Banking-as-a-Service: Connect to BaaS Infrastructure and Launch Your Financial Product
Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is the infrastructure layer that allows fintechs, startups, and non-bank companies to embed banking capabilities, accounts, cards, payments, and lending, directly into their products without needing to obtain a bank charter. If you are building a financial product and need access to BaaS infrastructure, Faisal Khan LLC connects you to the right Banking-as-a-Service providers for your specific business model, jurisdiction, and compliance requirements, without you having to navigate the market blind.
What Is Banking-as-a-Service
Banking-as-a-Service is a model in which a licensed financial institution opens its regulated infrastructure to third-party companies through APIs. The bank or licensed non-bank provider handles the regulatory and compliance heavy lifting, FDIC insurance, AML monitoring, capital requirements, while your fintech or business builds its product experience on top.
BaaS means you get the functional capabilities of a bank without the cost, time, and capital commitment of holding a bank charter yourself. You can power accounts, facilitate deposits, move money, issue debit or prepaid cards, and enable lending products, all through the underlying regulated infrastructure of a licensed BaaS partner.
This model has fundamentally changed how financial products are built. What once required years of regulatory approval and tens of millions in capital can now be launched in months, with the right BaaS connection.
What You Can Build Once You Are Connected to a BaaS Provider
Once we connect you to the right BaaS partner, the product surface area available to you is broad:
Neobank and challenger bank products with full account and card functionality
Embedded banking inside SaaS platforms, marketplaces, and gig economy apps
Corporate spend management tools with virtual and physical card issuance
Cross-border payment products with local-currency receiving account rails
Payroll and disbursement solutions for platforms paying contractors or workers at scale
Crypto on/off ramp products that need compliant fiat account infrastructure
Remittance products requiring USD, EUR, or GBP receiving accounts in volume
The specific product capabilities available depend on the BaaS provider and the jurisdiction. Our role is to identify the provider whose infrastructure actually supports what you are trying to build.
BaaS by Geography: US, EU, and UK
The Banking-as-a-Service landscape varies significantly by region, and the regulatory environment in each jurisdiction shapes what is possible and who the relevant providers are.
United States: US BaaS is built on sponsor bank relationships, FDIC-member banks that extend their charter to fintech program managers through contractual arrangements. Regulatory scrutiny of BaaS has intensified materially since 2022. The OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve have issued guidance and enforcement actions against sponsor banks with inadequate oversight of their fintech clients. Several banks have exited or restricted BaaS programs as a result. Identifying sponsor banks that remain committed, compliant, and stable is now a critical element of BaaS provider selection.
Europe: BaaS in Europe operates through EMI (Electronic Money Institution) licenses and, in some cases, full banking licenses. The regulatory framework under PSD2 and the EMD is more clearly structured than the US sponsor-bank model. The number of EU-licensed BaaS providers is substantial, particularly in Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the UK. European BaaS providers can issue IBANs, support SEPA transactions, and handle card issuing across the EEA.
United Kingdom: UK BaaS operates under FCA regulation with a well-developed ecosystem of payment institutions, EMIs, and clearing bank infrastructure (notably ClearBank). UK BaaS is particularly strong for Faster Payments access, GBP IBANs, and multi-currency account issuance.
We maintain active relationships with BaaS providers across all three jurisdictions, as well as in selected offshore markets.
The Critical Question: Which BaaS Provider Is Right for You
Not all BaaS providers can actually deliver what their marketing materials claim. The gap between the product pitch and the operational reality of a BaaS relationship is significant, and choosing the wrong provider costs months of development time and potentially hundreds of thousands in sunk costs.
When we evaluate BaaS providers for a client, we assess:
Regulatory stability: Is the sponsor bank or EMI under any enforcement action? Has the provider lost major banking partners recently?
Real product capability: What does the provider actually support, not just in theory, but operationally today?
Compliance responsibility split: Who owns KYC/AML decisions, the provider or you? This must be clearly defined and contractualized.
Commercial structure: Monthly platform fees, per-transaction fees, interchange sharing, volume minimums, and exit provisions all require careful evaluation.
Technology integration timeline: API maturity, sandbox availability, and realistic go-live timelines.
Client type acceptance: Many BaaS providers do not accept financial services businesses. We specifically identify providers who will work with payment companies, licensed MSBs, and regulated operators.
BaaS for Payment Companies and MSBs: The Narrow Path
Most consumer-oriented BaaS providers restrict their programs to non-financial businesses. Payment companies, crypto operators, and MSBs often find themselves excluded from the standard BaaS market.
The subset of BaaS providers that genuinely serve regulated financial businesses is smaller, but it exists. We know who they are, what they require, and how to approach them. Our network includes BaaS providers that have built specific programs for payment companies and licensed operators, with compliance frameworks designed for the heightened AML requirements that come with financial services clients.
How We Connect You to the Right BaaS Provider
We are not a BaaS provider. We are the network and advisory layer that connects you to the right one. Faisal Khan LLC's role is to:
Define the requirement: We work with you to specify exactly what BaaS infrastructure you need, currencies, rails, product types, geography, before approaching any provider.
Screen the market: We apply our current market knowledge to identify two to three providers that genuinely match your profile. We assess regulatory stability, product fit, and your business type's eligibility with each provider.
Prepare your onboarding file: BaaS providers conduct meaningful due diligence. We help you prepare the compliance documentation, business description, and projected volume data that drives approval.
Make the introduction: We connect you to the right people at the right institution, not a form submission, a real introduction with context.
Advise through negotiation: Commercial terms in BaaS relationships are negotiable. We advise on market-standard pricing and protect your interests in the contractual structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need my own license to use a BaaS provider?
It depends on the provider and your business model. Some BaaS providers operate under their own licenses and you function as a non-licensed program manager. Others require you to hold a money transmitter license or equivalent. We assess this during our initial engagement.
What happened with Synapse, and should I be concerned?
Synapse Financial Technologies filed for bankruptcy in 2024, leaving customer funds in dispute and halting multiple fintech products. It highlighted the risk of middleware BaaS models where a technology intermediary sits between the fintech and the sponsor bank. We actively screen for this risk and favor direct bank-to-fintech BaaS structures in our introductions.
How long does it take to go live with a BaaS provider after the introduction?
Technical integration typically takes two to four months. Compliance onboarding can run in parallel. A realistic go-live timeline from introduction to live product is four to eight months for a well-prepared client.
How much does BaaS cost?
BaaS pricing is highly variable, monthly platform fees, per-transaction costs, interchange revenue sharing, and volume minimums all contribute. We help clients model the true cost of a BaaS relationship before they commit.
Launch Your Financial Product Through the Right BaaS Connection
Banking-as-a-Service has opened financial product development to any team with the right business model and compliance posture. The barrier is no longer the bank charter, it is finding and accessing the right BaaS provider.
Faisal Khan LLC connects you to vetted Banking-as-a-Service providers across the US, UK, and EU, with the advisory depth to ensure the partnership is stable, compliant, and commercially sound from day one.