Fifth Third Bank announced that its Newline™ embedded payments platform will serve as the banking backend for Stripe Treasury. The partnership enables software platforms using Stripe to offer embedded financial accounts, payments, cards, and deposits. This replaces Stripe's prior Treasury relationships with Evolve Bank & Trust and Goldman Sachs, signaling a shift toward a more compliance-focused BaaS infrastructure.
Entities: Fifth Third Bank · Newline · Stripe · Evolve Bank & Trust · Goldman Sachs
The OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve jointly issued a Request for Information (RFI) scrutinizing bank-fintech arrangements, including BaaS and middleware platforms. The RFI specifically targets intermediate platform providers that connect banks to fintechs via APIs. Regulators seek input on risk management, compliance practices, and potential new supervisory guidance. Comments were due approximately 60 days after the July 31, 2024 Federal Register publication.
UniCredit announced the acquisition of Vodeno, a Banking-as-a-Service platform, and Belgian digital bank Aion Bank. The deal aims to bolster UniCredit's embedded banking capabilities including payments and lending. This acquisition signals major traditional bank interest in owning BaaS infrastructure directly.
Charlotte-based Infinant announced it doubled its bank clients in H1 2024, positioning its SaaS platform as a bank-controlled alternative to traditional BaaS middleware. The platform enables banks to launch embedded banking and digital brands without core migrations or external ledgering. Infinant offers native ACH, wires, card issuing, real-time settlement, and compliance tooling within bank controls.
Fragment, a fintech infrastructure startup, announced a $9 million seed round bringing total funding to $10.8 million. Investors include executives from Stripe and Plaid. Fragment provides an API to compose fund flows, generate code, and embed financial products into applications, targeting developers building on banking rails.
Berlin-based Brokerage-as-a-Service fintech lemon.markets secured €12 million in funding to expand its digital brokerage and custody infrastructure. The company aims to enable businesses to offer investment products and open 100 million brokerage accounts. The round follows the company's receipt of BaFin licenses for investment services including contract broking and custody.
Stripe acquired Lemon Squeezy, a Salt Lake City-based merchant-of-record payment processor, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition adds compliance, global tax handling, subscriptions, and multi-currency support to Stripe's offerings. This is Stripe's 16th acquisition since its 2010 founding.
Lithuanian white-label fintech platform SDK.finance partnered with open banking provider Salt Edge to enable financial institutions and fintechs to build open banking-enabled services. The integration provides cost-effective, streamlined solutions targeting the EU market. The collaboration combines SDK.finance's core banking platform with Salt Edge's connectivity and compliance infrastructure.
The FDIC issued a consent order against Thread Bank, a BaaS sponsor bank, for inadequate oversight of its fintech partners in embedded finance. The order, issued in May 2024 and made public in July, requires enhanced risk assessments and board-approved thresholds for fintech partnerships. This was part of a broader wave of regulatory actions targeting over 25% of FDIC-supervised BaaS banks in 2024.
Fintech firms PAYSTRAX and Cardstream partnered to provide seamless card and online transaction processing for merchants worldwide. The collaboration helps businesses meet local payment preferences across global markets. The partnership combines PAYSTRAX's acquiring capabilities with Cardstream's payment gateway technology.
Slope, an AI-led B2B payments platform, secured $65 million in strategic equity and debt funding from J.P. Morgan Payments, Y Combinator, and Saga. Total funding reached $252 million. The company embeds short-term financing into point-of-sale systems, bridging banking and commerce.
Entities: Slope · J.P. Morgan Payments · Y Combinator · Saga
Synapse, a prominent BaaS middleware provider connecting banks and fintechs, filed for bankruptcy on June 28, 2024. The collapse disrupted multiple fintech partnerships and left thousands of customers without access to funds. A proposed $9.7 million acquisition by TabaPay fell through, leaving fintech partners scrambling for new banking relationships.
Trovata launched its Multibank Connector, a low-code embedded banking solution offering the largest global network of corporate banking APIs. The platform supports multibank account aggregation, automated reconciliation, and high-speed transaction processing. It positions itself as a modern alternative to legacy sFTP services for corporate cash management and payments.
Payabli raised $20 million in Series A funding to scale its API-first payments infrastructure and monetization platform for software companies. The company reported over 340% revenue growth in the prior 12 months. Funds will support product innovation, security enhancements, and customer acquisition.
Belgium-based Chift secured €2.3 million in seed funding to expand its unified API platform, enabling SaaS companies to integrate with dozens of financial tools. The platform handles ongoing API maintenance, reducing disruption for clients. This supports the broader trend of API-driven embedded finance infrastructure.
Connect Money, an Egypt-based Banking-as-a-Service fintech, raised $8 million in a seed round co-led by DisrupTech Ventures, Algebra Ventures, and Lorax Capital Partners. The funding will support expansion into Morocco and Kenya, enabling non-bank businesses to offer white-label financial products. The company provides embedded finance infrastructure including cards, payments, KYC, and mobile banking apps for trade companies across Africa.
Entities: Connect Money · DisrupTech Ventures · Algebra Ventures · Lorax Capital Partners · One Stop Capital · MDP
TD Bank Group launched TD Innovation Partners (TDIP), a bespoke banking solution tailored for technology startups. The offering includes accounts, lending, investments, and wealth management services. While not explicitly branded as BaaS, it represents a major bank creating dedicated embedded banking infrastructure for the fintech and startup ecosystem.
Celcoin, a Brazilian Banking-as-a-Service provider, announced a $125 million investment led by Summit Partners. The deal represents one of the largest BaaS-related funding rounds in Latin America in 2024. Celcoin provides financial infrastructure enabling businesses to embed banking services into their platforms in Brazil's rapidly growing fintech market.
GM Financial withdrew its 2020 industrial loan company charter application from the FDIC on June 17, 2024, despite having received conditional approval from Utah's Department of Financial Institutions just days earlier. The automaker's finance arm indicated plans to refile at a later date. The withdrawal came three days after the FDIC approved Thrivent's competing ILC application.
Entities: GM Financial · FDIC · Utah Department of Financial Institutions
The FDIC approved an industrial loan company charter for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans on June 14, 2024, the first ILC approval since Block and Nelnet in 2020. The new Thrivent Bank will be based in Salt Lake City and will absorb Thrivent Federal Credit Union. The approval followed a February 2021 application and prior conditional approval from Utah's Department of Financial Institutions.
Entities: Thrivent Financial for Lutherans · FDIC · Utah Department of Financial Institutions
The Federal Reserve issued a cease-and-desist order against Evolve Bank & Trust on June 14, 2024, citing deficiencies in risk management related to its fintech partnerships. The order requires Evolve to obtain prior regulatory approval before onboarding new fintech partners. This is a landmark enforcement action signaling heightened scrutiny of BaaS sponsor banks.
Canadian digital bank VersaBank received Federal Reserve approval to acquire Stearns Bank Holdingford, a small OCC-chartered bank with $78M in assets. The deal gives VersaBank a U.S. bank charter to expand its digital lending operations into the American market. OCC approval was expected shortly after.
Mastercard announced Deposit Switch and Bill Pay Switch, integrated with Open Banking and Atomic, to streamline direct deposit and bill payment updates for digital accounts. The tools simplify account switching for consumers and are expected to be available in 2024. The launch strengthens Mastercard's embedded finance capabilities for banks and fintechs.
Mastercard launched its "Mastercard For Fintechs" program on June 5, 2024, targeting early-stage fintechs in Western Europe across payments, embedded finance, Web3, and banking/SME verticals. The program offers education, networking, competitions, and a €50,000 marketing prize plus fast-track access to Mastercard Start Path. It aims to support fintechs in Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal amid challenging fundraising conditions.