Which UK banks share a banking licence?

FSCS protection is £120,000 per person, per banking licence, not per brand. If you hold savings with two brands that sit on the same licence, you have one limit between them, not two. The pairings catch people out: Halifax shares a licence with Bank of Scotland but not with Lloyds; first direct and M&S Bank share HSBC UK's; NatWest shares with Ulster Bank but not with RBS or Coutts. The table below lists each licence holder, its FCA firm reference number, and the brands under it. Verified 15 October 2026 against the Bank of England's list of authorised banks.

Brands that share one FSCS limit

Savings apps and platforms: whose licence is it?

A cash platform or savings app is not a bank. Your money is deposited with a partner bank and is protected under that bank's licence, together with anything you already hold with the same bank directly.

How to check a licence yourself

The authoritative tool is the FSCS bank and savings protection checker, which is driven by the FCA register's firm reference numbers. Enter each brand you hold money with; brands that return the same FRN share a limit. The Bank of England also publishes a monthly list of authorised banks, which is where the FRNs on this page come from. Banks are obliged to tell you which licence a product sits under in the FSCS information sheet they give you when you open an account.

Why licence sharing also matters for credit ratings

Rating agencies rate the legal entity, not the brand. Halifax has no rating of its own: its rating is Bank of Scotland plc's. first direct's is HSBC UK Bank plc's. When this site shows a rating for a brand, it is the rating of the licence holder in the table above. See the safest UK banks ranking for how those entities compare.

Frequently asked questions

Do Halifax and Lloyds share a banking licence?

No. Lloyds Bank plc (FRN 119278) and Bank of Scotland plc (FRN 169628) are separately licensed, so Lloyds and Halifax deposits each get their own £120,000 limit. Halifax does share Bank of Scotland's licence, so Halifax and Bank of Scotland savings count together.

Do NatWest and RBS share a licence?

No. National Westminster Bank plc and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc hold separate licences, as does Coutts. Ulster Bank, however, sits under NatWest's licence and shares its limit.

Does first direct share HSBC's FSCS limit?

Yes. first direct is a trading name of HSBC UK Bank plc, and M&S Bank deposits were transferred into HSBC UK in 2026, so HSBC UK, first direct and M&S Bank share one £120,000 limit.

Do Virgin Money and Nationwide share a limit now?

Nationwide owns Virgin Money and completed the integration in 2026. MoneySavingExpert reports the two now share one limit; the Bank of England's October 2026 list still showed Clydesdale Bank plc (the Virgin Money licence) as a separate firm. Use the FSCS checker for the current position before holding more than £120,000 across the two.

Is Tesco Bank still separately protected?

Tesco Bank's retail banking business was bought by Barclays in November 2024, so Tesco Bank savings now sit under Barclays Bank UK plc's licence and share Barclays' limit.

How much is protected if I have a joint account and a sole account at the same bank?

The limit is per person per licence across all accounts. Each joint-account holder is treated as owning half, and that half counts together with any sole account they hold with the same licence holder towards one £120,000 limit each.