It's impossible to open a business bank account, and that's a big problem for Britain's Covid-19 recovery

Rhys Maddocks is the kind of successful tech entrepreneur Britain needs right now. His online recruitment firm Apply Gateway is going gangbusters despite Covid-19 and is expanding fast in the US.

However, he says he’s just been told by Metro Bank that it’s closing his business account because they don’t have the manpower to service it.

He’s tried every other bank out there to take his six-figure balance, but no dice.

It’s a common story — getting a business bank account, or even just keeping an existing one, is nigh on impossible.

Banks are overwhelmed with helping existing Covid-damaged customers.

Worse still, they’re inundated with onboarding small business clients applying for the £48 billion of Rishi Sunak’s coronavirus bounceback loans.

The last thing they want is more work.

Metro today added its name to the list of those — including HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander, stopping opening new business accounts altogether.

Meanwhile, Brexit is forcing them to close current accounts for Europe-based customers because our leaders failed to negotiate a passporting system for financial services.

You get the impression of a banking system in crisis, unable to service the very people — like Rhys — that might get us out of this coronavirus economic mess.

As millions find themselves unemployed in the coming months and unable to get work, many will want to start up new businesses to get back on their feet. That’s how economies, and families, tend to recover from recessions. But if they can’t access banking services, our recovery will be severely hobbled.

Banks are bursting at the seams with a multitude of Covid issues to solve, and so are the Treasury and Bank of England.

But this is surely an issue that needs to be prioritised urgently. We can’t afford to let wealth creators like Maddocks down.