Virtual event: Co-brands vs EF + Why Sibill's Italy launch matters

Hi {{first name|embedded finance friend}}

I'm usually the one commenting on LinkedIn posts saying, "That's not actually Embedded Finance." But now, it happened to me.

You might recall that I posted about Club Brugge’s fintech product last week, and no other than David Parker (Director at Polymath Consulting, judge at 360 Payment Awards, etc.) disagreed with my categorisation in his LinkedIn comment.

What to do now? Delete the post? Rewrite it? No! I decided to invite David to our next virtual event on Friday, October 10th and discuss this with all of you.

We will dive deep into the intersection of co-brands vs. embedded finance, and we look forward to many joining the event and discussion:

Register here

And now let’s dive in 👇

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In the newest Embedded Finance Review Podcast episode, we covered:

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Italian digital accounting provider Sibill launched an embedded banking product in partnership with Swan. The banking product consists of a debit card and a payment account with Italian IBANs (Aziendabanca).

As mentioned many times before, digital accounting is an obvious hot area for embedded banking. Historically, accounting and banking services have been provided by two different parties, not because it was the best solution, but because entry barriers made it difficult for one party to offer the other's services. Nowadays, we see many digital accounting providers launching banking products, and even some banks venture into partnerships with accounting providers to compete with the digital accounting and embedded banking product stack.

Two things stood out for me in the launch announcement for Sibill. Firstly, the modularity of the embedded banking product. SMEs can decide whether to use cards and accounts, or just cards or just accounts. In some cases, B2B embedded banking products encourage their users to use cards as frequently as possible, thereby generating additional revenue through interchange fees. The accounts-only option indicates that the team has carefully considered the problems and preferences of their customers and launched a product that addresses these.

Secondly, while we have seen many digital accounting providers with embedded banking products before, we have not seen as many from Italy. Perhaps, we can even extend that to Embedded Finance solutions in general. There are probably two primary reasons for this: the limited number of (larger) tech companies in Italy, especially compared to Middle & Western Europe and the regulatory scrutiny. The latter point presented a challenge for a few infrastructure providers, who had to delay or de-scope their offerings in Italy due to the local regulator's intervention. Therefore, I am delighted to see the Sibill embedded banking launch announcement and really hope for their success, also because it might motivate other local companies to follow suit.

New Zealand tax provider for sole traders Hnry expands to the UK and partners with Edenred Payment Solutions (Fintech Finance News). Hnry supports its users in all kinds of tax-related activities, such as filing taxes, expense management, and expert support for personal tax questions.

The financial offering of Hnry in the UK includes a payment account and debit card, which Edenred Payment Solutions provides. The sole trader can use the payment account to receive all of their self-employed income, and Hnry will then automatically calculate, deduct and pay the right amount of tax for every incoming payment. The remainder of the amount will be transferred to the user's chosen account, typically their personal bank account, where they spend their money. In addition, the Hnry Mastercard can be used for all business-related expenses.

The solution is comparable to other sole-trader solutions in Europe, such as Accountable (Belgium and Germany). One of the common challenges for sole traders is that they are unsure how much of the money they receive from their clients is actually theirs, as they need to pay VAT, income tax, and business expenses. Digital tools like Hnry make this a lot easier and provide insight about taxes due that the sole trader typically never had.

And there is a reason why Hnry made the significant expansion from Down Under to the UK in 2025, as the British government is actively working towards “Making Tax Digital” with a big launch date in April 2026. Solutions like Hnry are needed to achieve such ambitious goals.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this edition.

My newsletter, podcast, and event activities are free, but I need your support to continue. Please share Embedded Finance Review with your friends and coworkers, and let me know your feedback (links above).

And if you need help understanding, building, or launching an embedded finance product, visit my website and get in touch with me.

Best wishes from Berlin,

Lars Markull (LinkedIn)