How do I check whether my provider is a bank or an e-money firm?

To find out whether your provider is a bank or an e-money firm, look the legal entity up on the FCA's Financial Services Register and read two fields: who regulates it, and what it is permitted to do. A UK deposit-taking bank or building society is regulated by both the FCA and the PRA and holds permission for the regulated activity of accepting deposits; an electronic money institution or authorised payment institution is regulated by the FCA alone and holds no deposit-taking permission. That single distinction decides whether your balance is covered by the FSCS or merely safeguarded.

Why does it matter which one my provider is?

Because the two are protected in structurally different ways. Money held by a firm authorised to accept deposits is covered by the FSCS up to £120,000 per eligible person per authorised firm, a limit that rose from £85,000 on 1 December 2025. Money held by an e-money or payment institution is not. The FCA puts it bluntly in its consumer guidance: if a non-bank payment provider goes out of business, your money is not protected by the FSCS — instead the firm must safeguard it, by keeping it separate from its own funds or covering it with insurance.

The practical consequence is covered in detail in what is safeguarding, and how is it different from FSCS protection. The short version: FSCS protection has a ceiling but no leakage, while safeguarding has no ceiling but possible leakage.

How do I find the right legal entity to look up?

Start with the terms, not the app. The name on your card or in the app store is a trading name, and a trading name is not a legal entity. Open the provider's terms and conditions, or its "legal" or "protection of your money" page, and find the company that is actually named as holding your money — something of the form "X Ltd" or "X Bank UK Ltd".

This step is not optional, because a single consumer brand can span two authorised entities with different protection on each. That is exactly the situation set out in is money held in Revolut FSCS protected in the UK, where the answer turns entirely on which entity holds the particular balance.

If the terms quote a firm reference number (FRN), note it down. Names and domains can be imitated by clone firms; the FRN resolves to exactly one entry.

What do I do on the Financial Services Register, step by step?

1. Go to the Financial Services Register and search for the legal entity name, or the FRN if you have it.
2. Open the firm's entry and check the status first. You are looking for a current authorisation or registration, not one that has lapsed.
3. Check which regulator is shown. Deposit-takers are dual-regulated: the PRA supervises their prudential soundness and the FCA their conduct. E-money and payment institutions are FCA-only.
4. Read the permissions or regulated activities. "Accepting deposits" is the permission that makes a firm a bank or building society for these purposes. Its absence is the answer.
5. Cross-check the contact details on the Register against the ones you were given. The FCA's advice on how to check a firm is authorised is that matching contact details is how you spot a clone.

The FCA also offers a simpler consumer tool, the Firm Checker, which tells you whether a firm is authorised and has permission to provide a given service. It is a sensible first step, but the FCA is explicit that it cannot confirm whether FSCS or Financial Ombudsman protection will definitely apply — so for the deposit question, read the full Register entry too.

What will each type of firm actually look like?

	Bank or building society	E-money or payment institution
Regulated by	FCA and PRA	FCA only
Key permission	Accepting deposits	Issuing electronic money, or payment services
Typical Register status	Authorised	Authorised electronic money institution / authorised payment institution, or registered if it is a small institution
Your money is	FSCS protected up to the deposit limit	Safeguarded, not FSCS protected
If the firm fails	FSCS compensates, usually automatically	An administrator distributes a ring-fenced pool

Two wrinkles are worth knowing. A small payment institution or small electronic money institution is registered rather than authorised, and the FCA notes that small payment institutions are not required to safeguard at all — so with one of those you should ask the firm directly what protection exists. And a firm can hold e-money permissions while its group also owns a separate bank; that is a group structure, not protection on your particular balance.

Is there a second source I can check?

Yes, and it is worth doing for the deposit question specifically. The Bank of England publishes monthly lists of the firms the PRA regulates, including banks and building societies authorised to accept deposits. If your provider's legal entity does not appear on that list, it is not a UK deposit-taker.

Separately, the FSCS bank and savings protection checker answers the adjacent question of whether two brands you use share one banking licence — which matters because the limit applies per authorised firm, not per brand. That is explained in how much of my money is FSCS protected if my bank fails.

In short

Ignore the brand and look up the legal entity named in your provider's terms on the FCA's Financial Services Register. If the entry shows PRA as well as FCA regulation and a permission to accept deposits, you are with a bank or building society and the FSCS applies; if it shows FCA-only regulation and e-money or payment services permissions, your money is safeguarded instead, with no compensation scheme behind it. Authorisations and permissions change, so re-check on the day a decision actually depends on it — and if the Register entry and your provider's own wording disagree, treat that as a reason to contact the FCA before depositing anything.