Lightyear launches gilts for UK businesses

Investment platform Lightyear is today launching gilts for its UK business customers, giving companies a fixed, government-backed return on cash held for a set date, alongside the money market funds already available in its business account.

Company cash earning 1.97%

According to the Bank of England’s latest data, UK private non-financial companies hold around £415 billion in interest-bearing bank deposits.1 The average rate paid on instant-access business deposits was 1.97% in August 2026, and 3.39% on fixed-term deposits; newly opened fixed-term deposits paid 3.47%.2 A one-year gilt yielded around 4.4% on 16 September 2026.3 On £1 million in an instant-access account, the difference is around £24,700 a year before tax.

Gilts alongside money market funds

When a business buys a gilt, it lends the government money for a set period, and receives interest (the coupon) twice a year. At maturity the government repays the full face value held, so a business can choose a gilt maturing when the cash is needed, ahead of a tax bill or payroll for example, and know at purchase what it will get back, provided it holds to maturity. On Lightyear, cash needed at short notice can be held in money market funds managed by BlackRock. These benefit from same or next-day access.

Lightyear offers 20 gilts with maturities from a few months to 30 years. Business accounts pay a flat £1 per gilt order; personal accounts pay no order fee. Gilts are available to UK customers only.

Wander Rutgers, UK CEO of Lightyear: “Most UK businesses hold cash for a known purpose: a tax bill, a payroll run, or funding that needs to last to a set date. Our analysis of Bank of England data shows that the bulk of that money earns under 2%. Larger companies have long used gilts and money market funds to manage it; smaller businesses have generally been limited to what their bank offers.

A gilt lets a company choose the date it gets its money back and know the return on the day it buys, provided it holds to maturity. Combined with a money market fund for cash needed sooner, that can be a straightforward treasury set-up that has not been available to most businesses at this scale.”

Lightyear launched in the UK in September 2021 and offers both personal and business accounts. As well as gilts and Vaults (money market funds), on the investing side it gives access to 6,000+ international stocks and ETFs across the US, UK & Europe.

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