How to connect Claude to your UK bank account

To connect Claude to your UK bank account, link your bank in Era through open banking, approving access in your bank's own app, then add Era Context, Era's connector for Claude, from Claude's connector directory. Claude then answers from your real balances and transactions, not a statement you pasted in. On a paid plan, it can also recategorise transactions, tag them and set rules for you.

Era is an independent company; Claude is made by Anthropic. Setup takes a few minutes, and you need nothing more than an Era account, a Claude account and the app or website you already use for online banking. There's no new app to learn: you keep talking to Claude.

Connect Era Context to Claude

How do I connect Claude to my UK bank account?

Link your bank in Era through open banking: choose your bank, approve access in your bank's own app or website, and return to Era. Then add Era Context to Claude from Claude's connector directory and approve the consent screen. Claude can then read your balances and transactions and answer questions about them.

Step by step:

1. Create your Era account. Sign up at era.app. The Basic tier is free and covers two connected accounts, which is enough to follow this guide.
2. Start a bank connection in Era. Choose Connect your bank, then pick UK and European open banking under UK & EU.
3. Choose your bank or building society. Era opens the connection in a pop-up window. Find your provider there and continue.
4. Approve access with your bank. Your bank takes over: sign in to its app or website the way you normally do and confirm the access Era is asking for. Era never sees your online banking password.
5. Return to Era. When the window closes you'll see "You're connected". If your accounts are still arriving, Era says so and they appear shortly afterwards.
6. Add Era Context to Claude. Open Era Context in Claude's connector directory, where Anthropic marks it as verified, and choose Add to Claude. Sign in to Era when asked and approve the consent screen. That screen is where you give Claude permission, and nothing reaches Claude without it.
7. Ask your first question. Start a new chat and try "What's in my current account, and what went out this week?"

If you'd rather add Era by hand

Claude also accepts Era as a custom connector. In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors, select + and choose Add custom connector. Paste this address and save:

https://context.era.app/mcp

Claude then walks you through the same Era consent screen. On Claude's Free plan you can add one custom connector, so this route works on every Claude plan.

Does Era see my online banking password?

No. With open banking you approve access inside your bank's own app or website, so Era never sees or stores your online banking login. You can end that access at any time by disconnecting the bank in Era, which also cuts it off from Claude and every other assistant connected to Era.

What protects the data once it's in Era:

• Nothing reaches Claude without your approval. Claude and every other assistant connect through an OAuth 2.1 consent screen that you approve yourself.
• AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit.
• Your data is never sold, never used to train models or for advertising, and never shared without your permission.

To cut off Claude alone and keep your bank connected, open Agents, then API keys in Era. Claude appears there as a key marked Auto. Select Revoke, then Revoke key. Claude can't get new access after that, and any access it already holds expires within an hour. To bring it back, add Era Context again and approve the consent screen.

For the full picture of what Era stores and who can reach it, read Era's privacy model.

Why does my bank ask me to approve again?

Open banking consent lasts for a set period, and then your bank asks you to confirm it again. When a connection needs renewing, Era shows it on the account and offers Reconnect. Approve in your bank's app and syncing resumes. Your rules, tags and the goals Claude knows about stay in Era throughout.

Renewing takes the same steps as the first connection:

1. In Era, select Reconnect on the bank that needs it.
2. Approve in your bank's app or website, exactly as you did the first time.
3. Return to Era. Claude reads from the renewed connection in your next chat, with nothing to change in Claude.

There's no date to track yourself. Era shows when a consent is close to expiring, so renew when it asks.

What if the bank window doesn't open?

Era opens your bank connection in a pop-up window, and some browsers block it. If that happens, Era tells you the window was blocked and shows an Open your bank connection button, which opens it in a new window without changing any browser setting. You can also allow pop-ups for Era and start again.

Two other things can interrupt the flow:

• You closed the window before you finished. Era asks whether you want to try again. Nothing is saved until your bank confirms access, so starting over is safe.
• You're on a phone. Your bank may switch you to its own app to approve. Once you've confirmed, go back to your browser and Era picks up from there.

Which UK accounts can I connect?

Current accounts, credit cards and savings accounts at banks and building societies that offer open banking. Era connects accounts across the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and 40+ countries in all. If your provider isn't in the list, import a CSV export from your bank and Claude works from that history instead.

The quickest way to check your provider is to start a connection in Era and search for it. You can also add an account by hand: add manual accounts and set up your budget shows how. If you hold several accounts with one provider, the ones you approve arrive together, and every assistant you connect to Era can see them.

What can Claude change for me once it's connected?

Claude can break down your spending, compare months, list every recurring charge and forecast your cash flow. On a paid plan, it can also change things: recategorise transactions, add tags and set standing rules that sort next month's spending automatically. Era keeps an edit trail, so you can undo any change Claude makes.

Moving money between your own accounts is in private beta and always needs your approval. Outside the private beta, Claude can read and organise your accounts, but it can't move money.

Questions to start with:

• "How much did I spend on eating out last month, and how does that compare with the month before?"
• "List every subscription and other recurring charge across my accounts."
• "What's my cash flow looking like for the rest of the month?"
• "Recategorise my supermarket shopping as groceries, and do the same for future ones."
• "Tag everything I spent on the trip to Edinburgh as holiday."

When you ask Claude for a rule, it creates it from your words and the rule starts working straight away. Unless you say otherwise, it also applies to transactions you already have, so describe exactly what you want. You can switch a rule off or delete it on the Rules page in Era at any time, and when you delete one you can choose to undo the changes it made. Read how to create AI rules for your money for what rules can do, and how to find subscriptions you forgot about for a full recurring-charge audit.

Claude also keeps what you tell it. Say "I'm saving for a house deposit" once, and Era stores it as a fact you can see, edit or delete. The next chat starts with that context, and so does any other assistant you connect to Era. Setting up cross-agent memory walks through it.

What does it cost?

Era's Basic tier is free and covers two connected accounts with read access, which is enough to follow this guide. Paid tiers add more accounts and write access, so Claude can create rules, recategorise transactions and tag your spending. Current prices for every tier are on Era's pricing page.

See pricing for what each tier includes.

Troubleshooting

Claude can't reach Era Context Check that the address is exactly https://context.era.app/mcp, with nothing added to the end. An address ending in /sse won't connect. The Era Context MCP server reference has the same address.

The consent screen doesn't appear Sign in at era.app in the same browser Claude opens, then try adding Era Context again.

My transactions aren't showing in Claude A new connection can take a few minutes to finish syncing. If your accounts show in Era but Claude can't see them yet, wait a moment and ask again. If Era shows the bank needs renewing, use Reconnect first.

Claude says it can't make a change Your Era plan decides whether Claude can write. The Basic tier is read access only; check your plan in Era if Claude can read but not recategorise, tag or create rules.

Using Claude Code (for developers)

Claude Code reads its servers from a .mcp.json file in your project. Add Era Context like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://context.era.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Complete the consent screen when Claude Code prompts you, and you're live. It's handy while you work: check whether a payment has cleared, pull together expenses before you submit a claim, or build a budgeting script against real data.

Next steps

• Connect more accounts: add your credit cards and savings alongside your current account, so Claude sees the whole picture.
• Use another assistant too: connect any AI assistant to your UK bank accounts shows how to add Cursor, Muse, Instinct and others to the same Era account.
• See it on real accounts: Can Claude manage your money? shows Era and Claude working together.