Alternative to Wise.com Business Account with interest?

stoem

My business banks with HSBC and they pay an abysmally small amount of interest on their so called 'savings' account. 

We've now opened a Wise.com Business account which you can convert to a 'with interest' account. It's a form of investment (not a fixed rate savings account) and this account uses the BlackRock ICS £ Gov Liq Premier Acc IE00B43PVC83 to offer a variable interest rate of (currently) just under 5%. We're happy with that.

However FSCS protects us up to £85,000 in total across all accounts we hold with Wise.com and we have maxed this out. We'd like to open another, similar account elsewhere but aren't sure where to turn.

Does anyone have recommendations of a similar setup so that we can get a decent, low risk interest rate on another £85k elsewhere? We're happy to use the same Blackrock fund as the underlying vehicle but we cannot use Wise.com. 

Many thanks. 

wmb194

stoem said:

My business banks with HSBC and they pay an abysmally small amount of interest on their so called 'savings' account. 

We've now opened a Wise.com Business account which you can convert to a 'with interest' account. It's a form of investment (not a fixed rate savings account) and this account uses the BlackRock ICS £ Gov Liq Premier Acc IE00B43PVC83 to offer a variable interest rate of (currently) just under 5%. We're happy with that.

However FSCS protects us up to £85,000 in total across all accounts we hold with Wise.com and we have maxed this out. We'd like to open another, similar account elsewhere but aren't sure where to turn.

Does anyone have recommendations of a similar setup so that we can get a decent, low risk interest rate on another £85k elsewhere? We're happy to use the same Blackrock fund as the underlying vehicle but we cannot use Wise.com. 

Many thanks. 

First of all, Wise isn't a bank and isn't covered by FSCS deposit protection. The £85k FSCS protection Wise states, "you may be eligible for" relates to FSCS investments coverage, "The FSCS could step in if Wise Assets goes bust and there’s a shortfall in the assets we hold for you." If you like that fund you could open a brokerage account for your firm and invest in the same or similar.

https://wise.com/help/articles/144iDX5R3dr8REvgtlDUx9/is-my-money-safe-using-interest-and-stocks

https://wise.com/gb/blog/is-wise-safe-uk#:~:text=Wise%20is%20not%20covered%20by,institutions%20%2D%20like%20Barclays%20and%20Citibank

GeoffTF

That fund is domiciled in the Republic of Ireland, so it does not have FSCS protection either. It is an institutional fund, so the OP is not likely to be able to invest in it directly. There is limited FSCS protection for small businesses:

https://www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/claims-process/small-business/

wmb194

GeoffTF said:

That fund is domiciled in the Republic of Ireland, so it does not have FSCS protection either. It is an institutional fund, so the OP is not likely to be able to invest in it directly. There is limited FSCS protection for small businesses:

https://www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/claims-process/small-business/

Foreign securities can be covered in the UK at the broker/investment platform/nominee level, which is what we'd be talking about here e.g., maladministration of some sort by the broker/nominee. At the fund level there might also be an Irish angle.

stoem

Thanks, this has confused me now. I understood that small businesses (we're LTD) are covered by the FSCS if the money is in a UK bank. 

If a UK-authorised bank, building society or credit union fails, we'll automatically compensate each eligible company depositor up to £85,000.

I appreciate that Wise isn't a bank but their website also states 

We do however offer our Assets feature, which is an investment service. Money invested in Assets is held in segregated accounts, separate from Wise’s own funds. In addition to this protection, each customer is also eligible for protection under the FSCS up to a value of 85,000 GBP in the UK.

Does 'eligible' not mean that it is in fact protected?

All that aside, are there other options for businesses to put their money to work at low risk and at or close to the current Band of England rate?

Thanks.

stoem

GeoffTF said:

That fund is domiciled in the Republic of Ireland, so it does not have FSCS protection either. It is an institutional fund, so the OP is not likely to be able to invest in it directly. There is limited FSCS protection for small businesses:

https://www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/claims-process/small-business/

Thanks. I think the BlackRock ICS Sterling Liq Premier Acc is more accessible and very similar. 

Ultimately we just want a vehicle to achieve around 5% interest at low risk as a business. This seems more complicated than it should be.

wmb194

stoem said:

Thanks, this has confused me now. I understood that small businesses (we're LTD) are covered by the FSCS if the money is in a UK bank. 

If a UK-authorised bank, building society or credit union fails, we'll automatically compensate each eligible company depositor up to £85,000.

I appreciate that Wise isn't a bank but their website also states 

We do however offer our Assets feature, which is an investment service. Money invested in Assets is held in segregated accounts, separate from Wise’s own funds. In addition to this protection, each customer is also eligible for protection under the FSCS up to a value of 85,000 GBP in the UK.

Does 'eligible' not mean that it is in fact protected?

All that aside, are there other options for businesses to put their money to work at low risk and at or close to the current Band of England rate?

Thanks.

The FSCS coverage Wise is talking about is the coverage for investments, not bank deposits, and it's saying, "you may be eligible" because it wants to be non-committal, presumably because it isn't a conventional stockbroker or investment platform. The coverage for investments is more complicated but essentially it covers fraud and maladministration.

You could look here for business savings accounts:https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/business/business-savings-accounts/

As I mentioned, another option would be to open a business stockbroking account and buy money market funds similar to the one Wise offers and you could buy gilts.

Futuristic

We use Wise for exact same reason, well over FSCS. You can go signing up to brokers and invest in MMF yourself, eg CSH2 via invest engine. IBKR etc. etc. But there is nothing 1:1 like what Wise offers with instant liquidity/card usage from invested balance. 

If you don't need access then there's many 6-12-24M fixed saving accounts out there with better rates as per link above. 

stoem

Futuristic said:

We use Wise for exact same reason, well over FSCS. You can go signing up to brokers and invest in MMF yourself, eg CSH2 via invest engine. IBKR etc. etc. But there is nothing 1:1 like what Wise offers with instant liquidity/card usage from invested balance. 

If you don't need access then there's many 6-12-24M fixed saving accounts out there with better rates as per link above. 

Thanks, good to hear.
I agree, Wise is kicking !!!!!! with their offering and usability. 

The link above has good info, I had not found anything similar previously. 

stoem

FYI I had this from Wise. I'm happy with that.

When you hold your money on Wise, we safeguard it.
But when you invest your balance on Wise in assets, in addition to the protection offered through the strict segregation of our customers’ assets, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”) protects each customer for up to £85,000. The FSCS could step in if Wise Assets goes bust and there’s a shortfall in the assets we hold for you. 
So since you have invested your Wise balance in assets (Wise interest), your funds up to 85,000 GBP are protected under FSCS.

Eco_Miser

stoem said:

Thanks, this has confused me now. I understood that small businesses (we're LTD) are covered by the FSCS if the money is in a UK bank. 

If a UK-authorised bank, building society or credit union fails, we'll automatically compensate each eligible company depositor up to £85,000.

I appreciate that Wise isn't a bank but their website also states 

We do however offer our Assets feature, which is an investment service. Money invested in Assets is held in segregated accounts, separate from Wise’s own funds. In addition to this protection, each customer is also eligible for protection under the FSCS up to a value of 85,000 GBP in the UK.

Does 'eligible' not mean that it is in fact protected?

All that aside, are there other options for businesses to put their money to work at low risk and at or close to the current Band of England rate?

Thanks.

The 'eligible' means that their Assets get FSCS protection if the customer and deposit meet the FSCS eligibility rules, eg. not on their exclusion list.