Building digital banks | Edenred Payment Solutions

Financial services are entering a new era - one shaped by innovation, agility, and customer-first thinking. At the centre of this shift? Fintechs.

Across the UK and Europe, digital-first accounts and associated card products are gaining momentum, not just because they’re convenient, but because they’re designed to solve specific problems. Whether it's giving entrepreneurs back precious time, facilitating flexible payroll solutions for employees, or supporting sustainability goals through spending habits - these are solutions that matter.

In this blog, we’ll walk through what it takes to build and scale a modern digital banking proposition, from compliance to technology. You’ll also hear how companies like Qileo, Tide, and thinkmoney have brought their ideas to life — with Edenred Payment Solutions as a strategic partner.

Understanding the opportunity

Let’s start with what’s driving this wave of innovation.

More and more customers are turning to digital services that feel tailored to them - not just because they’re personalised, but because traditional banks often can’t meet their specific needs. Whether it’s due to high costs, limited product focus, or an inability to move at the speed these customers expect, many users are looking for smarter, faster alternatives that work for them - and this is where fintechs can excel due to their agility and technical prowess.

Take sole traders and SMEs, for example:

📉 83% want to access financial services through SaaS platforms, but only 9% currently do.

⏳ UK SMEs spend over 56 million hours a year chasing payments (time worth a staggering £6.3 billion!) - that’s a huge friction point and a clear opportunity.

There is growing demand for services such as embedded payment processing, multi-currency business accounts, and business credit cards, that not only streamline processes for entrepreneurs, but are more competitive than services offered by traditional banks. This is a clear advantage for innovative fintechs and customers alike.

Now that we’ve explored the opportunity, let’s take a closer look at the fundamentals of embedding digital banking capabilities into your product.

Getting the foundations right: Compliance first

For any fintech offering digital financial products, compliance isn’t just a requirement - it’s a critical success factor.

🔐 Compliance-by-design is the smartest way to build and enhance any digital banking offering: avoiding rework, delays, and fines down the line.  

Key actions:

• Understand local regulation around e-money issuing and handling, ledger management, and processes around fraud prevention.
• Appoint a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) early and establish a solid Compliance team.
• Bake compliance into your product and processes from day one.

🔷 At Edenred Payment Solution, we work closely with fintechs to navigate licensing and compliance - accelerating time-to-market while ensuring all requirements are met. We’ve guided many clients through the process of becoming regulated agents and continue to support their ongoing technical operations.

Choosing the right Banking-as-a-Service partner

Delivering a digital banking experience doesn’t mean building the infrastructure from scratch. That’s where Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) comes in.

The right partner should bring:

• Deep compliance expertise and be able to navigate complex regulatory requirements
• Options for international expansion
  
  🔷 Edenred Payment Solutions is regulated by the FCA in the UK and the National Bank of Belgium offering passporting across Europe. This means we can support growth and expansion strategies across multiple jurisdictions.  
• Support across tech, project management, and regulatory needs
• Flexibility to scale with your business - especially when your regulatory setup evolves
  
   📌 Case in point: Tide began as an agent under Edenred Payment Solutions’ license - and as they matured, we remained a core part of their stack, powering card processing as they became fully regulated.  
• Prioritise stability and resilience - choose partners with proven industry experience, strong financial backing, and robust compliance processes to support you long term
• Core values alignment is key for long-term success  
  
  🚀 When launching a purpose-driven proposition, it’s crucial to choose a partner who shares your goals and can support your mission authentically. Qileo — the first ethical business account in France — chose Edenred Payment Solutions not just for our tech and regulatory expertise, but because we share their commitment to sustainability. Our team worked alongside Qileo to shape a sustainable, tech-forward proposition - built not just for business, but for impact. 

Ultimately, choosing the right BaaS partner isn’t just a technical decision - it’s core to your proposition. This partner will sit at the heart of your offering, so trust and transparency are non-negotiable.

To make the right choice:

✅ Use a structured framework to compare and evaluate multiple vendors

📝 Maintain an audit trail so you can justify your selection to stakeholders

Building the right tech stack

As you evaluate BaaS partners, having a clear view of your technical requirements is essential.

Here are some key components to consider when developing - or scaling - your digital banking proposition:

• Easy access to payment schemes for Account-to-Account transactions
• Support for multiple payment rails such as Faster Payments, BACS, CHAPS and SEPA
• E-money accounts with Sort Code and Account Number or IBAN, and multi-currency wallets and mobile payment capabilities
• Card issuing and flexible BIN sponsorship, including virtual and physical cards
• Support with settlement, reconciliation, and card fees review
• Well-established partner network providing ancillary services, including card manufacturing and fraud monitoring
• A well-documented API platform that supports complex integrations

🔷 We own and operate a diversified payments processing engine, which means you gain greater control over costs, transaction logic, and spend rules - all with high uptime and reliability.

Edenred Payment Solutions are providing a key element of our component architected technology stack. The team has wide-ranging experience and expertise across products and project management, and being part of the wider Edenred group ensures that we have a   stable and reliable platform – which has 99.99% uptime.

We need this dependability as we look to scale our existing offerings and expand into new product and market segments. It has never been a more exciting time to be a thinker!  


Michael Aldred 
CEO 
thinkmoney

📢 Watch our on-demand webinar with thinkmoney to learn how you can simplify tech complexity and scale fast.

Launch smart, then keep listening

Once your product is live, your focus should shift to growth - and feedback. The most successful fintechs know how to listen to users, adapt quickly, and stay relevant.

When launching:

• Make your value proposition clear and compelling
• Leverage owned channels and partnerships for visibility
• Offer incentives, like gift cards for referrals, to accelerate sign-ups
• Track metrics like active users, time to first action, and session length
• Create a feedback loop to gather insights and inform iterations

Want to see how incentives can power your user acquisition strategy?

Watch: Gift cards in 2025 - A strategic asset for brands and fintechs ⬇️

Final thoughts

Bringing a digital banking proposition to life takes more than a clever idea. It demands the right foundations: regulatory clarity, robust technology, and experienced partners who can support your journey.

Whether you’re designing a purpose-driven digital bank or a platform for SMEs - getting these building blocks right is how you move fast and stay resilient in the long-term.

Build your digital banking offering with Edenred Payment Solutions  

We help fintechs build, launch, and grow - from regulatory setup to tech delivery. Get in touch with our experts to find out how we can support modern financial services.