Teya and ClearBank Launch 3% AER Instant-Access Savings Pots for UK SMEs

Teya has launched Savings Pots, an instant-access savings account for UK small businesses, powered by ClearBank’s embedded banking infrastructure. By offering 3% AER with daily interest payments directly within the existing business account, the move addresses a critical gap for local merchants who often leave surplus cash in non-interest-bearing accounts due to administrative friction.

What was announced

The new Savings Pots feature is now available to existing Teya Business Account holders across the United Kingdom. It offers a 3% AER (variable) interest rate, with interest calculated and paid out on a daily basis. A key differentiator for the product is its instant-access nature; business owners can move funds between their main account and savings pots at any time without incurring withdrawal delays or losing accrued interest. This flexibility is designed to help local businesses manage tax liabilities, growth capital, or emergency funds without the complexity of managing multiple banking relationships.

The product is delivered through ClearBank’s Embedded Banking proposition. This ensures that the savings are FSCS-protected and held by ClearBank as a third-party UK authorised bank. The integration was completed in four months, a timeline that Teya attributes to the scalability of ClearBank’s banking infrastructure layer. This launch follows a series of updates to the Teya ecosystem, including the Teya Business Account—which features automated spend management and cashback—and Teya Pro, a card machine capable of processing transactions in under 1.7 seconds. Additionally, Teya was recently selected for the solo-regulated track of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Scale-up Unit, following ClearBank’s selection for the dual-regulated track in February 2026.

"Local businesses should be able to earn a competitive return, keep their money accessible and manage their finances simply in one place. More than 50% of members we interviewed told us they don’t earn interest on their free cash because they can’t be bothered with the hassle of managing money across multiple accounts. With Savings Pots, the money a business earns through Teya moves seamlessly from payments into savings, earns interest that is accrued and paid every day and remains instantly accessible when needed, all within Teya, with no separate savings relationship to manage or reconcile."

Sahithya Vemana, Head of Banking at Teya.

The companies involved

Teya is a financial services provider focused on supporting local businesses across Europe. The company has established a footprint by consolidating payment processing, business accounts, and hardware into a single ecosystem for merchants. Its recent product developments, such as the Teya Pro terminal, position it as a significant player in the merchant services space, aiming to reduce the friction of financial management for small-to-medium enterprises. Teya focuses on providing tools that allow businesses to automate spend management and earn rewards on day-to-day operational costs.

ClearBank is a UK-based enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking. As a cloud-native clearing bank, it provides the underlying infrastructure that allows fintechs and financial institutions to offer regulated banking services without holding their own full banking licence. ClearBank has become a pivotal player in the UK fintech landscape, offering a platform for firms looking to deploy complex financial products at pace. The bank’s focus on embedded banking allows partners like Teya to leverage its regulatory status and technological stack to provide FSCS-protected accounts and real-time payment capabilities to their own end-users.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed the evolution of the UK’s embedded banking and savings landscape. In late 2025, we covered how ClearBank Partners With Plaid to Power Real-Time Open Banking Payments in the UK, a move that strengthened its position in the real-time payments sector. The trend toward instant-access savings has also been a recurring theme; for instance, LemFi Launches Instant Access Savings Accounts to Help UK Immigrants Grow Their Savings and Build Financial Freedom highlighted the growing demand for flexible liquidity among specific demographic segments. More recently, the broader regulatory environment has been a focus, with Innovate Finance Urges UK Action on Open Finance and AI to Secure FinTech Lead, reflecting the policy pressures that firms like Teya and ClearBank navigate as they scale.

What this means

This announcement signals a shift in the SME banking market where basic transaction processing is no longer the standard for merchant accounts. By integrating a 3% AER savings product directly into a payments app, Teya is putting significant pressure on traditional high-street banks that have historically relied on the inertia of small business owners to keep deposits in zero-interest accounts. The speed of the rollout—four months from inception to launch—highlights the competitive advantage of the infrastructure-as-a-service model. The industry must now consider whether the consolidation of payments and savings into a single merchant interface will become the baseline expectation for the UK’s local business sector.