Just to put a bit of nuance in this article. I am French living in Germany, I created 2 UK limited companies without putting a single foot in UK. I am banking with Barclays Wealth (the side of the business dealing with foreigners and very rich people) and have everything with them. They are simply excellent, you never ever touch a call center in India, always UK people in UK. No more than 30 seconds to wait on the phone for an inquiry and extremely polite.

And yes, this includes merchant account, accepting payment by card, Internet banking with a real security (smartcard), etc.

The thing is: you need to be extremely professional in the way you present your business to them. Follow their procedures, be polite on the phone, explain clearly your case. They are a business like you, when you have a good customer in front of you, not by money but simply because polite, patient etc. you always end up walking happily the last mile for her. Be the the nice customer and profit.

Edit: By the way, I got everything without a single deposit, only references from my personal banker and my company secretary banker.