FSCS protection when bank brands share a licence

Two banks with different names, different apps and different cards can count as a single bank when the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) works out how much of your money is protected. Protection follows the authorised firm behind the account, under its deposit-taking banking licence, not the brand name on the high street¹. The limit is £120,000 per person, per banking licence, and it rose to that level on 1 December 2025².

That matters most to people spreading savings between several banks for safety. Money held in multiple accounts with banks that are part of the same banking group, and that share a banking licence, is treated as one bank, so the £120,000 limit applies across all of those accounts together³. Someone with £70,000 in one brand and £70,000 in a sister brand on the same licence has only £120,000 protected, not £140,000.

FSCS protection follows the banking licence, not the brand name

The FSCS protects deposits per authorised deposit taker, under that firm's deposit-taking banking licence, rather than per brand¹. A banking group can run several brands on one licence, and when it does, the FSCS treats them as a single institution for compensation purposes. Which? puts the rule plainly: the FSCS limit applies per banking group, not per brand⁶.

This catches people out because the brands often look entirely separate. They have their own names, their own apps, their own marketing and sometimes their own branch networks. Nothing in day-to-day banking tells you that two of them sit on the same licence. The FSCS's own guidance states that its protection applies at firm level and may be shared across brands under the same authorisation⁵.

The rule works in the reader's favour as often as against them. If a brand is on a licence you use nowhere else, you get a full £120,000 of protection with it. The problem arises only when balances are spread across brands that turn out to share. The FSCS states that in the event of a firm failure, the £120,000 compensation limit applies to the total you hold across all accounts with banks in the same banking group sharing a licence, not to each separate account².

The Bank of England's explainer gives the same warning in general terms: anyone with accounts under different brands owned by the same firm is still only protected up to £120,000 across them⁴. The practical habit to build is simple: before treating two banks as separate for protection purposes, check which licence each one uses. The section on checking below sets out how, and the site's directory of banks and building societies lists the brands and the licences behind them.

The limit: £120,000 per person, per banking licence

The FSCS protects eligible deposits up to £120,000 per person, per banking licence, for banks, building societies and credit unions³. The limit rose to £120,000 on 1 December 2025; before that it stood at £85,000 per person per institution². The change means the first £120,000 of eligible deposits with an authorised firm is protected from the first pound⁷.

The limit is per person, not per account. Money held in multiple accounts with the same bank, whether current accounts, savings accounts or cash bonds, is added together and protected to £120,000 in total⁸. MoneyHelper describes the same rule for current accounts: up to £120,000 for each banking group, building society or credit union you have accounts with⁹.

Two features of the limit are worth knowing beyond the headline figure:

• Per person or company. The FSCS protects up to £120,000 per person or company, per authorised firm, so a couple each get their own limit, and a small business gets one too¹⁰.
• Not everything counts. Only money held by UK branches of authorised banks and building societies is protected, and some products, such as certain investments, fall outside deposit protection altogether¹¹.

For most people the limit is comfortably above their savings. When the Prudential Regulation Authority consulted on raising the limit, analysis suggested around 99% of depositors would have been fully protected at a £110,000 level in 2024, against 97% at the then current £85,000¹². The £120,000 limit that took effect in December 2025 sits above both. The dedicated guide to FSCS compensation limits covers how the limit applies to savings, investments and insurance.

Brands that share one licence and one limit

Several well-known examples show how the shared-licence rule works in practice. Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank were two different brands that shared a banking licence, so money with both counted once towards the limit¹³. The FSCS's own checker guidance uses a worked example: if a current account and a savings account sit under the same authorisation, they are classed as a single firm and the £120,000 limit is shared across both¹⁰.

The FSCS states the rule directly for banks in a group:

That is the FSCS's protection checker guidance, and it continues: this means they share protection limits across all the accounts within the banks in that group, not separate limits for each bank⁵.

The table below sets out the groups covered in detail in the following sections, and what each means for a saver's limit:

The FSCS Protected badge, which banks display on websites and materials, does not change any of this. It indicates that eligible deposits are protected by FSCS up to £120,000 per eligible person, but banks sharing a licence share their protection limits across all accounts in the group¹⁸. The badge tells you a firm is protected; it does not tell you whether two brands' limits are separate.

Lloyds and Halifax: two licences inside one group

Lloyds Banking Group is the clearest illustration of why the licence, not the group, is what counts. The group runs brands on two separate licences, so a saver can hold £120,000 protected with each side of the group.

Lloyds' own FSCS information states that the £120,000 limit is applied to the total of any deposits held with Lloyds, Lloyds Bank, Mayfair Private Banking, Lloyds Private Banking, Lloyds Bank Private Banking, MBNA and Scottish Widows Bank, all of which share one licence¹⁴. A separate limit applies to deposits with Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland Private Banking, and Lloyds and Lloyds Bank accounts protected under the Halifax and Bank of Scotland licence¹⁴. In other words, money in Halifax and Bank of Scotland counts together towards one limit, and separately from money in the Lloyds licence brands.

Which? gives the same example: banks that share a licence, such as Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds, count as a single provider for the FSCS limit⁶. Note the subtlety here: Lloyds the brand appears on both licence lists, because some Lloyds accounts sit under the Halifax and Bank of Scotland licence. Lloyds states that if your Lloyds or Lloyds Bank account has a sort code starting 30 or 77, your money is protected under the Lloyds licence, while a sort code starting 11 means it is protected under the Halifax and Bank of Scotland licence¹⁴.

The group also illustrates how brand names move around inside a group without changing the underlying protection. Lloyds Banking Group's published data covers Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland as brands of one group¹⁹, and the group is designated to offer basic bank accounts including the Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands²⁰. None of that changes which licence a given account sits under. The guide to what happens if a bank or building society fails covers what happens next when a licence-holding firm does fail.

HSBC UK, first direct and M&S Bank: one shared limit

HSBC's UK operation is the other large example of brands sharing a single licence. HSBC UK, including first direct and M&S Bank, operates as one authorised firm¹⁵, and the government's mortgage charter listing confirms the same grouping: HSBC, including first direct¹⁷.

For a saver, the effect is that money with HSBC UK, first direct and M&S Bank is added together and protected to one £120,000 limit per person. Someone who chose first direct for its service reputation and M&S Bank for a savings rate, believing they were diversifying, has in fact concentrated both balances on one licence. The FSCS's rule for banking groups applies in full: the compensation limit applies across all these accounts, not to each separate account⁵.

first direct is a particularly common trap because it markets itself as a distinct digital bank with its own identity. It is a brand of HSBC, not a separate authorised deposit taker. The same caution applies to M&S Bank, which many customers first meet through in-store counters at Marks & Spencer. Neither the shop counter nor the separate app changes the licence behind the account.

Anyone holding more than £120,000 across these brands who wants each pound protected has options: move some of the money to a bank on a different licence, or to NS&I, whose products are protected in full by the government rather than under the FSCS deposit limit²¹. The guide to keeping savings above the FSCS limit covered works through the choices.

Barclays and Tesco Bank, NatWest and Sainsbury's Bank: now sharing a limit

Licence groupings change over time, usually when one bank buys another's retail business and moves it onto its own licence. Two recent examples show both directions a merger can take.

When Barclays took on Tesco Bank's savings, credit cards and loans, the Tesco Bank brand continued, but the FSCS limit of £120,000 became shared between the two banks¹⁶. A saver who already banked with Barclays and then opened a Tesco Bank savings account, treating it as diversification, ended up with both balances on one licence. The brand on the account did not change; the protection behind it did.

NatWest's acquisition of Sainsbury's Bank worked the same way: the FSCS limit of £120,000 is shared between the two banks, as well as with Ulster Bank, which is also part of the NatWest Group¹⁶. So money with NatWest, Sainsbury's Bank and Ulster Bank counts together towards one limit per person.

How a merger changes protection: two brands that once had separate limits move onto one shared licence.

The lesson from both cases is that a takeover can change your protection without any change you would notice at the counter or in the app. The guide to what happens to your account when a bank is taken over or closes a brand covers the wider effects of mergers on customers.

When brands merge but keep separate licences

The opposite also happens: one owner, two licences. When Coventry Building Society took over the Co-operative Bank, the two continued to exist as separate brands operating under separate banking licences, meaning up to £120,000 is protected with each¹⁶. The government's mortgage charter listing shows the ownership grouping, Coventry Building Society including the Co-operative Bank, Platform and Britannia¹⁷, but ownership and licence are not the same thing here.

For a saver this is good news: money with Coventry Building Society and money with the Co-operative Bank are protected separately, each to £120,000 per person. The same applies to Platform and Britannia, which sit on Coventry's own licence as one institution¹⁷. Someone who assumed the takeover merged the limits would understate their protection.

The contrast with the Barclays and Tesco Bank case is the whole point: there is no general rule from ownership. Some mergers fold the acquired brand onto the buyer's licence; others leave the licences separate. The only way to know is to check the licence behind each brand, using the bank's own FSCS information or the FSCS's checker. The FSCS states that if a current account and a savings account sit under the same authorisation, they are classed as a single firm and the £120,000 limit is shared across both¹⁰.

How to check which licence your account sits under

Checking which licence an account sits under takes a few minutes and needs no specialist knowledge. The FSCS's protection checker is built on the FCA's Financial Services Register, which you can search yourself to confirm whether a firm is authorised¹¹. The FCA states you can check the Financial Services Register to find out whether a firm is authorised or registered²², and the FSCS's own guidance directs customers to the register at register.fca.org.uk²³.

A reliable check follows four steps:

1. Read the bank's own FSCS information page. Banks that share a licence across brands are required to say so, and the page lists the brands that share the limit. Lloyds' page, for example, lists both of its licence groupings in full¹⁴.
2. Use the FSCS protection checker. It shows whether protection is shared across brands under the same authorisation, and its results are based on the FCA's Financial Services Register⁵.
3. Search the Financial Services Register. Look up the firm by name; if its status shows authorised, the FSCS may compensate if it fails²⁴. The FSCS's guide to checking protection starts from the same step: check your provider is authorised by the FCA²⁵.
4. Add up your balances per licence. Total everything held across all brands on each licence and compare the total with £120,000 per person².

Four checks that establish which licence an account sits under and whether limits are shared.

A sort code can sometimes help. Lloyds states that sort codes starting 30 or 77 mean protection under the Lloyds licence, and sort codes starting 11 mean protection under the Halifax and Bank of Scotland licence¹⁴. But sort codes are not a universal guide across the market, so the register and the bank's own FSCS page remain the dependable checks. If you cannot find a firm at all, the FSCS publishes guidance on firms it cannot locate in its checker¹¹.

Joint accounts and temporary high balances up to £1.4m

Two extensions to the standard limit affect households with larger sums. Joint accounts are eligible for FSCS protection up to the same limit of £120,000 per eligible person²⁶. The Bank of England's explainer gives the worked figure: a joint account with two holders would be protected up to £240,000⁴. The FSCS assumes the money in a joint account is split equally between holders unless evidence shows otherwise¹, and MoneyHelper confirms the per-person basis for joint account holders²⁷.

One caution on joint accounts within a group: if you have an individual account and a joint account within the same banking group, the £120,000 compensation limit applies across all these accounts, not to each separate account⁵. The guide to FSCS cover on joint accounts works through the detail.

Temporary high balances extend protection much further, for a short period. The FSCS protects certain qualifying temporary high balances up to £1.4 million for six months from when the amount was first deposited²⁸. These are exceptional, short-lived deposits resulting from major life events, such as the proceeds of a house sale, a redundancy payment or retirement benefits²⁹. Which? gives the same figure for house sale proceeds: protection up to £1.4m for six months, compared with the usual £120,000³⁰.

The temporary high balance limit was itself recently raised. A Bank of England consultation in March 2025 proposed increasing the temporary high balance limit from £1 million to £1.4 million³¹, and the FSCS announced in March 2026 that people receiving large sums now have the greater protection⁷. Some older documents still state £1m, including the FSCS's own annual report for an earlier period³² and guidance on inheritance published before the change³³; the current figure is £1.4m. Business deposits have their own treatment, and as an exception, business partnerships can make two separate claims, but only one claim, not one per partner³⁴.

If a bank does fail

If a licence-holding bank does fail, the FSCS pays compensation automatically in most cases, up to £120,000 per eligible person, per bank, building society or credit union⁵. Claims are made to the FSCS, which sets out the process for deposit claims on its making a claim pages³⁵. The full guide to how to claim compensation from the FSCS covers the steps, and the FSCS explained covers how the scheme is funded and how it works.

Two points about failure are worth holding onto. First, the shared-licence rule applies at the moment of failure exactly as before it: the limit applies to the total held across all brands on the failed licence². Second, protection depends on the deposit being with an authorised firm. The FSCS can only protect money held by UK branches of authorised banks and building societies¹¹, and for newer app-based services the position can depend on the firm's contractual arrangements with its partner banks³⁶. The guides to what the FSCS does not cover and to UK subsidiaries of overseas banks cover the edges of the scheme.

Free, impartial help is available if you are unsure where you stand. MoneyHelper, the government-backed money guidance service, publishes plain-language guidance on savings protection³⁷, and the FSCS itself runs the protection checker and answers queries about which licence a brand sits under⁵. Neither charges, and neither sells products.