Quaint Oak Bank announced it joined the Bankers Helping Bankers (BHB) BaaS Association as a sponsor bank. The membership positions the community bank within a governance group focused on compliant BaaS solutions for banks partnering with fintechs. The move aims to serve underbanked communities through fintech partnerships delivering accessible banking services.
Entities: Quaint Oak Bank · Bankers Helping Bankers (BHB) BaaS Association
Mastercard announced its Engage partner network on December 7, 2022, connecting banks and lenders with fintech providers offering white-label buy-now-pay-later installment programs. The network includes fintechs such as Jifiti, Amount, Canopy, Galileo, LiftForward, and Peach Finance. Over 150 providers in Engage have deployed solutions on more than 500 million accounts using Mastercard services.
Galileo Financial Technologies, a SoFi subsidiary, launched a customizable buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution enabling banks and fintechs to issue loans via bank partners. Galileo handles servicing, virtual cards, and underwriting integration. The product expands embedded lending capabilities for Galileo's BaaS platform.
Grasshopper Bank integrated Narmi's open Application Framework (NAF) as middleware-like infrastructure for its digital business banking platform. The partnership enabled rapid deployment of features such as branded virtual debit cards. This move strengthened Grasshopper's digital banking offering for SMBs through API-driven integration.
Canadian fintech Buckzy raised $14.5 million in a Series A round led by Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures. The company provides real-time cross-border payments and Banking-as-a-Service through an embedded finance platform. Buckzy serves over 140 customers including banks, neobanks, and fintechs.
Entities: Buckzy · Mistral Venture Partners · Uncorrelated Ventures · Luge Capital · Blue 9 Capital · Revel Partners
Atomic fully integrated its Deposit plugin with Jack Henry's Banno digital banking platform by December 2022, enabling banks and credit unions to offer quick direct deposit setup and switching within mobile or online banking apps. The integration uses Jack Henry's Digital Toolkit APIs. This partnership helps community financial institutions compete for primary banking relationships.
Unit expanded its embedded finance platform throughout 2022 with charge card issuing, same-day ACH, recurring payments, early payment access, and programmatic ATM authorizations. The company identified embedded lending as a key growth area and announced white-label UI components planned for Q1 2023. These expansions reinforce Unit's position as a leading BaaS infrastructure provider.
Jifiti launched an embedded lending platform enabling banks and lenders to integrate consumer and business loans into any customer touchpoint via APIs. The platform supports installment loans, lines of credit, BNPL, and other lending products across online, in-store, and call center channels. This positions Jifiti as a key infrastructure provider for embedded lending in the BaaS ecosystem.
Unit launched its embedded lending program, including Charge Card issuing, through a partnership with Thread Bank. This expanded Unit's embedded finance platform into lending, enabling companies to offer customers access to capital. The launch was part of Unit's multi-bank strategy, which now includes four bank partners.
Veritex Community Bank selected Finzly's cloud-native Payment Hub to consolidate ACH and Fedwire payments on a single platform. The deal includes future RTP and FedNow support, embedded treasury services via Q2, and BaaS capabilities for fintechs through a unified API. This partnership positions Veritex to serve as a banking-as-a-service provider for fintech companies.
Byline Bancorp and Inland Bancorp signed a definitive merger agreement valued at approximately $165 million in cash and stock. The deal combines two Chicago-area community banks into an entity with $8.5 billion in assets and 47 branches. The merger emphasizes expanded digital banking capabilities and was expected to close in Q2 2023.
Griffin moved its BaaS sandbox out of beta, offering free and unlimited access to developers and fintechs. The sandbox allows testing of onboarding, KYC/KYB verification, bank account generation, and payment processing. The launch aims to lower barriers to entry for startups building on BaaS infrastructure.
BMO announced a partnership with FISPAN to integrate BMO Online Banking for Business directly into clients' ERP and accounting systems. The integration enables real-time account access, payments, and automatic reconciliation without leaving business applications. This reflects BMO's broader open banking and embedded finance strategy for commercial clients.
Lentra, an AI-based lending SaaS platform serving banks, raised $60M in a Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Susquehanna and Citi Ventures. The company provides embedded lending infrastructure that enables banks and financial institutions to digitize their loan origination processes. Citi's venture arm participating signals strategic bank interest in lending-as-a-service technology.
Treasury Prime announced a partnership with Plaid on November 15, 2022, enabling seamless account linking for BaaS customers. The integration allows fintechs, banks, and corporates on Treasury Prime's platform to connect accounts to Plaid-powered apps without manual entry. This accelerates embedded finance capabilities such as instant payments and improves end-user experience.
Bend by FNBO, First National Bank of Omaha's credit card-as-a-service platform, announced its first partner program with family fintech Greenlight to launch the Greenlight Family Cash Mastercard. The card offers parents up to 3% unlimited cash back and is designed to help families invest while teaching children financial responsibility. Marqeta provides the card-issuing technology, and Mastercard contributes digital benefits and cybersecurity solutions. This represents a multi-party BaaS arrangement with FNBO as the sponsor bank.
Entities: First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) · Bend by FNBO · Greenlight · Marqeta · Mastercard
Swedish banking giant SEB established a new business unit called SEB Embedded to focus on embedded finance services. The move signals a major traditional bank's strategic commitment to Banking-as-a-Service. SEB Embedded aims to provide financial infrastructure to platforms and fintechs.
Plastiq acquired Nearside, a fintech offering SMB banking, lending, and credit products, for $130 million. The deal strengthens Plastiq's position in small business financial services. Nearside's embedded banking and credit capabilities complement Plastiq's payments platform.
Banked secured an additional $15M Series A extension from Insight Partners, Citi, National Australia Bank Ventures, and Rapyd to grow its pay-by-bank payment network. The platform enables merchants to accept direct bank payments without card networks. Strategic investment from multiple banks underscores the embedded finance potential of account-to-account payment infrastructure.
Entities: Banked · Insight Partners · Citi · National Australia Bank Ventures · Rapyd
Bengaluru-based banking and payments API startup Decentro raised $4.7 million in Series A funding led by Rapyd Ventures, Leonis VC, and Uncorrelated Ventures. The Y Combinator-backed company enables businesses to integrate banking, payments, and fintech workflows via APIs. Funds will be used for hiring and expanding its customer base across Indian financial institutions.
Accounting platform Moneybird integrated Adyen's card issuing and business accounts capabilities to offer embedded financial services to SMBs. Adyen's embedded finance suite enables platforms to integrate issuing, capital, and accounts products. The partnership exemplifies how vertical SaaS platforms are adopting embedded finance.
Ramp, a crypto payments infrastructure provider, closed a $70 million Series B round co-led by Mubadala Capital and Korelya Capital. The company's APIs and SDKs enable businesses to embed crypto purchasing capabilities without requiring users to use an exchange. Total capital raised over the prior 12 months exceeded $120 million.
Entities: Ramp · Mubadala Capital · Korelya Capital
Nordax Bank and NOBA Bank Group completed their merger in November 2022, later rebranding as NOBA Bank Group in 2023. The combined entity focuses on consumer finance and digital banking experiences across the Nordics. The deal was backed by Nordic Capital.
Entities: Nordax Bank · NOBA Bank Group · Nordic Capital
New York Community Bank received OCC approval in late October 2022 to merge with Flagstar Bank and convert to a national bank charter. The deal still required Federal Reserve approval. The combined entity would create a larger banking platform with expanded capabilities relevant to the BaaS and fintech partnership ecosystem.
Entities: New York Community Bank · Flagstar Bank · OCC