BIN sponsors & BaaS

BIN sponsors and BaaS in short

To issue payment cards, a company needs a card scheme member to sponsor its BIN range — a BIN sponsor. To offer accounts, IBANs or wallets without its own banking licence, it can use banking as a service (BaaS): a licensed bank or EMI that exposes its infrastructure via API while the fintech owns the customer experience. This subsection lists sponsors and BaaS providers serving fintechs, PSPs and payment teams.

Typical use cases

• Virtual and physical cards for expense management, payouts or crypto top-up products.
• Prepaid and debit programmes for marketplaces, gig platforms and creators.
• Embedded accounts with IBANs for SMEs or for a PSP's own merchants.
• Wallet infrastructure combined with mass payouts.

How the stack fits together

A card programme usually involves three parties: the BIN sponsor (scheme member and regulated entity), an issuer processor that authorises transactions and manages cards, and the programme manager — you — who designs the product and handles customers. BaaS platforms often bundle the first two.

What sponsors look at

• Your business model, target markets and expected volumes.
• Compliance set-up: KYC, AML, fraud controls and complaint handling — see KYC & KYB and compliance outsourcing.
• Financial standing and ability to fund collateral or prefunding.
• Higher-risk use cases (crypto cards, gaming) need explicit appetite.

Comparing providers

• Licence and passporting: which countries cardholders can be in.
• Schemes and card types supported; tokenisation for Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Pricing: setup, monthly minimums, per-card and interchange share.
• Time to launch and what work stays with you.

By country

See BaaS providers in the UK, Lithuania, Estonia and Brazil. For accounts only, compare EMIs. Check Offers for published conditions or post a request; onboarding decisions are made by providers.