Tide and business banking glossary

Every term we use across this site, defined in plain English. If a page uses a phrase like safeguarding, CASS or eligible card spend and you want the precise meaning, it is here.

Illustrated portrait of Adam Short, Editor of Business Account Referral

By Adam Short, Editor · Reviewed 12 October 2026

Why the wording matters

Two phrases cause most of the confusion around Tide. The first is "Tide Bank" — a common search, but not a company. Tide is a business financial platform. Tide itself is not a bank. Tide offers ClearBank-powered business bank accounts and some PPS-powered e-money accounts, so account protection depends on which account you hold. The second is "protected", which people use to mean both FSCS deposit protection and e-money safeguarding. They are different mechanisms with different outcomes, and the definitions below keep them separate.

REFER200: The Tide referral code promoted on this site. Entered during sign-up, it makes an eligible new Tide business account application part of a cashback promotion worth up to £200, split into a £75 card-spend reward and a £125 Instant Saver reward.
Tide Platform Limited: The company behind Tide. It is a business financial platform rather than a bank, and is FCA-authorised under firm reference 900843 for relevant e-money and payment services, and under 718743 for credit and insurance broking.
ClearBank Ltd: The UK clearing bank that issues Tide's business bank accounts. Because ClearBank is a bank, eligible deposits held in a ClearBank-issued Tide account may be FSCS-protected.
PPS (PrePay Technologies Limited): The e-money institution behind some Tide accounts. Money in a PPS-powered e-money account is safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected.
Safeguarding: The requirement for an e-money institution to hold customer funds separately from its own money, usually in a segregated account at a bank. Safeguarding aims to return your funds if the provider fails, but it is not the same as FSCS deposit protection and has no fixed compensation limit or timescale.
FSCS: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Eligible deposits held with ClearBank may be protected up to £120,000 per eligible depositor, aggregated across deposits held with the same bank. Cover applies per banking licence, not per account.
FCA: The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK regulator for financial services firms. You can check any firm's permissions on the Financial Services Register using its firm reference number.
Current Account Switch Service (CASS): The UK service that moves payments, balances and incoming credits from an old account to a new one. Tide supports CASS for eligible businesses; a CASS switch is designed to complete in seven working days.
Tide Instant Saver: Tide's easy-access business savings account. It pays a variable AER that depends on your plan, and it is the account the £125 component of REFER200 is tied to.
AER: Annual Equivalent Rate. A standardised way of showing what an interest rate would pay over a year with interest compounded, so savings accounts can be compared like for like. AERs on easy-access accounts are variable.
Eligible card spend: Purchases made on your Tide card that count toward the £100 card-spend condition. Bank transfers, internal moves between your own accounts, ATM withdrawals and refunded transactions do not count.
Business current account (BCA): A payment account held in the name of a business rather than an individual. UK providers generally require one for a limited company, and strongly recommend one for sole traders to separate business and personal money.
Sole trader: An individual running a business in their own name, without a separate legal company. There is no legal requirement to hold a business account, but doing so simplifies bookkeeping and Self Assessment.
Limited company: A company registered at Companies House with its own legal identity. Its money is legally separate from the director's, so a business account in the company's name is effectively required.
Making Tax Digital (MTD): HMRC's programme requiring digital record-keeping and submission for VAT and, progressively, income tax. Relevant when choosing an account because it determines which accounting integrations you need.
Direct Debit: An instruction letting a supplier collect variable amounts from your account on agreed dates. Worth checking when switching provider, as Direct Debits must be re-pointed unless you use CASS.
Faster Payments: The UK scheme that moves sterling payments between accounts, usually within seconds. Providers meter these as 'included transfers' on their plan tiers.
FX fee: The charge applied when a card payment or transfer is made in a currency other than sterling. On Tide this varies by plan, from 2.75% on Free to 0% on paid tiers.
Referral reward: A payment made to a publisher or existing customer when a new customer opens an account through their link or code. We may receive one; it does not change the offer you receive.
Qualifying period: The window in which you must meet a promotion's conditions. For REFER200 that means depositing into Instant Saver within 7 days of opening, completing £100 of eligible card spend within 30 days, and holding the saver balance for 30 days.

Where to go next

Is Tide a bank? — the full explanation of the Tide, ClearBank and PPS model.
Is Tide safe? — FSCS eligibility and safeguarding in detail.
What counts as card spend — the qualifying and non-qualifying transaction list.
Tide fees — current Free, Smart, Pro and Max pricing.

Independent introducer disclosure: this site is not Tide and is not operated by Tide. If you sign up using our link or the code REFER200, we may receive a referral reward. Tide controls account approval, eligibility and cashback validation. This is not financial advice. Always check the latest Tide terms before applying. Last checked 12 October 2026.