Linking business bank accounts means one of two things, and the right choice depends on which one you need. You can connect accounts held at different banks to a single view or to your accounting software, using a read-only account information service. Or you can restructure where the money sits, with several accounts under one provider and one set of user permissions. Most Lithuanian companies with more than one bank end up using both. This guide explains how each works, what the rules say, where mistakes happen and what it costs.
DemivoltManage Business Accounts With More ControlDemivolt supports dedicated IBAN accounts, multi-account structures and role-based access for businesses managing payments across borders.Explore business accountsTL;DR
- A “link” to accounting software or a dashboard is an account information service under PSD2. It is read-only: it shows balances and transactions but cannot move money.
- Consent expires. Under current EU rules you re-authenticate with your bank at set intervals, so plan for reconnecting.
- Link only company accounts, through licensed providers, and check who on your team holds the permission.
- If you are tired of juggling banks, a multi-account structure with role-based access under one provider is the simpler long-term fix.
- Demivolt business accounts carry no account opening, verification or monthly maintenance fee, and SEPA payments out cost €0.40 each.
Table of Contents
- Two meanings of linking accounts
- How account information links work in Lithuania
- Step by step: connecting a company account to your accounting software
- Safety: what to check before you grant access
- Multi-account structures: linking by design
- Our perspective
- What it costs to operate several accounts
- Where Demivolt fits
- Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- FAQ
- Sources
Two meanings of linking accounts
Search results for this topic mix up two different jobs, so separate them first.
Data linking (consolidation). Your accounting program, treasury dashboard or ERP pulls balances and transactions from one or several banks. The money stays where it is. Your bookkeeper stops retyping statements.
Structural linking (consolidation of operations). You run several accounts, perhaps one per currency, per project or per subsidiary, inside one platform. You control who can see, approve or pay, and you move funds between accounts internally.
| Data linking | Multi-account structure | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | See and import data from many banks | Operate many accounts in one place |
| Can it move money? | No, read-only | Yes, within permissions |
| Who provides it | Accounting tool or app with a licensed connection | Your account provider |
| Typical user | Bookkeeper, finance lead | Founder, CFO, operations team |
| Main risk | Expired consent, wrong account type | Over-broad permissions |
The rest of this article covers the first in detail, then the second.
How account information links work in Lithuania
The Bank of Lithuania explains that account information services are regulated in Lithuania as in the other EEA countries. Payment service users have been able to use them since 2018 under the Law on Payments and related legislation. The service lets a licensed third-party provider read balances and transaction history from your bank and show them in one place.
What this means in practice:
- It is information only. The provider cannot make payments from your account. Initiating a payment is a separate service, payment initiation, with its own confirmation.
- The bank is the gatekeeper. You are redirected to your bank’s own environment to authorize access. You do not hand your online banking password to the accounting tool.
- The provider must be licensed. The Bank of Lithuania points to banks, credit unions and electronic money institutions as providers whose interfaces are safe to use.
The underlying framework is the revised Payment Services Directive. The ECB describes its aims as a more integrated and efficient European payments market, a level playing field for new providers and safer payments. Account information services are one of the tools that came out of that effort.
Why finance teams bother
The real gain is not seeing a combined balance. It is automation. When your accounting system imports transactions on its own, you avoid manual statement entry and the typing errors that come with it. For a company paying suppliers from two banks and receiving customer money in a third, bank feeds mean the books are reconciled against current data rather than last month’s PDF.
If you want a plain-language look at the day-to-day benefits, this explainer on how bank feeds save record-keeping time is written for UK sole traders, so ignore its tax references. The mechanics of seeing balances and transactions in one place apply the same way.
Consent does not last forever
Links are not permanent. Originally, PSD2 required customers to re-authenticate with strong customer authentication every 90 days. The rule was extended to 180 days, with banks required to implement the change by July 25, 2023. In practice, the exact interval you see can vary by bank and by provider, and some Lithuanian accounting tools still prompt reconnection on shorter cycles. Treat reconnection as a routine task, not a fault.
A simple habit helps: put a recurring calendar reminder with the name of the person who holds the bank login. A silent expiry is the most common reason a feed stops and a month-end close slips.
Step by step: connecting a company account to your accounting software
The screens differ by program, but the sequence is nearly always the same.
- Check the account details in your accounting system. Open the company’s bank account record and confirm the IBAN is entered correctly and the account is marked as a business account.
- Choose the bank connection option. If your bank is supported, select the authorization route rather than uploading files.
- Authorize in your bank’s environment. You are sent to the bank, sign in with your usual credentials and approve read-only access.
- Select the right accounts. If your login also covers personal or other entities’ accounts, tick only the company’s account.
- Run the first import and reconcile. Compare the opening balance and the first few transactions against the bank statement.
- Note the expiry. Record when the consent will need renewing and who will do it.
The account type trap
One frequent failure is a mismatch between the account type in the accounting program and the account that was actually authorized. Lithuanian software guides warn about this. For example, a help page for importing Paysera operations tells users to check that the account number field holds the right IBAN before granting permission. If several accounts, personal and business, sit under one login, the automatic matching may not recognize the account when types differ. Link only the company’s account, and confirm it in the first import.
When file import is still the better option
Not every bank or niche institution has a live connection to every program. In those cases, a structured statement export is the fallback. If your bank supports ISO 20022 statements, our guide to camt.053 statement rules for finance teams explains what to ask for and how to keep exports consistent from month to month.
Safety: what to check before you grant access
Open banking is convenient, but it moves sensitive access data through an intermediary. The Bank of Lithuania’s experts caution users to stay alert, because these services involve passing personalized security credentials via intermediaries and so add a fraud risk. Their advice is to use only licensed providers.
For a company, turn that into a checklist:
- Verify the licence. Confirm the provider is on the Bank of Lithuania’s list of licensed institutions or an equivalent EEA register before connecting.
- Read the scope. Make sure the permission is for account information, not payment initiation, unless you want both.
- Limit who can authorize. Only people with proper authority at the company should approve links.
- Review links regularly. Remove connections to tools you no longer use.
- Protect your own integrations. If your team builds on bank APIs, store keys carefully. Our article on secure API key management for fintech integrations covers the practices, and this developer walkthrough of moving open banking integrations from sandbox to production is a useful outside reference for the technical steps.
Payee verification adds a second layer
Since October 9, 2025, euro transfers in Lithuania are covered by the Bank of Lithuania’s recipient verification service. Each time a payer starts a standard or instant euro transfer, the provider checks whether the recipient name matches the account holder, and shows a result: match, close match, no match or unable to check. It is free for private and business customers. When you pay from a linked or multi-account setup, take a close match or no match seriously and confirm the details with the supplier by another channel. The central bank said that in 2024 alone Lithuanian banks recorded more than 13,000 fraud cases worth about €20 million, and payee checks are one of the measures against it.
Multi-account structures: linking by design
Data links solve the visibility problem. They do not solve the operational one: separate logins, separate approval flows, separate fee schedules, and funds stranded in the wrong account. Many growing companies simplify by running a structured set of accounts under one provider.
Typical setups:
- By currency. A main euro account for payroll and suppliers, and a second for customers who pay in another currency.
- By project or client. One account per project, so reconciliation is almost automatic.
- By entity. Each company in a group has its own account, while the group finance team sees all of them.
- By purpose. A tax reserve, an operating account and a card-spending account.
The point is the same as with data links: one place to see everything. The difference is that you can also act, with roles that limit what each person may do. A bookkeeper can have view and export rights. A manager can prepare payments. A director approves them.
Group account management
For groups, the questions to settle before opening accounts are:
- Who owns the relationship with the provider at the group level?
- Which roles exist at each entity, and which of them are view-only?
- How are internal transfers documented for intercompany reconciliation?
- Which accounts need cards, and who is allowed to issue them?
- How will accountants and auditors get statements?
Write the answers down before opening anything. Role design is far harder to fix after the first mistaken payment than before.
Our perspective
We see the same pattern with cross-border SMEs and digital businesses. A company starts with one bank, adds a second for a currency or a payment channel, and a third when a marketplace or a client demands it. Within a year the finance lead is reconciling three sets of statements and the team shares credentials to cope. Read-only data links help, and we encourage them, but they treat the symptom.
What we think works better is deciding the structure first. Dedicated IBANs for distinct purposes, role-based access so that nobody shares a login, segregated client funds and a clear fee schedule make the account landscape readable. Data links to accounting software then add automation on top of a structure that already makes sense. Where you keep external banks, which is common for international operations, an integration-ready setup lets the accounts coexist rather than compete.
We also advise treating compliance as part of design, not a hurdle. Onboarding that is risk-based, transparent and documented saves time later when a counterparty or auditor asks who may do what with which account. Our view is that a company should be able to explain its account structure on one page.
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What it costs to operate several accounts
Costs matter most when you run volume across currencies. These are the Demivolt fees as published on our site:
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Account opening | 0 |
| Account verification | 0 |
| Dedicated client manager | 0 |
| Monthly maintenance | 0 per month |
| Account closure | 0 |
| Internal transfers between Demivolt accounts | 0 |
| SEPA In | €0 |
| SEPA Out | €0.40 per transfer |
| SWIFT In | €25.00 |
| SWIFT Out | €30.00 |
Two things stand out for a multi-account design. Internal transfers between Demivolt accounts are free, so moving money between your project, currency or entity accounts costs nothing. And with no monthly maintenance, adding an account for a new purpose does not add a standing cost. You can estimate outgoing euro payment costs with the SEPA fee calculator.
For SWIFT, compare your actual flows. If a customer in another region pays you by SWIFT each month, the €25.00 incoming fee is a fixed cost to build into your pricing or to avoid by agreeing a SEPA route where possible.
Where Demivolt fits
If you want fewer logins and a structure your accountant can follow, our business accounts give your company dedicated IBANs, multi-account structures and role-based user management, with segregated client funds. Pair them with our payments for SEPA and SWIFT, and add virtual or physical Visa cards for team expenses through our card programmes. Onboarding is risk-based and designed to be quick and transparent. To start, get in touch through our site and we will walk you through account opening.
If you build products on top of accounts, such as platforms and fintechs, our Banking-as-a-Service offering and our guide to launching open banking integration in Lithuania without licensing delays are the places to start. Advisors who recommend account structures to clients can look at our reseller programme.
Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Linking the wrong account. Check IBAN and account type at setup, then reconcile the first import.
- Letting consent lapse. Assign a named owner and a calendar reminder.
- Sharing logins. Use individual users with roles. Shared credentials make audit trails meaningless.
- Confusing view and pay rights. An accounting link should be read-only. Payment rights belong in the account platform, with approvals.
- Ignoring payee warnings. A mismatch notice is a prompt to verify, not an annoyance.
- Too many accounts, too little purpose. Each account should have a stated reason and an owner.
FAQ
Can an accounting program move money out of my linked account?
Not through an account information link. That service is read-only and shows balances and transactions. Making a payment requires a separate payment initiation service, which you must approve at the bank. Check the permissions screen to be sure which one you are granting.
How often do I need to renew a bank link?
Under PSD2 the re-authentication period for account information was extended from 90 to 180 days, but banks and software providers may prompt more often in practice. Watch for a notice in your accounting tool and keep a reminder for the person holding the bank login.
Is it safe to link my company accounts?
It is when you use licensed providers and authorize in your bank’s own environment. The Bank of Lithuania warns that these services carry added fraud risk because security credentials pass through intermediaries, so verify the provider’s licence and link only company accounts.
Should I link accounts at several banks or move to one provider?
It depends on why you have several banks. If each bank serves a real need, such as a lender or a specific payment channel, link them for visibility. If the extra accounts exist mainly for currencies, projects or entities, a multi-account setup with role-based access is simpler to run and cheaper to reconcile.
Sources
- Mokėjimo inicijavimo ir sąskaitos informacijos paslaugos, Lietuvos bankas
- The revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), ECB
- PSD2 Alert: Authentication period for account information services extended to 180 days, Projective Group
- Paysera sujungimas, help.monet.lt
- Gavėjo tikrinimo paslauga, Lietuvos bankas (PDF)
- Lietuvos banko konsultacija apie šalies mokėjimų rinką, Lietuvos bankas