IBAN-as-a-service costs — the structure behind the quote

First, know which product you're buying

Retail business accounts with published prices (Wise, Paysera and friends — see every published price) are a different product from IBAN-as-a-service: API-issued accounts for your customers, under the provider's EMI, PI or banking licence. The retail price is useful only as a floor benchmark — the API product carries per-account compliance, safeguarding and programme management the retail product does not.

What an IBAN-as-a-service quote is made of

1. Setup fee — onboarding, due diligence on your business model, integration.
2. Monthly platform fee — the floor, usually with volume tiers.
3. Per-account fees, by model — the biggest structural choice:
   • Virtual IBANs routing into a pooled account — cheapest; a reconciliation construct;
   • Named virtual IBANs — the middle tier: your customer's name on the credit transfer, pooled underneath;
   • Dedicated accounts — full accounts in the customer's name: full KYB, monitoring and safeguarding per account, priced accordingly.
   Each provider's documented model is on its profile (the account model line) and filterable in the IBAN sponsor hub.
4. Per-payment fees, by rail — SEPA credit transfer, SEPA Instant, direct debit and SWIFT are priced separately; instant and cross-border cost more than batch SEPA.
5. FX margins — for multi-currency accounts, often the largest real cost line.
6. Compliance / KYB onboarding — per-account checks, usually passed through per verification.

What moves the quote

• Which country codes you need — local IBANs are issued jurisdiction by jurisdiction; coverage differs wildly per provider (21 codes across the market, with real white spots — the coverage analysis maps them).
• Direct debit access — the premium line. A debtor can reclaim a Core SDD for eight weeks no-questions-asked, so the sponsor underwrites collections like a credit line; only a minority of verified sponsors document SDD at all. If collections are the use case, filter for documented SDD first.
• Licence type behind the account — a bank offers deposit-guaranteed accounts (EUR 100,000 protection); an EMI/PI safeguards funds instead (ring-fenced, not guaranteed). Both are legitimate; they price and sell differently. Every profile carries the client funds line.
• Volume mix — many dormant accounts vs fewer high-transaction accounts produce very different unit economics; bring the split.

Before you ask for a quote

Bring: markets and required IBAN country codes, account model you actually need (do not pay for dedicated when named virtual does the job), expected accounts and payments per month by rail, whether you need SDD, and your licence status. Then compare like for like — or let us shortlist three verified sponsors against exactly these criteria, free and neutral.

Related: verified IBAN sponsors · EEA data residency guide · what safeguarding means.