Discover how to increase your fintech speed-to-market with a BIN Sponsorship solution that supports you during regulation and beyond.

For fintech startups or businesses with financial services, starting a payments and FX journey can come with unique challenges. With an EU market valued at over €430 billion alone, becoming operational in the fintech space is crucial to building a strong customer base.

One of the more laborious processes that is essential for any fintech or financial service business in the digital space is the establishment of the company as a regulated Electronic Money Institution (EMI).

Establishing a business as an EMI is critical to allow companies to issue and receive electronic payments (e-payments) from consumers or businesses, in addition to becoming an independent facilitator for Payments and FX. With a process that is often drawn out over several months, businesses are vulnerable to missing valuable trading time.

But is there a way to start trading without EMI-regulated status? B4B Payments can get your Payments and FX services to market ahead of the competition, as well as the advantage of adding embedded cards to your business plan.

Payments and FX – the tools for scalability

Speed-to-market is critical for all businesses to accelerate revenue. But it’s just as important for fintech companies in their infancy if they want to build a platform for scalable growth. The quickest route to market is leveraging Payments and FX from third-party companies, like B4B Payments, allowing companies to trade quickly and efficiently.

Securing investment is critical for business growth. While investors may believe in an idea in principle, seeing it in action and being able to analyse performance data can be the key to determining the pen-to-paper investment that fintechs need to grow.

Investment in the fintech space peaked in recent years, and decreased by 30% in 2022 from $130 billion to $96 billion. With this decline, we are starting to see signs of impending economic difficulties. With a crisis on the horizon, having a serviceable and active product in the market could be a huge differentiator as the investment gatekeepers become more critical of their spending.

B4B Payments offer competitive payment and FX services, offering companies the chance to make a head start on the competition. With B4B Payments, companies are able to make and receive high volumes of transactions in 25 currencies through SEPA, Faster Payments, CHAPS, USD ACH, DKK Intraday, and SWIFT.

The key to successful scalability is the preparedness of a company to adapt to changing consumer needs and market conditions. To facilitate this it’s crucial that products and services are made available cross border as soon as possible.

Using B4B Payments low-cost FX, companies looking to make the jump overseas can do so for a reduced up-front cost. With transparent rates for incoming and outgoing payments, companies can offer their services in up to 25 currencies at a competitive FX rate.

The Challenges of EMI Licensing and Regulation

Whether a business is applying to become a small EMI (not generating more than €5 million) before registration or a fully authorised EMI (over €5 million), they are required to comply with specific regulations.

One of the biggest barriers to product entry into the market is the process of becoming a licensed e-money issuer through EMI Regulation. Registering as an EMI allows fintech companies to issue e-payments legally, often followed by acquiring a card scheme membership. This, sometimes laborious process, stalls the potential for fintech and financial services to push their product to market quickly in both domestic and international markets.

Regulations such as Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017, as well as providing a level of detail on a businesses’ operations, such as place of business, central management and control, balance sheets, forecasts, and more.

While this process is necessary for fintech and financial service companies that want to grow, there is a way to get to market while applying to become a regulated EMI: BIN Sponsorship.

BIN Sponsorship 2.0 and embedded cards as a solution

BIN Sponsorship is a solution that has been on the market for a short time. It helps fintechs and financial services leverage EMI-regulated businesses to offer their services faster.

B4B Payments offers payment services to businesses across sectors, and we have taken BIN Sponsorship to the next level, helping non-regulated EMIs to get their products to market as quickly as possible, as well as offering support and solutions to companies that are at later stages of their business journey.

For non-regulated EMI’s, BIN Sponsorship 2.0 offers authorisation by the FCA and the Bank of Lithuania, allowing businesses to provide payment and card services across the UK and the EU, as well as the opportunity to leverage our licences and Mastercard Principal Member status.

Using B4B Payments as a BIN Sponsor, businesses have the ability to trade in that all-important test-and-learn phase of early business. What’s more, once an e-money licence or regulated EMI status has been acquired, businesses can continue to outsource their scheme management, settlement, and collateral requirements to us. Once a full card scheme membership is obtained, we can continue to support it by safeguarding accounts and payments. 

With virtual payment critical on fintech services – like online trading platforms – embedding them into bespoke platforms is the logical next step in scalability. Embedded services can help enhance customer experience with directly integrated services, drive growth through customer engagement and retention, and are easily set up through merchant accounts and instant payment confirmation.

At B4B Payments, we also offer embedded financial services to enrich business propositions post-regulation. With these services, businesses can integrate payments, cards and virtual account solutions directly into their platform through a single API.

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Here at B4B Payments, we have over 18 years of experience in payment innovations.

Our goal is to keep our clients one step ahead of their competitors and to ensure that they can keep their teams happy by facilitating fast and transparent global transactions.

Book a demo with us now to learn more about payments, FX and BIN Sponsorship, and discover whether B4B Payments can help optimise your business journey.