Your SMSF must have its own bank account. You need to set up a unique bank account for your fund to keep all money and assets separate from any personal or business finances.

You must open a bank account in your fund’s name (not yours or any other entity’s name) to:

• manage the fund’s operations
• accept member contributions and rollovers
• hold earnings or profits from fund investments, and
• keep fund money and assets separate from any other finances.

You can use the contributions and rollovers in the fund’s bank account to:

• invest according to the fund’s investment strategy, and
• pay the fund’s expenses and liabilities.

You don’t need a separate bank account for each member, but you must keep a separate record of their entitlements. This is called a member account.

Each member account shows:

• contributions made by or on behalf of the member
• fund investment earnings allocated to them
• payments of any super benefits (lump sums or income streams).

As a trustee, you need to check that only people you have authorised are listed as authorities and signatories on your SMSF’s bank account.

It’s strongly recommended you use safeguards such as joint bank account signatories to protect the fund’s assets.