At Plum, keeping your money safe, secure and protected is a major part of helping you grow your money for life. We aren’t a bank, but we are a fully regulated financial company that makes sure your payments are always secured in segregated accounts with one of our partner banks, depending on which Plum product you’ve picked. 

We work with two regulated bodies with three different ways of keeping your money safe:

You can check and see if your money is protected using the official FSCS protection checker.

FCA contact details

Website: www.fca.org.uk

Consumer Helpline: 0800 111 6768

From Abroad: +44 20 7066 1000

Email: consumer.queries@fca.org.uk 

Check Plum’s registration on the FCA website.

How different types of money and assets are protected

This is how your money is protected in different Plum products.

What happens if Plum or a partner fails?

We work with our partners to put protections in place to protect your money in the unlikely event that something happens to Plum or one of our providers. The protections work like this:

Understanding FSCS protection

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is a UK-backed scheme that offers you and your savings or investments protection in case a regulated bank or provider fails.

• Eligible deposits are covered up to £85,000 per person, per bank.
• It doesn't cover market losses on investments.
• You can check your FSCS eligibility using this tool.

It’s important to highlight that some banks are authorised under the same banking group which means the FSCS compensation limit applies to the total amount held across all of these accounts. 

For example you may hold funds with one of the banks listed above (like Lloyds or Citibank), in which case you are protected across all banks under the same group. 

Claims made for services such as Plum’s may take longer to process because that funds are not held directly by Plum. Typically, this shouldn't take longer than 3 months for deposits. Investments, may take longer though.

You can read more about this here.

Easy Access and 95-day Notice Pocket – FSCS protection for eligible deposits

Any money that you transfer into the Easy Access Pocket is held in trust with Investec Bank. This means that:

• Your money is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000 per eligible person.
• When you add money into your Easy Access Pocket or 95-day Notice Pocket, it is placed into a Pooled Trust Account at Investec Bank. This means that the account is held in Plum’s name but contains money that is beneficially owned by you and other Plum customers.
• Plum doesn't have control over your money and your deposits are recorded individually in a ledger that tracks your share of the total balance.
• If you withdraw money, Plum deducts the amount from your balance in the ledger and transfers it back to you. Your money remains your legal property, and Plum can't use it for any other purpose.
• If Investec Bank fails, eligible deposit holders can claim compensation from FSCS.

What this means for you:

Plum’s investment products work differently, as this money is held under CASS rules rather than the deposit framework explained above.

Investments and protection 

The value of investments can go down as well as up. So your investment is not protected if it performs poorly (for example, if a company you've invested in has a bad quarter, the value of its shares may decrease).

But it’s worth being aware about which protections might be available to you in the event that your investment provider, or other regulated intermediary through which you deal, goes out of business. 

Investments held with Saveable Ltd are covered by the FCA’s Client Asset Sourcebook (CASS) rules, which makes sure that:

• Your investments are held separately from Plum’s own funds.
• Custody assets are ring-fenced, meaning they can't be used for Plum’s operations.
• If Saveable Limited fails, your investments remain protected, and you may be eligible for FSCS compensation up to £85,000.

E-money accounts, how safeguarding works

Unlike bank deposits, the money you have in an e-money account (Primary Pocket) is not covered by FSCS, but it is protected through safeguarding rules.

What does safeguarding mean?

• Your money is held in a separate, ring-fenced account. In case Plum or Modulr FS Ltd fails, your money would be returned in line with FCA safeguarding rules by an appointed insolvency practitioner.

Plum Interest – protection for Money Market Fund investments

Money placed in Plum Interest is invested in units of a Money Market Fund (MMF) rather than held as cash deposits. This means it is classified as an investment, not a bank deposit, and is subject to different regulatory protections.

The fund invests in short-term assets issued or guaranteed by organisations with high credit ratings, including the UK Government and banks.

It’s designed to not go down in value and regularly provide interest. However, any investment is not guaranteed and it’s possible but unlikely that the value of a money market fund goes down.

If there are negative interest rates or if central banks set their interest rates at or close to 0%, you might not get a return from Plum Interest, or you might make a loss. But, this is unlikely. 

Another unlikely scenario that could give you negative returns is if a government or bank defaults on its debt.

How your money is protected

• Held under FCA Client Asset (CASS) Rules (Safe Custody Protection)
• • Your units are held separately from Plum’s assets, the fund manager’s assets, and the custodian’s assets.
  • The fund provider and custodian must follow FCA “Safe Custody” rules, ensuring customer assets are ring-fenced.
  • This means that, in the unlikely event of Plum, the fund manager, or the custodian becoming insolvent, your units should still be returned to you in full.
• FSCS protection may apply in certain circumstances
• • The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) may cover up to £85,000 per person if the fund manager or custodian breached Safe Custody rules fraudulently, leading to a loss of assets.
  • FSCS protection does not apply to market losses, only to cases where the fund manager or custodian fails to return client assets due to misconduct.
• Regulatory oversight and stability
• • The MMF used in Plum Interest is highly regulated, with strict requirements around liquidity and risk control.
  • MMFs are commonly used by pension providers, insurers, and financial institutions to hold large amounts of cash securely.

What happens if the market falls?

• FSCS does not cover investment performance losses, so if the market value of MMF units drop, this is not covered.
• However, risk is limited as the fund invests in highly secure, short-term assets backed by the UK Government, such as government bonds. A loss would only occur if the UK Government defaulted on its debt obligations, which is an extremely unlikely scenario.