Tembo isn't a bank but a UK savings provider, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We do this by carefully selecting and partnering with well-known national banks to hold customers' funds. So your money is always held securely with our trusted partners; Barclays, Bank of Scotland - and two new partners - Aldermore Bank and Shawbrook Bank, effective from 31st March 2025. This effectively means you can benefit from over £200,000 in FSCS cover across the banks we work with!
Why does Tembo use partner banks?
We use partner banks to hold customers' funds due to strict rules prescribed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ensure that customer funds are separate from our funds and ring-fenced, so we cannot use them whatsoever. This means that if Tembo were to cease operating, your funds are protected.
Each of these partner banks is also FSCS-protected, which means that if one of these banks were to go into default, your money would be protected up to £85,000 per eligible person, per bank. So by partnering with more than one bank, we aim to diversify and help manage your risk, so you can benefit from over £200,000 in FSCS-protection spread across the banks we work with.
The proportion of your Tembo savings held with each of our partner banks can vary over time. But as a rough guide, we hold between 10-40% of your funds with each bank, and we will not hold more than 40% with any single bank. We may add additional banks in the future as our business grows to further diversify where we hold deposits - there’s nothing you need to do in relation to this, we take care of it for you!
Please note the £85,000 limit applies to the total amount of money you hold at any one bank, whether it is deposited by Tembo, by other providers, or by you directly with the bank. So, for example if you have a Barclays current account, the funds held in this account will take up part of your £85,000 claim limit for Barclays.
If you have a Tembo Stocks & Shares Lifetime ISA, the units held are in a fund managed by BlackRock Fund Managers Limited. This is an FCA-authorised fund and the units held are FSCS-protected, up to a value of £85,000. This applies per individual - you cannot claim if the shortfall or loss was a result of a general investing risk. The FSCS will not accept any claims for investment underperformance or losses.