Starter Stack Versus Custom Stack
Anthony Peculic, Head of Cards at Cross River Bank, on building a fintech one-stop shop
The key divide in BaaS is not all-in-one versus best-in-breed, it is starter stack versus custom stack. Early teams usually need one provider that already has the bank charter, ledger, card issuing, money movement, lending workflows, and compliance wrapped together, because stitching those pieces together is slow and operationally heavy. Larger fintechs like Stripe can add or swap one component at a time because they already have most of that plumbing in place.
-
Cross River’s pitch is to sit underneath the fintech as the regulated bank and API layer, while still letting customers bring their own processor, network, or other vendor. In practice, that means a startup can launch with one partner, then unbundle pieces later as scale justifies it.
-
The broader market split has looked similar for years. All-in-one BaaS platforms bundle accounts, cards, payments, and compliance for speed to launch, while point solutions like Marqeta or Lithic handle one layer well and fit better once a company has internal ops and engineering muscle.
-
A newer class of tech-forward banks like Column and Lead Bank pushes the same vertical logic further, keeping the charter, ledger, and rails in one entity. That works well for scaled fintechs like Brex, Mercury, and Affirm, but it is a higher commitment model than most first-time builders need.
The market is moving toward a lifecycle model. Startups and non-fintech brands will keep buying speed and simplicity first, then rebundling around specialist vendors as volume grows. Providers that can win the first launch and stay flexible enough to keep one or two modules as customers mature will capture the most durable share of embedded finance.