Hi from Berlin,
Welcome to this week’s Embedded Banking edition. We had some pretty big news in the past weeks, especially Bolt launching Bolt Money with a banking offering for its drivers. If you are subscribed to the lending version of my newsletter, you will have seen that Bolt recently started offering car financing to its fleet partners. Sounds like Bolt is doubling down on embedded finance? In the piece below I take my guess at why they are doing this.
Also in this edition: Shares closes its Treezor deal and adds investing to the BaaS stack, Bouygues Telecom puts its own name on three insurance products, Pliant gets its own UK e-money licence and Payward buys Saldo Bank, plus Geotab, Durable, DoorDash and MrBeast from the US. In the Builder segment, I have Christian Steiger, CEO Business Group at Lexware, which built its own business account with Solaris right inside Lexware Office. He explains why he thinks the best banking interface for small businesses will be no interface at all, and why AI that acts on a mandate will win the next wave of embedded banking.
On a personal note, I have just finished a bigger project and am open for new projects. I have updated the Work with me page on my website, so have a look if you need some help. And if you don’t have a paid gig but need advice or a sounding board for an embedded finance decision, my door is always open: just reply to this email.
Now let’s dive in. 👇
Friends of EFR
Gijs Bos, Copla: Gijs leads sales and partnerships at Copla and is a familiar face at my EFR events. Copla is a GRC and compliance automation platform with ten in-house CISOs, keeping fintech companies audit-ready across DORA, NIS2, MiCA, ISO 27001 and SOC 2. And like all Friends of EFR, Gijs helps before he sells. So whether you have a question from a regulator or a vendor questionnaire you’re unsure about, he’s happy to help where he can. Tell him Lars sent you. Contact Gijs on LinkedIn
Embedded Banking News
Bolt pays drivers onto its own card, built with Airwallex: The ride-hailing and delivery platform has set up Bolt Money, a financial services unit with its own managing director. The first new product is Bolt Card, a wallet and Visa card inside the Driver app. In France, sole-proprietor drivers and solo fleet operators who opt in see their earnings land shortly after each ride instead of with the weekly Monday payout. They can spend with the virtual card, add it to Apple Pay or Google Pay, order a physical card, or move the money to their own bank, with five free transfers a month. Uber brought its Pro Card to the UK in January with British bank Griffin, while Bolt chose to work with e-money institution Airwallex. This is also the reason the two offerings differ slightly. More on this in the full story, along with an overview of Bolt's other embedded finance products. (Read the full story)
Shares closes its Treezor deal and adds investing to the BaaS stack: The French investing app completed its acquisition of the Paris BaaS provider from Société Générale on 6 October, after announcing exclusive talks in January. The price was not disclosed. Treezor holds an e-money licence passported across 25 countries, powered the early days of Qonto and Shine, counts Swile and Bling among its clients and reports more than €145bn in processed flows and 8.5m cards issued. The BaaS business stays, and Shares plans to offer its savings and investment products on top as white-label modules. For brands that only need accounts and cards, I don't expect much to change soon. The bigger question is who the combined offer is really built for, and I share my guess in the full story. (Read the full story)
Pliant gets its own UK e-money licence: The Berlin commercial card provider's UK subsidiary is now authorised by the FCA as an e-money institution. Pliant already has an e-money licence in the EU via its regulated Finnish entity, but until now, it ran its UK and US business on regulated partners. With its own entity it can onboard UK clients and launch payment products directly. Pliant issues commercial cards in 13 currencies across 32 countries, and software providers, fintech companies and banks use its infrastructure to build their own card programmes. For UK software platforms that want a card programme, that's one more dedicated provider to talk to. (finextra)
Payward buys Saldo Bank for a European BaaS push: The Kraken parent has agreed to buy the ECB-licensed Lithuanian bank, with closing expected in 2027. Saldo runs deposits, consumer and SME loans and a credit card across Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Germany, and already sells SEPA access and embedded lending to other fintech companies in Finland and Germany. Payward Banking already holds an Irish e-money licence and plans BaaS for European clients, including card issuing and SME lending. A crypto group with a full banking licence is a new name on the provider side, and I'm most curious how this will shape the landscape. (Business Wire)
Bouygues Telecom sells its own insurance, with AXA Partners and bolttech behind it: The French mobile and broadband operator started selling three insurance products in its shops on 26 October: cover for online purchase disputes, identity theft and online harassment at €6.99 a month, an emergency electrician at home from €4.99, and a bills insurance from €1.99 that pays towards digital bills after hospitalisation or work incapacity. AXA Partners France provides the cover, bolttech the technology and operations, and customers manage their policies in the Bouygues Telecom app. (finextra)
Geotab's new fleet card checks the truck before it pays: The telematics platform, with around six million connected vehicles, has launched the Geotab Fleet Card on AtoB's infrastructure, managed inside MyGeotab. A fuel purchase is declined if the vehicle isn't at the station, the tank has no room, or it's outside approved hours. AtoB and its bank partners issue the card, and it's for US fleets only. Only the telematics platform has that data, which is exactly why the card belongs inside it. (Geotab)
Durable builds business accounts into its AI platform with Stripe: The US website and growth platform for independent service businesses, such as landscapers and personal trainers, has launched embedded business accounts inside a "money agent" that also handles payments and invoicing, on Stripe Treasury for platforms. According to Stripe, Durable had a working prototype in three days with one person and integrated it in about two weeks, and 4,000 of its 3m+ businesses have access so far. (Stripe)
DoorDash sells insurance to its restaurants: The US delivery platform now offers DoorDash Insurance, a business owner's policy for its restaurant merchants, through its own licensed insurance producer. Authentic and its partners underwrite and issue the policies. In Europe, allO does something similar for restaurants with Kayna, as CEO Cancan Liu explained in my podcast episode. (DoorDash)
MrBeast and Mastercard plan creator cards: Beast Industries, Jimmy Donaldson's company, and Mastercard are partnering on consumer and creator card programmes, plus financial education through Beast Philanthropy. Mastercard calls them co-brand programmes, and there's no word yet on issuer, markets or launch date. Beast Industries acquired teen banking app Step earlier this year, so it seems MrBeast wants to do more financial services and not less. (Mastercard)