bank asks if my business accepts cash payments what should I say

Cash is a customer due diligence question, not optional

Answer this factually and concretely: does your business receive cash, and if so, in what volume and for what type of transaction. The bank is not asking this out of curiosity, but because cash represents an elevated money laundering risk within the customer due diligence that the bank must conduct under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act. A "no, we only work by invoice and bank transfer" is just as valuable to the bank as a detailed answer about cash flows — it is about an accurate picture, not a desired answer.

If your business does receive cash, indicate what proportion of turnover this represents and where it comes from: for example retail sales, deposit schemes, or incidental private customers alongside business turnover. The bank compares this with other parts of the file, such as the source of the company's assets and payment behaviour towards suppliers. If there is a spike or discrepancy between what you state and the account transactions, the bank will almost always ask a follow-up question — this is a normal control step for the bank, not an accusation.

Where this follows from the law

The bank's obligation to ask this is not separate from your business: it must conduct customer due diligence under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act and thereby establish a risk profile, in which the use of cash is a standard indicator. This is separate from the question regarding the ultimate beneficial owners of the company, which the bank must also determine under the same law — both questions are part of customer due diligence, but they test a different risk. For the exact text of the due diligence obligation, the law itself is the source; we do not read or assess your answer, we only supplement it from what is already recorded in your supply chain file.