aware of the SRA guidance on this, see https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/improper-use-client-account-banking-facility/.