Your Countingup business account is an e-money account provided by Prepay Technologies Limited (trading as PPS), which also issues the e-money loaded on your account. PPS is authorised and regulated by the FCA for the issuance of e-money and provision of payment services. This means that it can offer services that allow you to make and receive payments, including using a Mastercard card that is linked to your account.
Countingup is an Agent of PPS.
Your Countingup e-money account versus a bank account: How your money is protected
As an e-money institution, PPS protects your business’ money through a process known as safeguarding.
Safeguarding means that your business' money is kept separate from PPS’s own money and isn't protected by an insurance policy or similar guarantee. Your business’ safeguarded money is not available to any creditors, banks or other third parties. This means that the money will always be available should you ask us to refund your e-money.
PPS is required to undergo annual independent audits of safeguarding procedures to ensure your safeguarded money is properly protected.
Safeguarding applies to all Countingup customers, with no defined limit per customer or account (besides our normal maximum account balance). This means that all the money within your Countingup account is protected.
In contrast, banks are required by the regulators to participate in the Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS acts like an insurance policy for bank accounts and pays out up to a maximum of £85,000 per eligible person, per bank, building society or credit union or up to £170,000 for joint accounts in the event of the bank or building society becoming insolvent.
E-money issuers are not able to participate in the Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and therefore your account is not protected by FSCS. This means that in the very unlikely event of PPS becoming insolvent, the return of your money might take longer than an FSCS claim because the distribution would be handled by an insolvency practitioner or administrator. It's worth noting that because the administrator can deduct their costs from this money, you might get slightly less than your full account balance back.
Countingup takes the security of your business' funds seriously and with our safeguarding procedures in place, we would like to re-iterate that the money within your Countingup account is safe and protected.
If you have questions, message us at support@countingup.com Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, or visit the FCA website to find out more about safeguarding.