Banking-as-a-Service Consulting
Launch accounts, wallets, and embedded banking through a banking-as-a-service partner
We help you select and contract with a Banking-as-a-Service provider, structure the program for the sponsor bank’s requirements, and build the customer-facing product on the partner’s rails.
Built for every buyer we serve
Fintech founders, vertical platforms adding accounts or wallets, and lenders adding disbursement accounts.
Why this costs you money
These are the failure modes we see most often in Payments & Fintech Advisory.
Sponsor bank appetite has tightened; programs that would have been approved two years ago now stall in diligence.
BaaS providers vary in which bank partners, account types, and ledger models they support, and switching later is expensive.
Compliance obligations are shared with the partner, and most founders underestimate what stays on their side.
Everything included, in writing
Scope is written down before work starts, and changed only in writing. Nothing is added or dropped without a written change order.
- 01Program definition: account types, money movement, ledger, card attachment, and compliance responsibilities
- 02Partner evaluation and introductions across middleware providers and direct bank programs
- 03Diligence package preparation: policies, flow of funds, KYC approach, and program narrative
- 04Commercial and term review
- 05Product build on the partner API through our engineering practice, if required
All 5 are written into the scope document before work starts. What you actually need is settled on the call, after the Assess read.
From first call to live
3 phases, each ending in something written. Exact dates are set at the Assess step, once the scope is known.
- 01Phase 01
Week 1 to 3
Program definition and diligence readiness
- 02Phase 02
Week 4 to 8
Partner selection and approval
- 03Phase 03
Week 9+
Build and launch
What makes this different
These are specific to Payments & Fintech Advisory, and they are in the scope document rather than only on this page.
The recommendation follows the numbers
Referral, ISO, PayFac, and BaaS modelled side by side on your own volume and merchant mix, before any partner is named.
Terms read before you sign
Revenue share, interchange, reserves, liability, termination, and data ownership reviewed line by line, not summarised.
A shortlist, not one introduction
Providers matched on vertical acceptance, risk appetite, and API quality, then cut down after technical review and references.
Nothing paid by the partner
We take no fee from anyone we recommend, so the shortlist is a recommendation rather than a sales pipeline.
What clients say
We publish no client names. These describe the shape of real engagements in Payments & Fintech Advisory.
See the engagementsWe had been quoted eighteen months and seven figures to register as a PayFac. Midcore mapped the alternative in two weeks and told us plainly that our volume did not justify it yet. That conversation saved us a year.
Sponsor bank diligence had stalled us twice. Midcore rebuilt the package (policies, flow of funds, program narrative) and we were approved on the next pass.
Our agents were spending half their week on paperwork. The desk took the boarding queue, the disputes, and the residual reconciliation. Same headcount on the sales side, materially more selling.
- Written scopeAgreed before work starts, changed only in writing.
- Reporting from your dataEvery number opens to a record you can check.
- Scoped, logged accessRevocable by you at any time.
What the work looks like
Anonymised engagements from Banking-as-a-Service Consulting and the wider Payments & Fintech Advisory practice.
All case studiesTwo diligence cycles had ended without a decision. The product was fine; the package describing it was not.
Embedded banking platform A vertical SaaS platform moved from referral to PayFac economicsA platform earning a thin referral share on customer processing wanted the margin that sat with its processor, without the registration, capital, and compliance headcount a full PayFac requires.
Field-services SaaS platform An ISO gave its agents their selling week backAgents were spending roughly half their time on statement analysis, applications, and chasing processors. The fix was not more headcount on the sales side.
Independent sales organizationWritten by people who have done the work
Articles on Banking-as-a-Service Consulting and the wider Payments & Fintech Advisory practice.
All insightsSponsor bank diligence stalls on illegible packages far more often than weak products. Here's what reviewers are asking.
9 min read How to Become a Payment Processor, RealisticallyBecoming a processor connected to Visa requires bank-level membership. Almost everyone asking this actually wants one of four other paths.
9 min read How to Start a Merchant Services or ISO BusinessStarting an ISO means registering through an acquirer, not Visa, and budgeting real fees, fines, and PCI DSS obligations before your first merchant boards.
9 min readStraight answers
The questions that come up on almost every Banking-as-a-Service Consulting call, answered before you have to ask them.
Are you a bank?
How long does approval take?
Which providers do you work with?
What compliance work stays with us?
How does an engagement start?
What does Banking-as-a-Service Consulting cost?
Can we stop after the Assess?
Still not sure Banking-as-a-Service Consulting is what you need?
That is what the Assess is for. Book a 30-minute call and we will tell you which service fits, whether you need one at all, and what the first engagement would cost. We will also tell you when the answer is no.
Ready to talk about Banking-as-a-Service Consulting?
Tell us what is happening. We will tell you whether this service fits, and whether you need it at all.
- 01Within 1 business dayA US-based practice lead replies and books a 30 minute call.
- 02On the callWe map the problem, the volume, the partners, and the constraints.
- 03After the callYou get a written read of one to three pages, yours to keep.
- Handled under NDA
- Written, not a slide deck
- No obligation to continue