British ClearBank has announced that it has received a banking licence in the Netherlands (ClearBank). ClearBank is an infrastructure provider that offers clearing and banking infrastructure services to fintech companies and non-financial brands. With the Dutch licence, ClearBank will be able to passport this licence to other European countries and extending their footprint further. The number of banking infrastructure providers in and outside the EU has been growing substantially over the past few years. However, what sets ClearBank apart is the banking licence and direct access to payment rails. Except Solaris, Vodeno and SEB, all other providers in the EU rely on an e-money licence. While an e-money licence is sufficient for an IBAN and card offering, it does not allow to provide lending or interest bearing accounts. Lending and interest bearing accounts are not always required for every use-case, however, they are often crucial for the financial success of a new embedded finance venture. However, ClearBank does not offer any kind of lending products in the UK, but this is likely going to be different in the EU.
Overall, ClearBank has been extremely successful over the past few years in the UK, being ranked as the 14th fastest growing company in 2022 in the UK. Their expansion to the EU was long awaited and their embedded finance offering is likely a good fit for medium to large sized companies in the EU.
