Guides: sponsor banks

FedNow participation: how banks and cores connect

FedNow participation is set per routing number, and the core must post around the clock.

A sponsor bank lends its charter or network membership to a non-bank, and keeps the regulated responsibility.

Review the fintech, contract, controls, data access and exit plan before a sponsor bank program launches.

What a ledger API records, how it differs from a bank core, and why sponsor banks ask for its balances.

Who owns the BIN, who runs the program and who pays for losses when a bank sponsors a card program.

Embedded finance is what a platform offers its users; banking as a service is how a bank supplies it.

What to check before signing with a sponsor bank: charter, regulator, enforcement record, oversight, records and exit.

How a chartered bank, a BaaS platform and a fintech brand split the work, the money and the risk.

What a bank consent order is, where to find it, which clauses limit fintech partners, and how orders end.

The bank, network, processor and program manager behind a debit card, plus the Durbin cap and Regulation E.

Embedded finance is a non-bank company offering payments, accounts, cards or loans inside its own software.

Seven US banking-as-a-service providers that meet published criteria, with their banks, products and API docs.

Nine BaaS platforms side by side: model, accounts, payments, named partner banks and published pricing.