BaaS & sponsor banks
Guides to banking-as-a-service: models, sponsor banks, partner selection and enforcement orders.
What is a sponsor bank? How sponsor banks work for fintechs
A sponsor bank lends its charter or network membership to a non-bank, and keeps the regulated responsibility.
Sponsor Bank Due Diligence: Contracts, Controls and Data
Review the fintech, contract, controls, data access and exit plan before a sponsor bank program launches.
How to choose a sponsor bank: a due diligence checklist
What to check before signing with a sponsor bank: charter, regulator, enforcement record, oversight, records and exit.
What is banking as a service (BaaS)?
How a chartered bank, a BaaS platform and a fintech brand split the work, the money and the risk.
Synapse bankruptcy: what changed for BaaS
What the Synapse bankruptcy left behind: a shortfall range, a Fed order and one unfinished FDIC rule.
How to read a bank consent order: a guide for fintechs
What a bank consent order is, where to find it, which clauses limit fintech partners, and how orders end.
Banking as a service providers in 2026: seven US options
Seven US banking-as-a-service providers that meet published criteria, with their banks, products and API docs.
Banking as a platform vs banking as a service
Banking as a platform keeps the bank's brand and customer; BaaS puts a licensed bank behind someone else's brand.
BaaS platforms compared: models, banks and pricing
Nine BaaS platforms side by side: model, accounts, payments, named partner banks and published pricing.
Banking as a service puts a licensed bank’s accounts and cards behind another company’s brand. Start with what is banking as a service, then compare the baas platform models and the list of banking as a service providers. Banking as a platform explains the bank-led variant.
Choosing a bank is covered in how to choose a sponsor bank and how to read a consent order, and synapse bankruptcy explains what changed after 2024. Orders are logged in the sponsor bank enforcement actions tracker.
Questions
What is a sponsor bank? The chartered bank that holds the deposits, issues the cards or makes the loans behind a fintech’s product and answers to its regulators for the program.
Where can I check a bank’s enforcement record? In the tracker and in each sponsor bank profile, with links to the regulator’s documents.