Metro Bank offers two options for business customers sending multiple payments at once: bulk payments and batch payments. This guide explains how to use both methods, highlights what Metro Bank doesn’t allow, and shows how to work around its limitations.
At a glance; Bulk payments cannot be sent on weekends and bank holidays, and you have payment caps.
Business Online Plus accounts: This account costs £5 per user per month.
Commercial Online Banking accounts: The cost is £20 for a single account, £10 for each additional account, plus a one-time set-up fee of £25 per user.
How to send bulk payments with Metro Bank
The key difference between Metro's bulk payments and batch payments is how they’re set up:
Bulk payments: Upload a payment file, such as a Metro Bank file or CSV.
Batch payments: Use Metro Online Banking to group previously paid payees into "Beneficiary Groups".
To view your Bulk and Batch payments, simply go to the 'Payments' menu and select 'Bulk & Batch Payments' in your Metro online banking account.
Method 1: Bulk payments
Log into your Metro online banking account.
In the main menu on the left, click on 'Payments'.
Select 'Bulk Payments' from the drop-down menu. You can now see all previously uploaded files, including those still waiting to upload.
To upload a file, select your preferred format (Metro Bank or CSV) and click ‘Upload New File’.
Select the file you want to upload and wait about 3 minutes for it to process.
Once your file is marked as ‘Arrived’, it’s ready to be processed. Click on the file name to see the payments it contains.
Click ‘Process’ to go to the next page. There, select the debit account, payment type, and payment date.
Click 'Pay'.
Review the details on the screen and click ‘Confirm’ to proceed.
Enter your password and follow the steps on your Online Banking screen to either generate a one-time passcode with your security device or approve a push notification using the Metro Bank Authenticator app.
After you verify your payment, processing will begin.
In the main menu on the left, click on 'Payments'.
Select 'Batch Payments' from the drop-down menu.
Choose the account you wish to send payments from.
Select Faster Payment, BACS, or CHAPS as your payment type. Sending BACs requires credit approval from Metro.
Choose your payment date and enter a name for the batch payment.
To use an existing Batch Payment Group, select it and click ‘Payee’ if you need to add a new beneficiary. To create a new Batch Payment Group, just click ‘Payee.’
Enter the payment reference and amount. At this point, you can save the listed beneficiaries as a new 'Batch Payments Group' or click the trash icon to remove any beneficiaries from this payment run.
Click ‘Pay’.
Review the details on the screen and click ‘Confirm’ to proceed.
Enter your password and follow the steps on your Online Banking screen to either generate a one-time passcode with your security device or approve a push notification using the Metro Bank Authenticator app.
After you verify your payment, processing will begin.
You can't process more than 1000 payments in a pay run: Each file must be less than 1000 payments.
You can't send more than £50,000 per day: Business Online Plus accounts have a daily limit of £50,000. Commercial Online Banking accounts also have a £50,000 limit by default, but you can request a higher limit by contacting your Relationship Manager.
You can't send more than £250,000 in one bulk payment: This applies to both Business Online Plus and Commercial Online Banking accounts. To send £250,000, you’ll need to request a higher daily limit on your Commercial Online Banking account.
Limitations when creating payments
You can't add two payments of the same amount to one recipient: If your payment file includes duplicates, they will not be processed.
Limitations when sending payments
Large pay runs can’t be sent in the evening: Metro Bank has a 5:30 PM cut-off for bulk payments over £250,000 via Faster Payments.
Payments scheduled for weekends or UK bank holidays won’t be sent on those days: Any payments set for these dates will be processed on the next UK working day.
International payments might not be sent on the same day they are created: Metro Bank has cut-off times for sending payments in different currencies, which can vary from 9:15am to 5pm depending on the currency. Check the currency cut-off times here.
Grouping payments into a single debit isn't always available: Metro Bank offers this service, but only for Commercial Online Banking accounts. To set it up, you’ll need to contact your Relationship Manager.
An easier way for Metro Bank business customers to make bulk payments
Metro Bank's bulk and batch payments have various limits on the number and value of payments you can send, as well as restrictions on when they can be sent.
Solve this by using Metro Bank with Telleroo. Metro is the 6th most popular bank amongst Telleroo business customers.
Keep your bank access private and separate business banking from payments. You no longer need to share logins to your business bank accounts. With Telleroo you get an e-money account set up in your company name. You’ll simply top-up this account when you approve payments.
Send more than £50,000 per day: Telleroo doesn’t have a daily limit. When you sign up, we’ll ask for an estimate of how much you plan to send each month. This will set your monthly limit, which you can request to increase anytime.
Send more than £250,000 in one bulk payment: You can make bulk payments of over £1 million. However, any unusual activity on your account may be flagged for compliance checks.
Solve limitations when creating payments
Process duplicate payments: Within a bulk payment you can add two or more payments of the same amount to a payee. We'll just double-check with you that this is intentional and that the duplicates aren’t accidental.
Solving limitations when sending payments
No cut-off times: Make small or large bulk payments in GBP or international currencies anytime, day or night.
Reconcile in one click: When you connect Telleroo to your Xero account, we send everything back to Xero so you can reconcile 100 or more payments in one click! This is available for all Telleroo users.
