Lawyer, Family Office
ClearBank is the UK's first new clearing bank in 250 years. It launched in 2017 with a simple idea: a bank with no retail arm and no branches that sells access to payment infrastructure — Faster Payments, CHAPS, Bacs — to fintechs, neobanks and other banks through a single API. The model is called agency banking: clients reach the payment schemes through ClearBank without becoming direct members.
For the UK fintech market it is a systemic player: the accounts of Tide, Chip, Coinbase, Capital on Tap and dozens of neobanks run on ClearBank. FY2025 was the third consecutive profitable year: 279 institutional clients (+61 over the year) and more than 17 million accounts, up from 13 million a year earlier.
Who They Are and the Licence
A full banking licence: authorised by the PRA, regulated by the FCA and the PRA. Unlike neobank providers, ClearBank opens real accounts with FSCS deposit protection — the limit rose to £120,000 on 1 December 2025. For fintechs this is the key sales argument: their users' accounts sit with a licensed bank, not with “electronic money”.
The model is conservative: ClearBank does not lend, and client balances are held at the Bank of England. Credit risk on the balance sheet is minimal — the bank earns on fees, transaction volumes and interest income.
The European arm is ClearBank Europe N.V., headquartered in the Netherlands: an ECB credit institution licence (2024), supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank, with more than €70 million committed to the expansion. Stated plans include USD services.
Products and Rails
- Clearing and settlement accounts: Faster Payments, CHAPS, Bacs — direct access through one API.
- Virtual accounts: Coinbase runs 3+ million GBP wallets on a small number of real accounts.
- Safeguarding accounts for neobanks and PIs — regulatory segregation of client funds at a licensed bank.
- Embedded Banking: FSCS-protected accounts and savings products inside third-party apps — Tide Instant Saver, Chip, LemFi; November 2025 — the UK's first savings account offered directly inside a crypto exchange (Coinbase, 3.75% AER).
- EUR rails via ClearBank Europe: SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant, TARGET2; multi-currency and FX.
- 2025 — a move into corporate embedded banking (PayCaptain as the first partner).
Who It Suits
Fintechs and neobanks, neobanks and neobanks (settlement and safeguarding accounts), banks and building societies, credit unions, wealth platforms, and crypto firms — selectively and with a high compliance bar (Coinbase has been a partner since 2019: GBP on/off-ramp via FPS and CHAPS). No direct retail: end users only see ClearBank in the small print of their fintech's app.
Onboarding and Compliance
Institutional onboarding through the commercial team: licensing status (neobank/PI/bank/credit union), AML infrastructure, flow of funds, project economics. Timelines are individual — weeks to months. Operating companies outside the financial sector won't get a direct account: the route runs through a fintech built on ClearBank's infrastructure. The sanctions perimeter is the standard strict UK filter.
Risks and Limitations
- No direct access for ordinary businesses — only via the bank's fintech clients.
- GBP-centric: EUR arrived only recently via ClearBank Europe, USD is still on the roadmap.
- Crypto onboarding is selective: the bank picks large regulated players; there is no mass intake of crypto firms.
- Pricing is negotiated, with no public grid.
Q/A
Is ClearBank a bank or a BaaS provider?
A fully licensed bank (PRA/FCA) that sells its infrastructure as a service. That is the difference from neobank-based BaaS: the accounts are real and FSCS-protected.
Is money held with a fintech on ClearBank FSCS-protected?
Yes — if the account is opened at ClearBank via embedded banking, FSCS protection applies, up to £120,000 since December 2025. Check the specific fintech's disclosures.
Does ClearBank work with crypto companies?
Selectively. Coinbase since 2019: GBP on/off-ramp via Faster Payments and CHAPS, plus FSCS-protected savings accounts since November 2025. There is no mass onboarding of crypto firms.
What does ClearBank Europe add?
An ECB credit institution licence under DNB supervision: EUR accounts, SEPA, SEPA Instant and TARGET2 for European fintechs — the same agency banking model, in the euro area.
Related: BaaS and neobank in Europe, Neobanks, Clear Junction, BCB Group
📎 We maintain a comparison file of payment infrastructure providers — licences, rails, pricing and onboarding across Clear Junction, ClearBank, BCB Group and peers. Request the current version via the form at wiki.private.law.