Most companies are paying their banks to hold cash they don't need. The average mid-market company maintains 4–7 banking relationships, and fewer than half actively review whether each one is earning its keep. A quarterly bank relationship audit takes about two hours—and the first one usually pays for itself in fee recovery alone.
What a bank relationship audit should surface
- Stranded balances. Idle cash sitting in operating accounts earns nothing—or worse, funds your bank's spread. Map every account, set a target operating balance, and sweep everything above it.
- Hidden fees. Request an account analysis statement from every bank. Most finance teams have never seen one. You'll find charges for services you don't use and monthly fees quietly offsetting your interest earnings.
- Credit-to-deposit leverage. Banks price credit based on total wallet share. If you're borrowing from Bank A but keeping deposits at Bank B, you're leaving real pricing power on the table.
- Dormant accounts. A surprising number of companies carry accounts opened for a one-off transaction—a subsidiary, an acquisition, an old vendor—that never got closed. Each one is a fraud surface and a compliance exposure.
Make it a standing discipline
The value isn't in a one-time cleanup—it's in the cadence. Banking products, rates, and your own cash position all change. A quarterly review keeps your structure aligned with reality and stops fees and idle balances from creeping back. For the fee mechanics specifically, see our deeper guide on how to reduce bank fees.
When did your team last audit your full banking structure? CurvedSpace can run the audit and turn the findings into recovered cash.