SME account holdings
The vast majority of UK SMEs hold at least one business bank account. UK Finance data shows the largest UK business account providers by market share are historically: NatWest Group, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and Santander — with neobanks (Tide, Starling, Monzo, Mettle) collectively gaining significant market share since 2018.
Neobank adoption
Tide, Starling, Monzo Business, Mettle and other digital-first providers have grown from near-zero market share in 2017 to serving well over 1 million UK businesses combined by 2024. Tide alone has publicly reported over 600,000 UK members.
FSCS protection
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protects eligible business deposits up to £85,000 per depositor per firm, in the same way as personal deposits. Not all business account providers are FSCS-protected — some (Tide, Wise Business, Revolut Business) are e-money institutions with safeguarded but non-FSCS deposits.
Business lending
UK Finance publishes quarterly SME lending data. Gross new lending to SMEs runs to tens of billions of pounds annually across the traditional lenders, with growing but smaller lending from newer specialist providers.
Sources
Well over a million by 2024 estimate. Tide alone reports over 600,000 members; Starling, Monzo Business, Mettle add hundreds of thousands more.
No. Starling is a fully-authorised UK bank with FSCS protection up to £85k. Tide is an e-money institution — funds are safeguarded but not FSCS-protected.
Historically NatWest Group has the largest SME market share, though neobanks are steadily eroding it.