Transfer Scheme

We’re planning to transfer the business of M&S Bank to HSBC UK. This means that any accounts, products and services you currently hold with M&S Bank, including any credit cards, personal loans, savings products, general insurance services and store cards, will be provided by HSBC UK.

To do this, we’re using a legal process called a banking business transfer scheme under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the Scheme).

The Scheme will transfer existing customers of M&S Bank and any products they hold to HSBC UK. This is subject to consultation with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the approval of the Court.

As you may know, M&S Bank is already part of the HSBC Group. The proposed transfer will bring the business of M&S Bank into HSBC UK which is the UK consumer-facing bank of the HSBC Group and includes first direct.

Once the proposed transfer takes effect, you will still have access to the same accounts, products and services, through the same channels. The M&S branding will remain and M&S Bank will be a trading name of HSBC UK.

The transfer requires the approval of the Court at a court hearing and the key dates for this are:

• 24 November 2025 – we announced the proposed transfer.
• 23 March 2026 – the final court hearing for the Court to consider the terms of the transfer, review any objections raised and decide whether to approve the transfer.
• 01 June 2026 – the current scheduled date of the transfer if the Court approves the transfer.

If there are any changes to these dates, we’ll update this page, so please do refer back to this page over the course of the next few months.

M&S Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC UK, operating in partnership with M&S plc and the proposed transfer of M&S Bank to HSBC UK will allow the further streamlining of the business, enabling HSBC UK to operate in a simpler and more agile way.

There’s nothing you need to do to maintain your day-to-day banking activities, but we recommend that you read the customer booklet and the summary of the Scheme document, which can be found here. This will help you understand if the transfer may affect you and what steps you might want to take.

If you currently have deposits with both M&S Bank and HSBC UK (which includes both HSBC UK and first direct) and the proposed transfer is approved, these deposits will be held within the same regulated bank (that is, HSBC UK) and you’ll be covered by a single Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection limit in respect of HSBC UK only.

You can find more information on what you may need to do to keep your balances protected by the FSCS, if the Court approves the transfer, on page 14 of the customer booklet (which can be found here).

No, you cannot opt out of the Scheme. However, if you think the transfer will adversely affect you, you have the right to object to the Scheme. You can do this by:

• Appearing at the final court hearing in person or by a representative, such as a lawyer (at your own cost).
• Calling our dedicated helpline on 0800 028 9001.
• Writing to us at M&S Bank Transfer Scheme, PO Box 325, Wymondham, NR18 8GW.

If you are an ISA customer, you can close your account or transfer to another ISA provider. You can find more information on the options available to you, if the Court approves the transfer, on page 13 of the customer booklet (which can be found here).

You can read a summary of the Scheme document, which sets out the terms of the transfer, as well as a copy of the full Scheme document here. 

You can ask us to send you a copy of the full Scheme document using the contact details below. We’ll do this free of charge. You can also read a digital version of the customer booklet and letter we sent you here.

Documents are available in large print, audio or braille.

You can call us on 0800 028 9001. Lines are open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Once the proposed transfer takes place, all accounts, products and services that you currently hold with M&S Bank will transfer to HSBC UK.

Other than the changes set out in the “What’s changing?” section below, your products and services won’t change as a result of the transfer and the way you bank with us won’t be affected.

If you apply for an account between now and the Scheme effective date, we will continue to process your application, and the new account will transfer to HSBC UK on the Scheme effective date. This is expected to be 01 June 2026.

Any communications we send to you in the future will continue to show the M&S branding but will show HSBC UK company information.

All products provided by M&S Bank will transfer to HSBC UK, including any credit cards, personal loans, savings products, general insurance services and store cards. Customers with insurance products should read page 12 of the customer booklet, which can be found here.

Products in relation to M&S Unit Trust Funds are not part of the transfer, as they are provided by a different company in the HSBC Group, Marks and Spencer Unit Trust Management Limited.

If you currently have deposits with both M&S Bank and HSBC UK (which includes both HSBC UK and first direct) and the proposed transfer is approved, immediately after the Scheme effective date, these deposits will be held within the same regulated bank (that is, HSBC UK) and you’ll be covered by a single FSCS protection limit in respect of HSBC UK only.

You can find more information on what you may need to do to keep your balances protected by the FSCS, if the Court approves the transfer, on page 14 of the customer booklet (which can be found here).

• Our trading name – M&S Bank will become a trading name of HSBC UK.
• Our interest rates and charges will not change because of the transfer.
• Your account number and how you manage your account.
• Our payment details and bank accounts, including any Direct Debits you may have set up.
• How you contact us.
• If you are a credit card customer, you will still be able to use your card and earn Rewards points.

Your personal data

After the Scheme effective date, any information that M&S Bank hold about you or about your products or services will transfer to HSBC UK and they will take over as data controller. They will use and process your information in the same way and for the same purposes as we did before the transfer.

If the proposed transfer is approved, the M&S Bank privacy notice will be updated on the Scheme effective date to reflect the change in data controller. The updated privacy notice will be available on our website from 01 June 2026.

The information included on this page is intended to give you information about the transfer and is not intended to give tax advice on the tax consequences of the transfer.

If you’re resident in the United Kingdom for tax purposes, based on HSBC’s tax review of the Scheme, it is not likely that the transfer would result in you having been treated as having sold or disposed of your products for United Kingdom tax purposes.

If you’re in any doubt about the tax implications of the transfer or if you are tax resident in another jurisdiction, you should consider seeking independent professional tax advice.

If you have a Cash Individual Savings Account (ISA) product with us, the ISA Manager will change to HSBC UK on 01 June 2026.

The address for HSBC UK is: 1 Centenary Square, Birmingham, United Kingdom, B1 1HQ. Other than the change of ISA Manager, your ISA product will continue to run as normal, and you don’t need to take any action.

To keep the tax-free status of your ISA, the change of ISA Manager will be completed by an ISA bulk transfer. This bulk transfer will take place on 01 June 2026.

You can either close your account (and lose the associated future tax benefits) or you can transfer your ISA to another ISA Manager.

If you want to do this before the bulk transfer to HSBC UK takes place, we will need to receive instructions from your new ISA Manager by 15 May 2026 to give us enough time to complete your request. If you choose to close your M&S Cash ISA or transfer to another ISA Manager, we will not charge any early withdrawal fees if you do this between 01 May 2026 and 31 July 2026.

Additionally, if you will suffer a reduction in your overall level of Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) cover as a result of the transfer, you may be able to withdraw money from your Cash ISA and receive compensation in accordance with the FSCS withdrawal rights. More information can be found on page 14 of the customer booklet, which can be found here.

If you opt out of the transfer to HSBC UK and do not transfer your ISA product to another ISA Manager, it will lose its tax-free status in accordance with the Individual Savings Account Regulations 1998.

If the transfer takes place, HSBC UK will be the provider of both the M&S Bank products and the HSBC UK products, under the terms and conditions relating to these, and as such may have rights that it would not have had if the transfer hadn’t happened.

To protect you, the transfer has restrictions which mean HSBC UK won’t be able to use rights it has gained because of the transfer. More information about these restrictions can be found on page 19 of the customer booklet (which can be found here). If HSBC UK could have exercised these rights anyway before the transfer happened, the restrictions do not apply.

For set-off rights, the restrictions will only last for a limited amount of time.

Set-off rights are when a bank can use money in a customer’s account to reduce or pay off amounts that you owe to the bank and are usually only used by a bank where a customer has not made repayments on their credit card, loans or other debts. HSBC UK and M&S Bank have agreed that if the transfer goes ahead, HSBC UK will not be allowed to exercise any set-off rights that it gains as a result of the transfer to reduce or pay off a debt owed under your M&S Bank loan or your HSBC UK loan (as applicable) for three months from 01 June 2026. If your deposit account is on a fixed term or on a promotional rate, then HSBC UK will not be permitted to use the set-off rights for three months from the date your fixed term or promotional rate ends.