At Apron Payments Ltd (Apron), keeping your money safe is our top priority. We know that understanding what protections are in place can be confusing, especially when it comes to terms like 'safeguarding' and 'FSCS protection'. This note sets out our Apron’s obligations and commitment to keeping your money secure when using our products.
Apron operates under its own Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence
As of April 2025, Apron operates fully under its own FCA-Authorised EMI licence (under firm reference 1004915). This means we are independently responsible for meeting all regulatory and legal obligations, including the safeguarding of customer funds.
Apron is responsible for protecting your money and maintaining full compliance with the FCA’s standards for EMIs.
How is your money protected?
Your money is held by Apron in a segregated safeguarding account, currently with ClearBank, our chosen safeguarding banking partner. However, we retain the right to hold your funds with any chosen partner bank in a designated safeguarding account in the future.
What is safeguarding?
The safeguarding rules identify the duties of Apron to ensure the money we owe to you, as our client, in connection with the payments or e-money services is identified separately from Apron’s own money (i.e., segregated) and adequately protected via payment into a safeguarding bank account.
A safeguarding account is a special type of segregated bank account used primarily by Payment Institutions (PIs) and EMIs like Apron. Its main function is to protect your funds by keeping them separate from Apron’s own operational funds and to prevent third-party access to these funds. This segregation ensures that your money is not used by us for our own purposes, even in the event of Apron’s insolvency.
Safeguarding means that:
Your funds are held separately from Apron's own money.
They cannot be used by Apron for any other purposes (like paying suppliers or salaries).
In the unlikely event that Apron were to stop trading, your safeguarded funds would be returned to you..
Apron’s safeguarding offers a strong level of protection that is specifically designed for customers of EMIs and in compliance with all applicable laws and Regulations. It ensures that your money is not at risk even if Apron were to go out of business.
Questions?
If you have any questions about how your money is protected or want to know more about safeguarding, we are happy to help. You can get in touch with our support team at [email protected].
You can also read more about the differences in safeguarding obligations for EMI’s and ring-fencing obligations for credit institutions in these two articles published by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, respectively: