Standardizing Compliance for Embedded Finance
Roy Ng, EVP, Chief Business Officer at FIS, on the future of BaaS
This is really a claim that compliance is becoming product, not just overhead. In BaaS, the hardest part is not exposing an API for cards or accounts, it is making the bank, the fintech, and the sponsor program all follow the same playbook for KYC, disclosures, transaction monitoring, case handling, and reporting. FIS is arguing that its bank relationships and risk tooling let it turn that playbook into a repeatable standard for large, regulated embedded finance programs.
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The practical problem is that each bank partnership often has its own approval flow, data requirements, and supervision model. Roy Ng describes the market as still under standardized on process, while Synctera describes the same pain as banks and fintechs looking at different systems and struggling to share one view of customers, transactions, and exceptions.
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That favors scaled platforms over startup middleware. Bond was built as an all in one layer for accounts, cards, payments, and compliance operations. After joining FIS and Atelio, it gained access to issuer processing, KYC and fraud capabilities, and a larger bank distribution base, which is exactly the infrastructure needed to set common controls across many programs.
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The market has been moving in this direction as regulatory pressure rises. U.S. banking agencies issued joint guidance on risk management for bank third party arrangements in July 2024, and the scramble after Synapse and Evolve pushed leading fintechs toward partners with tighter control of ledger, bank oversight, and compliance workflows, including vertically integrated players like Column.
The next phase of embedded finance will be won by platforms that make compliant programs feel pre built, not bespoke. That means fewer one off bank fintech setups, more standard operating models, and more share flowing to providers that can give enterprises and banks one system for onboarding, monitoring, approvals, and audit trails from day one.