Is Tide Bank Safe?

Looking for a new business bank account for your company? One option to consider is Tide, the UK-based digital banking specialist.

The fintech company is a popular choice for small businesses looking for innovative online banking solutions. It has over 700,000 customers, and over 10% of UK SMEs use it.¹

But the big question is - how safe is Tide Bank? If you’re going to trust your business funds with a company, you’re going to need to check out security. This means protection against fraud and the company itself going bust.

Read on for everything you need to know about Tide Bank security, covering everything from regulation and FSCS protection to anti-fraud technology.

What is Tide banking and how does it work?

Tide offers fully digital business current accounts managed online and through a dedicated mobile app.

The company was founded in London in 2015, but today has additional offices in Sofia, Bulgaria and both Delhi and Hyderabad, India. It aims its services at small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

An important thing to note about Tide is that it isn’t technically a bank. It’s a financial technology company, but is able to offer its bank accounts through the fully regulated ClearBank.²

Tide business accounts offer a long list of features, depending which plan you’re on. This includes:²

• Business and expenses cards
• Transfers and ATM withdrawals
• Scheduled payments
• Invoicing tools
• Integrations with accounting software
• Dedicated account managers
• Support with trademark filing and disputes.

Tide also has a service for registering and incorporating new businesses.

So, is Tide Bank legit and trustworthy? A good starting point to form an opinion on this is the company’s TrustPilot score, which comes in at a healthy 4.1 out of 5 (from 19,000+ reviews).³

Is Tide Bank safe?

Tide and its partner ClearBank use a number of security protocols to protect your business funds, and your account.

This includes the following:⁴

• Two-factor authentication to safeguard account access
• Safe limits on transaction sizes, which you can increase on request
• Freeze lost or stolen cards instantly in the app
• ISO 27001 certification, which means that the company’s processes and technologies for managing information security have been externally audited and verified

Is Tide regulated in the UK?

In the UK, all electronic money services providers must be authorised and adhere to strict rules and practices in order to operate. This is set out in the Electronic Money Regulations 2011.

Tide is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).⁴ This is the UK’s main financial regulatory body, which operates independently of the UK Government.

Is Tide protected by FSCS?

Banks operating in the UK are obliged to offer protection for the customer funds they hold as part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This protects up to £85,000 per person, just in case the bank should go under.

But as it’s not technically a bank, is Tide covered by FSCS?

The short answer to this is yes. Due to its partnership with ClearBank, Tide is able to offer full FSCS protection to business customers.⁴

Is Tide safe for large amounts?

Due to its FCA regulation, partnership with ClearBank and sophisticated security processes, Tide Bank should be safe for keeping and sending large amounts.

For security, Tide does set limits on transaction sizes, and sometimes on account balances.

You can check your limits in the app, and contact Tide customer services if you want to increase your limits to cover a particularly large one-off payment.

Tips to keep your Tide Bank account safe

Tide has a lot of security features in place, but there are also things you can do to keep your business account safe.

Here are a few useful tips to remember:

• Make use of two-factor authentication for ultra-secure logins and payments. You shouldn’t need to activate this, as it is a standard Tide security feature.
• Use biometrics to login to the mobile app - your face or fingerprint is unique to you, so it’s a secure way to control access to your account.
• Regularly monitor account activity and inform Tide immediately if you spot any suspicious transactions
• Never send money to a person or business you don’t know, without doing your due diligence to verify them beforehand. If you feel pressured into making a payment, pause until you can check the authenticity of the recipient and the request.
• Choose a strong password for your Tide account and change it regularly.
• Avoid sharing your business account details with anyone.

Wise Business - A safe alternative to Tide in the UK

Want to compare all available options before choosing a new business account? Make sure to take a look at Wise Business.

The Wise Business account is ideal for companies that trade internationally, or who buy goods or employ people from other countries.

There’s just one powerful account, with no monthly subscription fees. Features include:

• Local account details for 8+ major currencies
• International payments to 160+ countries for low fees and the mid-market exchange rate
• Employee expense cards
• API integration with business and accounting tools
• Bulk payments - batch pay up to 1,000 people at once
• Bespoke permission levels to control team access

And Wise takes security extremely seriously. As well as being strictly regulated, Wise uses 2-factor authentication for extra-secure transactions, has a dedicated anti-fraud team and is committed to keeping your personal data safe.

Wise protects customer funds through safeguarding. This means that Wise holds all customer deposits with top tier financial institutions.

Safeguarding customer funds in this way means your money is not held with Wise’s own working capital, so it can’t be used for the day to day running of the Wise business.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

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And that’s about it - all the essentials you need to know about security at Tide.

So is Tide a safe bank, all things considered? The easy answer to this is yes, due to its link with regulated bank ClearBank, authorisation by the FCA and the FSCS protection it offers to business bank account holders.

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Sources used for this article:

1. Tide Bank - About
2. Tide - Home
3. TrustPilot - Tide
4. Tide - Safety and security

Sources checked on 09-05-2024.