The Embedded Banking provider announces full-year results “including 46% increase in transaction volumes and 22% growth in customers.”
ClearBank Ltd., enabler of bank accounts, real-time clearing, and Embedded Banking for financial institutions, presents “the results from its 2022 Annual Report revealing the bank nearly tripled income to £58m in 2022 (+173% YoY) after reaching monthly UK profitability.”
Despite sector turbulence and a challenging macroeconomic landscape, 2022 “saw ClearBank’s unique combination of fully licensed banking services with a next-generation technology platform fuel accelerated growth for one of the UK’s newest banks.”
Income was “driven primarily by an increase in both net transaction (+43% YoY) and fixed platform fees (+23% YoY) as the bank increased its customer base by 22%, along with growing balances held at the Bank of England in a rising interest rate environment.”
ClearBank anticipates “continuing UK profitability through 2023 as it plans expansion into Europe in H2.”
The first quarter of 2023 “has seen numerous systemic events within financial services, including the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and additional challenges within US and European financial services.”
As institutions seek safety, security, and resilience in their banking partner, ClearBank has continued “to see positive momentum, with an increase in deposits to £3.7 billion, record transaction and client volumes, a strong pipeline, and continued UK profitability in 2023 to date.” This is “highlighted by the 20% increase in customer balances in the week following Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse.”
Key 2022 highlights
- Deepened UK market footprint: ClearBank welcomed a host of major new institutions including Kroo, PEXA, Raisin, and WealthKernel as it added 39 new customers in 2022 (+22% YoY). The exclusive partnership with PEXA has created an entirely new payment system and the world’s first fully digitised property settlement process. This development promises to streamline the UK mortgage process improving the speed, efficiency and UX for property buyers. Customer growth drove 70m (+46% YoY) in annual transaction volumes.
- Growth in Embedded Banking: Following its successful award-winning partnership with Tide in 2020 and Chip in 2021, ClearBank welcomed Raisin as its third embedded banking partner in 2022. Embedded Banking end-users have grown to 629k (+86% YoY) by year end.
- Expanded product offering: ClearBank ramped up its FX and multicurrency offering, expanding FX to 64 quotable currency pairs across 12 markets worldwide with a longer trading window. The addition of Confirmation of Payee to its platform has made payments smoother and more secure for end-users. The bank has also commenced development work for direct access to Target2, SEPA CT, and SEPA Instant.
- Investment for international expansion: ClearBank secured £175 million in primary and secondary funding, led by the Apax Digital Fund and its current investors, to accelerate global service expansion and submitted its draft European Banking application to the Dutch central bank. The bank plans to offer its clearing and Embedded Banking platform to European customers in 2023, before expanding into North America and other markets.
Charles McManus, CEO, ClearBank, said:
“2022 was a landmark year for ClearBank – we’ve grown exponentially, onboarded fantastic new clients and been one of the few new banks globally to reach profitability. On top of this, we’ve secured the investment to fuel the next phase of ClearBank’s journey – international expansion. With economic uncertainty continuing into 2023, the security and resilience offered by ClearBank is crucial to unlocking the potential of our clients and their customers, helping them to continue to innovate, differentiate and grow.”
Mark Fairless, CFO, ClearBank, said:
“Our business model is unique in the industry, and maintaining our policy of holding all our GBP balances securely at the Bank of England remains a core part of our client proposition. Growth in 2022 and our ability to support existing and new clients in the first quarter of this year is a testament to the safety of our business model and the popularity of our proposition with our client base. As the investment from Apax Digital enables ClearBank’s international expansion in 2023, ClearBank can now look forward to becoming capital generative in the UK on a sustainable basis.”
