Business bank account

With a bank account, eligible deposits will be protected up to £85,000* by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

E-money accounts store your money in electronic form which can be used to make payments. Your money is held in a Safeguarding Account. This means your money is ring-fenced from the funds we use to run Tide.

*Eligible deposits with ClearBank are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s deposit guarantee scheme. This limit applies to the total of any deposits you have with ClearBank. Any total deposits you hold above this limit are unlikely to be covered.

There are 3 ways in which Tide members can identify if they have a PPS or ClearBank account:

1. Sort Codes: If the sort code is 04-06-05 – the account is with ClearBank, if the sort code is 23-69-72 – it is with PPS
2. Statements: The footer of members’ statements will give details of the account provider and terms
3. By requesting an Account Verification Letter (AVL) from Tide

Yes!

There are currently two different types of accounts with Tide: an e-money account, provided under the license of Pre-Pay Solutions Limited and regulated by the FCA, and bank accounts  provided by ClearBank, which are also regulated by the FCA.

The funds in e-money accounts are stored and protected. With an e-money account, your money is never invested or loaned out and is safeguarded in accounts that keep your money separate from the money we use to run Tide. As your funds are safeguarded, FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) protection does not apply.

We’re in the process of moving Tide accounts from PPS e-money accounts to ClearBank FSCS protected bank accounts. In the coming months, you’ll have the option to update your account, we’ll get in touch when this is available.

We’ll be able to verify your identity from most European National ID cards, international driving licences and passports.

To apply for a bank account with Tide, you will need to meet our eligibility criteria outlined below:

To apply for a registered business account, you’ll need to be registered with UK Companies House as a director of that company.
To apply for a sole trader account, you’ll need to be a UK based sole trader or freelancer.

For both bank account types, you’ll need to be aged 18 or above, have a valid UK phone number and address, and hold a compatible device registered to a UK App or Google Play store.

We’re on a mission to help businesses owners spend less time on money admin, and we want to enable as many small businesses as possible to do that. It’s a balancing act though, certain company types are more complex to onboard, so the scope of businesses we’re currently able to offer accounts to is a little more focused than your average high street bank.

We hope to broaden this scope as we grow, but currently we’re unable to onboard the following types of companies:

• Trading of cryptocurrencies
• Trading of precious metals and stones
• Money services (such as foreign exchange, loan providers, money transfers)
• Casinos, prize draws and other betting or gambling activities
• Sale of unlicensed pharmaceuticals
• Sale or trade of cannabidiol (CBD) products
• Trading of weapons, explosives or armaments
• Unlicensed trading and processing of scrap metal
• Unlicensed waste management
• Sale, import and export of used vehicles or heavy machinery
• Escort services and other services in the adult industry
• Bidding fee auctions
• Modelling agencies
• Travel agencies
• Car wash services
• Political parties
• Charities
• CICs and CIOs

You can read more about this in our blog post: Providing financial security for our members.

No, Tide isn’t a bank.

Tide is a business financial platform and the leading provider of digital business banking services in the UK! We are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and offer e-money accounts, provided by PrePay Solutions (PPS), as well as business bank accounts, provided by ClearBank.

We believe that this model gives us the opportunity to provide a wider range of products and services to our members, helping them to save time (and money) on their financial admin.

On-boarding timeframes vary depending on the types of applications we receive, but more than half of our new members this year opened their bank account in less than 10 minutes.

To be exact, 53% opened their accounts in under 10 minutes, 70% in under 60 minutes, and 81% within 48 hours. Even if your business is a bit more complex and we can’t complete your application right away, if you meet our eligibility requirements it’ll still be far quicker than most high street banks!

Saving our members time is at the core of what we do, so we’re always working to optimise and improve wait times. You can read about why we sometimes need a little more information on our blog.

Unfortunately, registering charities requires us to follow a different set of rules which would take us away from our main mission as a company. We may support these types of organisations in the future, but we’re currently focused on offering the best experience for small and medium-sized businesses.

No! To open a current account, we perform electronic checks (run by third-party services) to verify your identity and comply with UK anti-money laundering regulations. While these checks will not impact your credit score, they will appear on your credit report.

Yes! Applicants who are not based in the UK may apply for a business bank account, as long as they are directors of a company registered with UK Companies House. In some cases, we may have to complete additional checks in order to process your application.

Don’t forget – you’ll need to switch your App or Google Play store to the UK to download Tide.

Unfortunately not – but you can use Tide alongside your existing bank account until you have fully switched over.