Synctera's Bank-Visible BaaS Model
Peter Hazlehurst and Kris Hansen, co-founders of Synctera, on BaaS in 2023
Synctera was betting that the winning BaaS platform would look less like a black box vendor and more like shared control software for banks and fintechs. In practice that means the fintech builds on Synctera APIs, but the sponsor bank still sees the live program, reviews flows, prices risk, and keeps a direct contract with the fintech instead of being hidden behind middleware. That structure makes banks more willing to approve programs and gives fintechs a clearer path to launch and scale.
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The core product split is very deliberate. For fintechs, Synctera offers account, card, KYC, ledger, and money movement APIs. For banks, it offers the operating layer to monitor compliance, fraud, onboarding, and program economics. That is why Synctera describes itself as a marketplace and a bank enablement platform, not just an API wrapper.
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This is also a positioning difference versus earlier BaaS models that tried to abstract away the bank. Synctera said banks and fintechs should keep a direct relationship, because fraud events, reserve requirements, and compliance decisions eventually require the actual bank and program manager to work together. The platform speeds that work up, but does not replace it.
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The market moved in that direction after the 2023 to 2024 shakeout. Research on Column shows fintechs migrating toward setups with tighter bank control and less middleware complexity. Synctera's bank visible model was built for that world, where sponsor banks want to log in daily, inspect the book, and actively manage risk instead of reviewing programs only during periodic audits.
Going forward, BaaS providers increasingly win by helping banks act like informed operators instead of passive balance sheet providers. The platforms that keep the bank close to the program, while still giving developers fast APIs, are best positioned to capture new embedded finance demand as regulators push for clearer accountability across the whole stack.