FinTech ClearBank has delivered its first full year of profitability as it works with high-profile brands including Chip, Raisin and Tide.
ClickBank is an enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking for financial institutions and has reported strong growth in income, platform and transaction fees, deposits, and clients.
Figures for 2023 show it reported pre-tax profits of £18.4m, compared to a loss of £7.1m in 2022. The bank reached UK monthly profitability in November 2022. Total income has grown 91 per cent YoY to £111.3m.
ClearBank’s CEO Charles McManus said: “2023 has been a stand-out year for ClearBank. While the industry and the broader economy have faced significant challenges, our values of innovation and sustainable growth have led to our first full-year of profitability—an incredible milestone in our journey.
“We have been able to offer resilience and stability in an uncertain market, building services our customers need, including a best-in-class embedded banking offering. But this is just one step on the journey, not the finish line.”
ClearBank’s model, where funds are held at the Bank of England, has made it attractive to clients looking to increase protection and provide better returns in a high-interest environment.
It now holds £6.1bn (up 103 per cent YoY) in deposits, as institutions seek out security and safety in a resilient banking partner.
CFO Mark Fairless added: “ClearBank has not just achieved profitability, it has done so through deliberate, purposeful, and sustainable growth. Our success enables the success of others in the market, whether through our partnerships with so many new banks, or our embedded banking platform offering interest-bearing accounts held at the Bank of England.
“Our success in 2023 places us in an excellent position for 2024—we have more customers in our pipeline than ever before, and we expect this to translate into significant growth in our recurring revenues.”
A new cross-border GBP service allows customers to remit GBP into any permissible overseas GBP account. The bank also enabled the launch of a market-leading Cash ISA product with its embedded banking partner, Chip.
ClearBank now works with 15 of the UK’s newest banks including Allica Bank and Alba Bank and continues to progress its European banking licence application and international expansion plans, with a full EU launch expected later this year.
The FinTech continues to add features to its platform as part of its commitment to innovation. 2023 saw the addition of CASS for seamless current account switching, and greater peace of mind through Confirmation of Payee-as-a-Service, where clients can use ClearBank as a technical provider of CoP checks.
A new cross-border GBP service allows customers to remit GBP into any permissible overseas GBP account. The bank also enabled the launch of a market-leading Cash ISA product with its embedded banking partner, Chip.
ClearBank opened a record number of accounts on behalf of its clients and processed a record volume of transactions. By the end of 2023, the total number of bank accounts held across all its product offerings reached 10m, a 22 per cent increase