Recognise Bank
“Can a purpose-built specialist SME lender with FSCS-protected savings deposits carve out a durable niche against UK high-street banks and neobanks?”
Founded2017
HQLondon, United Kingdom
Latest round£8.7M (May 2022)
IndustryBank / National
The story
Recognise Bank spun out of AIM-listed City of London Group and secured a full UK banking licence in 2020 to become a specialist SME bank focused on secured business lending (bridging loans, commercial mortgages) and FSCS-protected personal and business savings. It does not offer current accounts or payments products, positioning itself as a deposit-and-lending institution rather than a neobank. It leverages Open Accounting (unified accounting APIs) to underwrite SME borrowers rather than building an embedded finance platform.
Last 12 months
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Product timeline
2017
Recognise Bank Limited incorporated (Company No. 10603119).· founding
2020
Received UK banking licence from the PRA/FCA; registered with ICO.· banking
2022
Raised £8.7M growth capital; became majority owned by Parasol V27 (Ruth Parasol family office).· funding
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Recognise Bank
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
2 layers disclosed in Recognise Bank’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Recognise Bank Limited (in-house)
Lending
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
4 more providers across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.