Digital project bank accounts

Why choose a digital Project Bank Account?

Project Bank Accounts (PBA's) have long been championed as a mechanism to guarantee timely and transparent payments within complex construction and infrastructure projects. By ring-fencing money and distributing payments directly to subcontractors and suppliers, they provide assurance across the supply chain. In the public sector, they are very popular, and they are gaining popularity in the super-prime private sector as well. But traditional PBA's have often suffered from reputational issues: slow to establish, expensive to administer, and lacking in transparency.

The emergence of digital PBA's has changed the landscape. Delivered through streamlined, online platforms and structured to improve compliance and oversight, they offer the same fundamental benefits (protection, transparency, and certainty) but with a modern approach to speed, access, information sharing and usability. This article explores the distinctive value of digital PBA's, and what to consider when selecting a provider.

Why are digital Project Bank Accounts having their time?

Digitisation has transformed what was once a cumbersome and administrative-heavy process into a slick and enjoyable alternative. Project Bank Accounts can now be opened within days (or even faster!), and accessed via secure portals that enable all relevant stakeholders (including Employers, Contractors, Sub-Contractors, and Contract Administrators) to track payment certificates, invoices, and VAT reconciliations in real time.

Like challenger banks, digital PBA's address historic legacy banking challenges head-on. The process is faster, more cost-effective, and far more transparent. Centralised hubs make sure that all of the project documentation is logically housed, easily retrievable, and consistently updated.

What actually is a Digital PBA?

A digital project bank account is a traditional project bank account (held at an underlying bank), but delivered through a digital interface by a FinTech or payment service provider. This update provides some clear benefits over 'traditional' bank-administered accounts, namely in terms of ease of use, speed of opening, lowering of bureaucracy and transparency to all of the relevant stakeholders.

Five Core Benefits of Digital Project Bank Accounts

1. Rapid Account Opening

Digital PBA's allow for swift onboarding. Where traditional PBA's might take weeks or months to establish, modern platforms with integrated compliance systems can achieve this in a matter of days (or even faster), without compromising on diligence or rigour.

2. Transparency by Design

Real-time access to account activity allows all authorised stakeholders to see when and where payments are made. This visibility enhances trust, mitigates disputes, and reinforces parties' compliance with their contractual payment obligations, ensuring prompt payment and protection for the supply chain.

3. Centralised Project Documentation

A properly executed digital PBA serves as the operational heart of a project’s financial management. Contracts, payment certificates, VAT statements, and invoices are stored in a unified environment, streamlining reconciliation and audit processes and ensuring that everyone has access to the same information.

4. Improved Construction Supply Chain Confidence

By ensuring that all deposits with us are ring-fenced and distributed directly to the supply chain, digital PBA's improve Sub-Contractor cashflow and reduce the need for credit, whilst also protecting the Employer in the event of the Main Contractor's insolvency. This, in turn, can result in better pricing and stronger delivery performance across the board.

5. Legal and Regulatory Alignment

A well-structured digital PBA will comply not only with construction contract requirements but also with payment services regulations and all of the relevant financial services compliance regulations as well. This alignment ensures all deposits are safeguarded, stakeholders are protected and the accounts are fit for purpose.

What to Look for in a Digital PBA Provider

Not all digital PBA's are created equal. It is essential to evaluate both the legal and operational frameworks supporting the account.

Secure and Segregated Fund Holding

At dospay, all sterling deposits are held unencumbered and liquid at the Bank of England. This offers the highest possible level of security - funds are never lent, pledged, or otherwise exposed to trading risk of us, or our bankers. Providers using lender banks may introduce additional layers of risk, beyond that of the provider's own insolvency, to include the underlying financial institution's possible insolvency as well. It is essential that each party's project funds are properly protected.

FCA-Registered PBA's in England

dospay is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority specifically for carrying out payment services under the Payment Services Regulations 2017. This guarantees that the entire product meets stringent legal and compliance standards, both from an accountability standard between us and our regulator, but also from a governance perspective for our clients who are considering depositing, usually, millions or tens of millions of pounds with us.

Some other providers don't actually operate payment services, but build their products around trust models (which mean that yet another party (either a bank or FinTech) has to be responsible for the payment services element) - it pays to verify how many people are involved.

Support for High-Value Construction Payments

We're used to handling big accounts for big projects. Where individual monthly payment amounts exceed the standard limits of Faster Payments (typically £1 million), it is essential that your provider can facilitate CHAPS transfers. We support Faster Payments and CHAPS as standard, enabling rapid, same-day settlement of high-value sums so that we can support even the biggest infrastructure projects.

PBA's as a Legal Service

In our view, a PBA is a legal service, with a bank account attached to deliver it. It is not a bank account with a software wrapper, nor a bank account with a service attached. This legal-first approach means the account structure and its administration is robust, enforceable, and professionally administered. We started out as construction lawyers, so our offering meets all of these requirements.

Experienced and proven

Founded in 2012, dospay is both profitable and well-funded. We are not reliant on venture capital, investors, or speculative growth. Our clients benefit from mature systems, experienced professionals, and the benefit of our business having a proven, profitable track record.

Transparent and Sustainable Pricing

dospay’s pricing is transparent and structured around the value we are able to add to complex and long-term projects. Every single account is profitable to us, because that is how we know that we will still be around to discharge our obligations at the end of our clients' projects, not just at the beginning. We don't make our money on transaction margins or volume-based fees.

Choosing the Right Provider for your Project: Key Considerations

When selecting a digital PBA provider, make sure you ask:

• Where are the funds held, and under what legal structure and at what banking institution?
• Is the provider registered with or authorised by the FCA for the provision of payment, banking or e-money?
• Can the system accommodate high-value CHAPS payments?
• Is the escrow structure a bespoke arrangement for your project, or a one-size-fits-all tech solution?
• What level of personal support is available during setup and ongoing administration?
• How is the provider funded - are they stable are or are they dependent on external investors?
• Will they welcome you to their offices for a meeting, or come to yours for one?
• Do they have a tried-and-tested system for protecting construction retentions during and after the project bank account period (in particular, after practical completion)?

While the technology angle of project bank accounts represents an important and exciting step forward, the holy trinity of capabilities required to deliver successful project bank accounts remains at the intersection of construction, legal and financial services expertise.

Conclusion

Digital Project Bank Accounts have redefined how complex projects manage their finances - making payment processes faster, more transparent, and more reliable. But while the technology is a major step forward, the underlying legal and regulatory structures remain paramount.

Choosing a digital PBA is not simply a matter of selecting the most attractive interface, or lowest initial fee. It is about making sure that the legal protections are sound, the funds are genuinely safeguarded, and the provider is both experienced and reliable at administering complex project bank accounts. At dospay, we combine legal rigour, regulatory compliance, and practical delivery to offer a digital PBA that can meet the standards of the most discerning clients in both the private and public sectors.