Fig. 4 · A cash box, part by part
We read a provider from the lid down to the money underneath.
What you touch first carries the least legal weight. Under it sits the kind of firm, then the promise about your money, then the money itself. Scroll, and the box opens layer by layer.
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01 Lid, lock and handle
Judge the app on its worst day, not its best screen.
Open the provider's public status page and scroll back twelve months, then check whether it publishes post mortems. Ask support one question you already know the answer to, and time the reply.
How long a frozen business account stays frozen -
02 Coin tray
Three kinds of firm behind similar apps.
A bank, an electronic money institution and a payment institution carry three different sets of obligations. The register says which one you are dealing with, who supervises it and since when. Read it there, not on the pricing page.
It depends on the licence, not the app -
03 Note compartment
Three promises that pay out differently.
A deposit guarantee pays compensation. Safeguarding ring fences the money but pays none. Payment firms that failed between 2018 and 2023 were short 65 per cent of customer funds on average, according to the FCA.
Are neobank deposits protected? -
04 Sealed envelope
The money kept apart.
Funds still held at the end of the business day after receipt must sit in the safeguarding account or in secure, liquid, low risk assets. The annual safeguarding audit tests compliance at the period end only.
What a safeguarding account is, and what it is not
Locked back up
Protection in the journal
- How long a frozen business account actually stays frozenA freeze runs on a provider's review clock, a statutory clock nobody may mention, or a complaint clock you start yourself. What each provider promises, what the law allows, and what shortens the damage.
- What a safeguarding account is, and what it is notOne pooled account in the firm's name, a ledger kept by the same firm, and since May 2026 a daily reconciliation and an annual audit. Here is what each of those does and does not tell a customer.
- Are neobank deposits protected? It depends on the licence, not the appA bank licence brings a compensation scheme. An e-money licence brings a duty to keep your money apart. The two fail very differently, and the app looks the same either way.