Guides - cost structures and how-to for European fintech infrastructure
What regulated infrastructure really costs and how to buy it: the quote structures providers use, every published entry price in the verified catalogue, and the questions that get you comparable offers. Written from the same source-verified dataset as the rest of the site.
Write the brief, decide bundled vs composed, screen on sovereignty facts, verify the licence in the official register, compare pricing structurally, check the dependency graph, pilot with an exit plan - a method built on verified data, not vendor decks.
Scheme, issuing model, licence, stack, accounts, compliance, contract: the seven layers of a European card programme - with the sovereignty questions (data residency, scheme dependency, iOS NFC) built in from day one.
Operate under a provider's licence umbrella or get your own EMI/PI authorisation? The real trade: unit economics vs control, statutory capital (EUR 350,000 for an EMI under EMD2), authorisation timelines, and the migration path from umbrella to BYOL.
From defining the card product to signing the agreement: seven steps to a European BIN sponsor - what sponsors actually assess, the pack to prepare, how to run a parallel RFP and the contract lines that matter.
Core BaaS platforms do not publish pricing - the transparent edge of the market does. The full BaaS cost structure (setup, platform minimum, per-account, per-card, per-transaction, scheme passthrough), what moves a quote, and every published entry price in the verified catalogue.
No verified BIN sponsor publishes a price list. What a BIN sponsorship quote is made of - setup, BIN fees, per-card and per-transaction fees, scheme passthrough, collateral - what moves it up or down, and the few published prices in adjacent categories worth knowing.
What an IBAN-as-a-service quote is made of: setup and platform fees, per-account pricing by model (virtual, dedicated, named virtual), per-payment fees by rail (SCT, SCT Inst, SDD, SWIFT), FX and safeguarding - and why direct-debit access is priced on risk.