ClearBank

ClearBank is a British clearing services provider that offers a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform for its enterprise customers to build their financial technologies (FinTechs). It provides clearing and agency banking services, including operating accounts, connecting to existing bank accounts, and offering a range of payment services. ClearBank offers its services through a private cloud and links enterprises to its banking services through application programming interfaces (APIs) and its portal. The platform links the four main payment channels in the UK -Faster Payments, BACS, CHAPS, and direct debits. 

The company reported its first monthly profit (on a pre-tax basis) in October 2022, on annual revenues of GBP 45.3 million. 

In August 2024, ClearBank secured a credit institution license from the European Central Bank (ECB), under the supervision of De Nederlandsche Bank, to support its expansion into Europe. 

Key customers and partnerships

The company noted that of the approximately 5,000 regulated financial institutions in the UK as of September 2020, around 108 were held in ClearBank’s platform, with a further 136 in the process of being onboarded. As of November 2022, ClearBank had around 200 customers including Tide, eToro, and Coinbase, covered about 13 million accounts, and handled around GBP 3 billion (USD 3.6 billion) in assets. 

In September 2020, ClearBank offered its clients the ability to create multi-currency banking accounts by partnering with JP Morgan to gain access to multiple currencies, pricing, and execution through an API connection. ClearBank was also chosen by leading cryptocurrency exchange and custodian Gemini as the clearing bank for its UK banking services. Through a single API integration, ClearBank will provide Gemini with the infrastructure, including dedicated account numbers and sort codes, and access to payment rails. 

ClearBank subsequently partnered with ThetaRay in November 2022 to enhance cloud-native anti-money laundering (AML) monitoring, by leveraging ThetaRay’s proprietary AI intuition AML solution, “SOLAR.”

In October 2024, the company partnered with Visa to develop issuance and money movement solutions. The partnership would leverage Clearbank’s cloud-native banking infrastructure for Visa to benefit from real-time payment processing, enhanced transaction visibility, and an easier reconciliation process for payments in the UK and Europe.

In FY 2023, the company reported revenue of EUR 111.3 million and full-year pre-tax profits at EUR 18.4 million in comparison to a loss of EUR 7.1 million the year prior. The company’s payment volume rose by 54% YoY to 108 million for the same year.