ClearBank has reported a pre-tax loss of £4.4 million in its first group financial results, with the company blaming costs related to its European expansion.

In a statement for the financial year ending 31 December 2024, the bank said that the loss was also due to the implementation of a new group structure and the shift away from interest fee income.

ClearBank provides an API to financial institutions for regulated banking infrastructure and real-time clearing access.

While the company’s UK business has maintained profitability for the second year running, pre-tax profit on an adjusted based dropped to £9.9 million in 2024 compared with £25.3 million the previous year.

ClearBank said 2024 was a “milestone year” as it secured its European banking licence from the European Central Bank (ECB) under the supervision of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
Having secured the licence, ClearBank has moved into 11 new European markets.

Along with investing in its European business launch, ClearBank said it has focused heavily on the scalability of its technology platform and business model.

Last year, the bank started shifting its revenue focus away from interest income, which it said reduced its exposure to rate sensitivity towards higher-quality fee income. Fee-based income, which includes recurring platform fees, payments fees and spread-based interest income increased by 63 per cent to £53.3 million.

Mark Fairless, chief executive at ClearBank said that the bank is well positioned for long-term success thanks to the investments it made during 2024.

“We have realised a number of our key strategic priorities in 2024, turning particular attention to international expansion, and significantly improving our earnings quality, as we build a more efficient and scalable business model that stands the test of time,” he added. “Building on our continued profitability in the UK, we are poised to increase our market share across Europe to further support our clients’ growth, as well as continuing to push boundaries through product innovation.”

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