Glossary
BYOL (bring your own licence)
Running fintech infrastructure on YOUR regulatory licence, with vendors supplying only technology - the opposite of a licence-umbrella model.
Under BYOL you hold the EMI/PI/banking licence and buy software (core banking, card issuing, KYC) from unlicensed vendors. Full control, direct regulator relationship, no umbrella fees - and full compliance burden.
Most teams start under a sponsor's licence and migrate to BYOL at scale. The catalogue's licence-type filter separates licensed providers from pure software vendors so you can plan that path.
Primary source: Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2) · Directive 2009/110/EC (E-Money Directive)
In the verified data
- 199 live providers in the catalogue are technology vendors with no financial licence of their own - the BYOL shopping list - against 253 that hold a bank, e-money, payment, MiCA or trust-service licence.
- Vendor share by layer: core banking 34 of 37, issuer processing 29 of 52, card issuing 15 of 62 - ledgers and processors are bought as software, while card issuing is mostly sold with a licence attached.
Recomputed from the catalogue and the official EBA, ESMA and FCA registers on every build — how we verify.
Questions to ask a provider
- Can your product run on my licence today and on yours at launch - without a re-platforming?
- What outsourcing documentation do you provide for my regulator (EBA outsourcing guidelines, DORA register of information)?
- How would existing customers, accounts and card BINs migrate from your umbrella to my own licence?