GB · GBP
United Kingdom digital banks
The UK is the original challenger-bank market. Monzo, Starling, and Chase UK hold full UK bank licences, so eligible deposits are FSCS protected. Revolut spent years as an e-money institution and now operates a UK bank for eligible customers — the distinction still matters for the product you actually open. EMI wallets (Wise personal, many crypto cards) are safeguarded, not FSCS insured. If the copy says “protected” without naming FSCS or the authorised firm, treat it as marketing.
32Live on NeoBankDB
Regulator
PRA and FCA (Bank of England / FCA dual regime)
Deposit scheme
FSCS covers eligible deposits up to £120,000 per person per authorised firm (from 1 December 2025)
In this market
Licence still sits on the product| Product | Score | HQ | Monthly | FX | Users | Licence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Interactive Brokers | 8.6 | Greenwich, United States | No inactivity on many accounts | Institutional-grade FX; a reason people open it | 3.3M accounts | Broker-dealer / FCM | |
 Wise | 8.6 | London, United Kingdom | Free personal | Mid-market plus a transparent conversion fee — the category benchmark | 16M+ | EMI (personal) | |
 Revolut | 8.6 | London, United Kingdom | Free | Fair-usage weekday mid-market; weekend markup on Standard | 50M+ | UK bank (eligible customers) | |
 Airwallex | 8.3 | Singapore, Singapore | Account often free | Transparent conversion + payment fees; typically beats banks | 150k businesses | Payments / EMI-class licences by market | |
 Starling Bank | 8.1 | London, United Kingdom | Personal free | Mastercard rate; no Starling markup on personal spend | 4M+ | UK bank | |
 Monzo | 8.1 | London, United Kingdom | Free | Fee-free FX up to plan caps, then a markup | 11M+ | UK bank | |
 Kraken | 7.9 | San Francisco, United States | Maker-taker | Tight on majors vs retail Coinbase | 13M+ | US MSB + exchange | |
 Ramp | 7.8 | New York, United States | Software + card; pricing by plan | FX on overseas card spend | 40k businesses | Commercial card programme | |
 N26 | 7.8 | Berlin, Germany | Free Standard | Free on You/Metal; Standard has a weekend/FX fee schedule | 8M+ | Credit institution (CRR bank) | |
 Ledger | 7.7 | Paris, France | App is free. The signer is a purchase. | Buy, swap, and stake in the app are third-party services. Ledger is not the spread. | 8M+ signers | Not a bank. French SAS that sells signers. | |
 Qonto | 7.7 | Paris, France | Paid plans from a small monthly | SEPA is the home rail; FX on extras | 500k businesses | Payment institution / EMI-class | |
 bunq | 7.7 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Paid plans (Easy Savings / Easy Bank / Easy Green / Easy Money) | Plan-dependent; competitive on higher tiers | 15M+ | Credit institution | |
 Chase UK | 7.6 | London, United Kingdom | £0 | No Chase markup on spend abroad. Mastercard rate. Local ATM owners may still charge. | UK digital bank | UK bank | |
 Exodus | 7.6 | Omaha, United States | Free wallet | Swap partner spread | 4M+ | See review | |
 Coinbase | 7.5 | San Francisco, United States | Free to hold | Spread on the retail app; Advanced is tighter | 100M+ | MSB + state money transmitter / trust | |
 MetaMask | 7.4 | New York, United States | Free | MetaMask Swaps aggregator fee | 100M+ | See review | |
 eToro | 7.4 | Tel Aviv / London, United Kingdom | No monthly | Conversion on non-USD deposits | 35M+ | Broker | |
 Wahed | 7.3 | New York, United States | AUM fee on portfolios (live rate on site) | Conversion inside the portfolio, not a Wise clone | 300k+ | Investment adviser / manager — confirm the local entity | |
 GoHenry | 7.3 | London, United Kingdom | Monthly per child / family plan | Overseas spend fees | 2M families | EMI / prepaid programme | |
 Crypto.com | 7.2 | Singapore, Singapore | Card tiers gated by CRO stake (terms change — verify) | FX on card + spread on crypto sell | 80M+ | Exchange + card programme by market | |
 Kuda | 7.2 | Lagos, Nigeria | Free core account | USD card / FX desks are product- and availability-dependent | 7M+ | Digital / commercial bank licence | |
 Wirex | 7.1 | London, United Kingdom | Free + paid X-tras | Crypto sell + scheme FX | 6M+ | EMI (UK) | |
 Atom bank | 7.1 | Durham / Newcastle, United Kingdom | £0 on core savings SKUs — confirm live | Not a travel bank | Savings-and-mortgage scale | UK bank — Atom bank plc | |
 Kroo | 7.1 | London, United Kingdom | £0 core current — confirm live | Not a travel champion — confirm live tariff | UK challenger-scale | UK bank — Kroo Bank Ltd, FRN 953772, company 10359002 | |
 Gnosis Pay | 6.9 | Lisbon / remote, Portugal | Low / usage-based | On-chain to Visa conversion | On-chain users | Crypto card + EMI stack | |
 Kestrl | 6.7 | London, United Kingdom | Freemium / subscription SKUs — confirm live | Not the pitch | Tens of thousands | App + partner EMI/bank rails | |
 HyperJar | 6.7 | London, United Kingdom | £0 on core personal and kids cards — confirm live | Fee-free spend abroad is the pitch — read the live tariff | Family prepaid | E-money. Hyperlayer Limited. Card issued by Monavate | |
 LHV Bank | 6.7 | London, United Kingdom | Product-priced — confirm live | Bank tariff | UK / fintech-banking | UK bank — LHV Bank Limited, FRN 993767, company 13180211 | |
 Monese | 6.7 | London, United Kingdom | Simple / Plus / Premium plans — confirm live | Plan-gated | EMI-scale | EMI. Monese Ltd authorised as e-money. Accounts issued with PrePay Solutions (Edenred), FCA + NBB | |
 Algbra | 6.5 | London, United Kingdom | Confirm live ethical-account tariff | Transparent-fee pitch — still a spread | UK ethical-fintech scale | Authorised EMI — Algbra FS UK Limited, FRN 952360 | |
 Marygold & Co. | 6.1 | London, United Kingdom | App-priced — confirm live | Not the job | UK app-scale | Fintech. Marygold & Co. (UK). Easy-access savings provided by Griffin Bank Ltd. Not itself a bank | |
 Beacon | 6.0 | Runcorn, United Kingdom | £2 entrance + £1 minimum share — then CU tariff | Not a travel product | Common-bond CU | Beacon Credit Union Ltd, trading as Beacon Savings & Loans. Ex Halton Credit Union |
Closed in this market
Graveyard| Product | Score | HQ | Monthly | FX | Users | Licence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zing | 6.7 | London, United Kingdom | Was free-ish | Was the pitch vs high-street | Closed | HSBC-backed | |
| W1TTY | 5.2 | London, United Kingdom | — | — | Closed | EMI / payments | |
| BlockFi | 4.5 | New Jersey, United States | — | — | Bankrupt | Lending / crypto (failed) | |
| FTX | 5.2 | Nassau / Hong Kong, Bahamas | — | — | Bankrupt | See review | |
| Celsius | 4.5 | New Jersey, United States | — | — | Bankrupt | See review |
Do not open. Full file sits in the graveyard.
Questions
01Is Revolut FSCS protected?
Only balances in the Revolut UK bank account product, for eligible customers, at the authorised bank. E-money / “safeguarded” balances are a different legal regime. Check which entity your account is opened with.
02EMI vs bank in the UK?
A bank can take deposits and lend; FSCS may apply. An EMI issues e-money, must safeguard client funds, and is not covered by FSCS. Both can issue Visa/Mastercard plastic.
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