# iFAST Global Bank: FSCS-protected deposits for non-residents from 190 countries > UK bank in the iFAST group: PRA/FCA licence, FSCS protection, remote multi-currency accounts for clients from 190 countries. First profit in FY2025. Author: Alena Dunaeva — Lawyer, Family Office (https://wiki.private.law/en/authors/dunaeva) Last modified: 2026-08-14T13:13:00.000Z Canonical: https://wiki.private.law/en/ifast-global-bank Topics: banking Jurisdictions: uk, global Functional tags: bank, personal-banking Product tags: banking Semantic tags: bank, personal-banking, banking --- For context, read this profile alongside the [global bank map](https://wiki.private.law/en/banks) and the [neobank overview](https://wiki.private.law/en/neobanks). It is a case study in a licensed or partner-bank business model, not a product recommendation. Primary source: [iFAST Global Bank](https://www.ifastgb.com/about-us). A genuine bank account in a strong jurisdiction remains the single most common request from a non-resident client in 2026. EMI wallets cover the payment routine, but the question of keeping large balances safe is answered by a banking licence with deposit insurance and public reporting. London-based [iFAST Global Bank](https://www.ifastgb.com/) answers that request literally: a full UK PRA/FCA licence, FSCS membership and remote opening of multi-currency accounts for clients from most countries in the world. It is the subsidiary bank of Singapore's iFAST Corporation, and the entire "banking without boundaries" model is built around a person who has no UK address. ## Background Parent company iFAST Corporation began in 2000 as the fund supermarket Fundsupermart: Lim Chung Chun, former head of research at ING Barings Securities, launched it together with Moh Hon Meng on S$500,000 of seed capital. The company took the iFAST name in 2003 and has been listed on the SGX Mainboard since December 2014; Lim is still chairman and CEO with a stake of around 20%. Today it is a wealth platform across Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and the United Kingdom: the FSM retail storefront, the iFAST Central B2B platform for advisers, and over 29,000 investment products. The group's second engine is pension technology. A seven-year subcontract from PCCW Solutions to build eMPF, the single digital platform for Hong Kong's mandatory provident funds, had by mid-2026 carried the work through to the migration of all 12 trustee companies and 24 schemes. Financial form is the best on record: FY2025 net profit came to S$100.01m, up 50.1% year on year, while in the second quarter of 2026 revenue grew 34.8% to S$162.04m on AUA of S$36.13bn and 1.5m client accounts. The entry into UK banking went through M&A. In January 2022 iFAST agreed to buy 85% of BFC Bank, the London bank of Bahrain's BFC group specialising in currency exchange and remittances: £25m for the stake plus a £15m capital injection, ≈£40m in total \(S$73.4m\). The group bought out the remaining 15% through MMSS Investments in 2024. Since 1 April 2022 the bank has operated under the iFAST Global Bank name, with the PRA/FCA licence and FSCS membership carried over without interruption. What followed was a repositioning around a global digital model: April 2023 saw the launch of Digital Personal Banking with remote onboarding, and alongside it sit Digital Transaction Banking for fintechs and the EzRemit remittance business inherited from BFC, weighted towards the GCC and South Asia corridors. ## Products and pricing The flagship is a multi-currency current account in nine currencies: GBP, USD, EUR, HKD, SGD, CNY, JPY, CHF and AED. There is no account fee and no minimum balance; interest accrues daily and is paid on the first of the month. As of August 2026 the bank advertises up to 3.00% AER \(variable\) on instant access balances; at launch in April 2025 GBP paid 3.50% AER, USD 2.80% and EUR 1.50%, plus 2% cashback. Fixed deposits run from 1 to 60 months. After the January and March 2026 increases, the maximum on GBP and USD is up to 4.15% AER on the five-year term and up to 3.75% on HKD; early withdrawal is closed as a general rule. Alongside them sit 95-day notice accounts and fixed-rate Cash ISAs \(July 2026, bonus of up to £500\), available only to UK tax residents. Transfer pricing as of August 2026: incoming payments, transfers between iFAST accounts and domestic GBP payments over Faster Payments are free. Cross-currency transfers run through the EzRemit service with no bank commission, the earnings sitting in the exchange-rate margin: over 50 countries, more than 25 currencies and over 50 wallets such as GCash and Easypaisa, with delivery from minutes to 48 hours. Outbound SWIFT is priced separately and reviews treat it as a noticeable cost item; a payment recall or trace costs £25. The account comes with a numberless Visa debit card: the plastic carries no number, CVV or expiry date, and the details live in the app. An important detail for a non-resident is that [the terms and conditions](https://static.ifastgb.com/tnc/Personal%20Banking%20Terms%20and%20Conditions%20Effective%20From%2020%20May%202025.pdf) tie card issuance to UK residency, so the account and deposits are usually available straight away while the card goes through separate consideration. Since May 2026 Worldwide Scan & Pay powered by Alipay+ has been live, offering QR payments at over 150m merchants in over 220 countries and territories. Onboarding is form-based: an application in the iGB app or through the web portal, with a passport or driving licence, proof of address \(a utility bill or a statement\), an email address and a mobile number, from age 18. A standard application is processed in about two hours, or up to 7 business days where additional documents are requested, and a 14-day cancellation period applies after opening. Coverage is roughly 190 countries on the bank's own figures; the bank does not publish its list of exclusions, the filter rests on HM Treasury sanctions lists and an internal high-risk country matrix, and the terms allow the account to be closed without notice where a client is connected to such a jurisdiction. The bank is entirely digital: no branches, no cheques, no direct debits and no overdraft, with a payment cut-off at 15:00 London time. The second business addresses the corporate market. Digital Transaction Banking serves EMIs, neobanks and regulated NBFIs in the UK and Europe: segregated safeguarding accounts for client money, operating accounts and instant FX settling in about a minute instead of the customary several days, including trades on currency holidays. ## Competitive landscape The balance of forces shifted in 2026. Revolut exited mobilisation in March 2026 and now operates as a full UK bank: deposits with Revolut Bank UK are FSCS-protected up to £120,000, and legacy e-money accounts are migrating into the banking perimeter. The caveat matters: this applies to UK clients, and for most other geographies Revolut remains an EMI. Wise is still e-money. Client funds sit under safeguarding in segregated accounts, but e-money falls outside [the FSCS perimeter](https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/), and if the institution collapses the client waits for the insolvency estate to be worked through. Onboarding at both is tied to residency in supported countries, and that is precisely the door iGB keeps open. Puerto Rico's Zenus Bank sells a similar "bank for the whole world" idea on a US IFE licence and takes clients from over 180 countries, but warns explicitly that deposits are not FDIC-insured. Traditional UK banks barely accept a non-resident without a local address: propositions such as HSBC Expat require six-figure balances. Against that backdrop iGB remains a rare combination of a banking licence, state deposit insurance and remote entry with no UK residency requirement. ## What it means for the client The headline is that this is a real bank with deposit insurance, available to a non-resident remotely. The level of protection is higher than an EMI wallet's: segregation is reinforced by the state-backed FSCS scheme with a limit of £120,000 per client \(raised from £85,000 on 1 December 2025\), while temporary high balances, for example after a property sale, are covered up to £1.4m for a period of up to six months. Screening does not go anywhere, however: the bank checks citizenship, residency, sanctions lists and source of funds. Four things are worth looking at: whether the client's passport and address clear the current filter, whether the amount fits within the FSCS limit, whether the variable instant access rate is acceptable \(the bank is required to give only 14 days' notice of a cut\), and whether the card is needed at all, given that a non-resident's access to it is not guaranteed. ## Under the hood The assembly is instructive for a builder. Instead of a multi-year application for a new licence, iFAST bought the operating but small BFC Bank and entered the UK banking system for ≈£40m. The link with the parent platform then did its work: Asian wealth-business technology plus a London balance sheet produced a deposit machine for non-residents, while direct membership of Faster Payments, CHAPS and SWIFT became a product in its own right, with the bank selling that same infrastructure to fintechs through Digital Transaction Banking. The road to profit took three years and ran through the classic digital-bank trough: FY2024 still produced a loss of S$4.36m, the first profitable quarter came in 4Q2024, and the first profitable year was FY2025 with pre-tax profit of S$3.11m on revenue of S$83.81m \(up 61.1%\). The bet was placed on liabilities: deposits crossed S$1bn in December 2024 and reached S$1.81bn by 30 June 2026, while the second quarter of 2026 delivered a record S$1.92m before tax, up 174.5% year on year. The pitfalls are visible in the same reporting: global onboarding means expensive compliance and constant re-tuning of country lists, and single-digit millions of profit on deposits of over S$1.8bn shows how thin the margin is here. The model rests on attracting money at above-market rates, and if the Bank of England cuts, that trump card will have to be rebuilt. Balance-sheet buffers carry ample headroom: an LCR of 469%, an NSFR of 172% and a total capital ratio of 24.28% as at 30 June 2026. ## Regulation and status iFAST Global Bank Limited is a fully licensed UK bank: authorised by the PRA, regulated by the FCA and the PRA, an FSCS participant with deposit protection up to £120,000 \(the limit in force since 1 December 2025\), and a direct member of Faster Payments, CHAPS and SWIFT. The bank is run by CEO Inayat Kashif, with Simon Lee \(Digital Personal Banking\) and Sukesh Khandelwal \(EzRemit\) heading the business lines; parent iFAST Corporation discloses the bank's figures quarterly. Status as of August 2026: deposits of S$1.81bn as at 30 June, a second consecutive profitable year under way, three business lines plus the Commercial Banking Suite. Awards include Best Newcomer at the British Bank Awards 2025 and Highly Commended from Moneyfacts in 2026, and for the group the bank has become a strategic piece of infrastructure on the way to the S$100bn AUA target for 2030. > ⚠️ **Risks.** Screening on citizenship and sanctions lists is strict, there is no public list of served countries, and the terms allow the account to be closed without notice where a client is connected to a high-risk jurisdiction, so status has to be checked on the date of application. The deposit base was gathered at above-market rates and behaves like hot money: if the Bank of England cuts, the cost of funding and the model itself will require rebuilding, and the margin is thin so far. FSCS covers £120,000 per client, and balances above that limit sit at the risk of a bank with a short profit history. Multi-currency balances outside GBP carry an exchange-rate risk that no scheme insures. > 🍓 **In short.** iFAST Global Bank is the London bank of Singapore's iFAST Corporation, holding a PRA/FCA licence, FSCS protection up to £120,000 and remote onboarding of non-residents from roughly 190 countries. Deposits grew to S$1.81bn by June 2026, and FY2025 became the first fully profitable year. For a client it offers a nine-currency account, free transfers through EzRemit and GBP deposits paying up to 4.15% AER without a trip to London. For a builder it is a model of entering a banking licence through M&A for ≈£40m and reaching profit within three years. ## FAQ ### How does iFAST Global Bank differ from Wise and Revolut in 2026? iGB is a full bank with a PRA/FCA licence, and deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000 per client. Revolut has also been a full bank since March 2026, but the protection works for UK clients, and beyond the UK it remains an EMI. Wise is still e-money under safeguarding with no deposit insurance, and onboarding at both is tied to residency in supported countries. ### How does a non-resident open an account and how long does it take? The application is submitted remotely in the iGB app or through the web portal: a passport or driving licence, proof of address, an email address and a phone number, from age 18. A standard application is processed in about two hours, or up to 7 business days where additional documents are requested, and a 14-day cancellation period applies after opening. Coverage is roughly 190 countries on the bank's own figures; the exclusion list is closed and rests on HM Treasury sanctions lists and an assessment of country risk. ### What rates and fees apply at the moment? As of August 2026 instant access pays up to 3.00% AER \(variable\), while fixed deposits pay up to 4.15% on GBP and USD over five years and up to 3.75% on HKD, with terms from 1 to 60 months and early exit closed. Incoming payments, internal transfers and domestic GBP payments are free, and cross-currency transfers through EzRemit carry no bank commission, with the earnings taken in the rate. Outbound SWIFT is priced separately and is considered expensive in reviews; a payment recall costs £25. ### Will a non-resident be given a Visa card? The account and deposits open without a UK address, but the terms and conditions tie issuance of the numberless Visa debit card to UK residency; those relocating are permitted to apply with evidence of intent. Check your own case with support before opening the account. The account itself works through Faster Payments, CHAPS, SWIFT and EzRemit, and since May 2026 through Scan & Pay QR payments on Alipay+. ### How resilient is the bank itself? Behind it stands iFAST Corporation, listed on the SGX, with net profit of S$100.01m for FY2025 and AUA of S$36.13bn as at 30 June 2026. The bank itself has moved into profit: FY2025 was the first fully profitable year \(S$3.11m before tax\), deposits stand at S$1.81bn and buffers carry headroom \(LCR 469%, capital ratio 24.28%\). The group's quarterly disclosure makes monitoring straightforward. --- ## FAQ ### How does iFAST Global Bank differ from Wise and Revolut in 2026? iGB is a full bank with a PRA/FCA licence, and deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000 per client. Revolut has also been a full bank since March 2026, but the protection works for UK clients, and beyond the UK it remains an EMI. Wise is still e-money under safeguarding with no deposit insurance, and onboarding at both is tied to residency in supported countries. ### How does a non-resident open an account and how long does it take? The application is submitted remotely in the iGB app or through the web portal: a passport or driving licence, proof of address, an email address and a phone number, from age 18. A standard application is processed in about two hours, or up to 7 business days where additional documents are requested, and a 14-day cancellation period applies after opening. Coverage is roughly 190 countries on the bank's own figures; the exclusion list is closed and rests on HM Treasury sanctions lists and an assessment of country risk. ### What rates and fees apply at the moment? As of August 2026 instant access pays up to 3.00% AER (variable), while fixed deposits pay up to 4.15% on GBP and USD over five years and up to 3.75% on HKD, with terms from 1 to 60 months and early exit closed. Incoming payments, internal transfers and domestic GBP payments are free, and cross-currency transfers through EzRemit carry no bank commission, with the earnings taken in the rate. Outbound SWIFT is priced separately and is considered expensive in reviews; a payment recall costs £25. ### Will a non-resident be given a Visa card? The account and deposits open without a UK address, but the terms and conditions tie issuance of the numberless Visa debit card to UK residency; those relocating are permitted to apply with evidence of intent. Check your own case with support before opening the account. The account itself works through Faster Payments, CHAPS, SWIFT and EzRemit, and since May 2026 through Scan & Pay QR payments on Alipay+. ### How resilient is the bank itself? Behind it stands iFAST Corporation, listed on the SGX, with net profit of S$100.01m for FY2025 and AUA of S$36.13bn as at 30 June 2026. The bank itself has moved into profit: FY2025 was the first fully profitable year (S$3.11m before tax), deposits stand at S$1.81bn and buffers carry headroom (LCR 469%, capital ratio 24.28%). The group's quarterly disclosure makes monitoring straightforward. --- ## Factual claims - A genuine bank account in a strong jurisdiction remains the single most common request from a non-resident client in 2026. - Parent company iFAST Corporation began in 2000 as the fund supermarket Fundsupermart: Lim Chung Chun, former head of research at ING Barings Securities, launched it together with Moh Hon Meng on S$500,000 of seed capital. - Fixed deposits run from 1 to 60 months. - Transfer pricing as of August 2026: incoming payments, transfers between iFAST accounts and domestic GBP payments over Faster Payments are free. - Onboarding is form-based: an application in the iGB app or through the web portal, with a passport or driving licence, proof of address (a utility bill or a statement), an email address and a mobile number, from age 18. - The balance of forces shifted in 2026. - Puerto Rico's Zenus Bank sells a similar "bank for the whole world" idea on a US IFE licence and takes clients from over 180 countries, but warns explicitly that deposits are not FDIC-insured. - The pitfalls are visible in the same reporting: global onboarding means expensive compliance and constant re-tuning of country lists, and single-digit millions of profit on deposits of over S$1.8bn shows how thin the margin is here.