Schwaner & Co. provides partnership development for core banking providers, banking as a service platforms, and ledger and money movement companies, from target selection and executive outreach through negotiation and launch coordination. We help you open sponsor bank relationships, core and integrator channels, association and consultancy alliances, and platform partnerships that put your product in front of buyers at the moment they are choosing.
Every engagement is run by a senior partnerships executive, supported by a team that handles research, materials and follow-up.
Banking infrastructure partnerships that shorten the sale
Selling infrastructure to a bank is slow for reasons that have nothing to do with your product. The buyer runs a vendor review, the board wants a reference, the core vendor has to approve the integration and the examiner wants to see the third-party risk file. Every one of those steps is faster when a partner the bank already trusts brings you in.
That is what our banking infrastructure partnership work is for. We start with who already has the buyer's attention, a core provider with a marketplace, a consultancy that runs core conversions, a state bankers association, a CUSO, a sponsor bank that needs technology, a platform that needs a ledger underneath it. Then we work out why that partner would put you in front of its clients, what the arrangement looks like and whether the deals it produces justify the integration and the revenue share.
For a core or processing provider, that might be an integrator and consultancy channel that influences conversions, or fintechs that want to be in your marketplace. For a BaaS platform, it is usually sponsor banks on one side and fintechs and platforms on the other, and the two have to be built together. For a ledger or money movement company, it is often platforms and fintechs that would rather plug you in than build, plus the banks they settle through. We build the approach around your product, your sales motion and the number you have to hit.
What is happening in banking infrastructure right now
Three things are moving in this market in 2026, and each one changes who your next partner should be.
Fintechs are becoming banks
More than 30 neobanks, lenders, payment companies and digital asset firms have gone through the OCC charter process this year. Nubank, Mercury, Revolut and Upstart received conditional approvals for de novo banks. Coinbase, Circle and others received or were approved for national trust charters. The OCC is now aiming to decide applications within 120 days. Every one of those new banks needs a core, a ledger, payment rails and compliance tooling, and most of them are buying rather than building. The customer list for infrastructure providers is getting longer, and the first vendors in the door at a newly chartered bank tend to stay. [4]
Core replacement is moving again
Jack Henry reported a record 58 competitive core wins in fiscal 2026, 14 of them at institutions above $1 billion in assets, on revenue of $2.54 billion, up 7.1%. When institutions of that size change cores, they re-evaluate everything attached to the core, and the vendors in the new core's marketplace or on the integrator's shortlist get the first look. For anyone selling into banks and credit unions, the core and the consultancy running the conversion are now a channel, not just a dependency. [3]
The sponsor bank model was rebuilt, not retired. After the Synapse failure, the three-way bank, middleware and fintech contract fell out of favor. One major middleware provider ended that business in early 2024, others moved to direct bank-to-fintech contracts with the bank keeping oversight, and regulators raised expectations for partner banks. Two years on, sponsor banks still want programs and still want technology that makes oversight easier, but they are choosing fewer, better partners. For a BaaS or money movement provider, the bank relationship is now won on the compliance and reporting story as much as the API. [5, 6]
Put those together and the opportunity is clear. There are more buyers, they are making decisions at predictable moments, and the people who influence those decisions are a short list of cores, integrators, consultancies, associations and sponsor banks. More growth runs through those partners now, and the providers who build that channel early will compound.
Where infrastructure providers can find distribution
Infrastructure companies reach buyers in different ways. These are examples of partner categories we would evaluate based on your product, market and operating capabilities.
| Infrastructure segment | Potential distribution partners | What we would evaluate |
|---|---|---|
| Core banking and processing providers | Core conversion consultancies and system integrators, state and national bankers associations, credit union leagues and CUSOs, de novo bank formation advisors, digital banking platforms and the fintechs that want to join your marketplace | Who influences the conversion decision, how referrals and co-selling would work and what the partner earns |
| Banking as a service platforms | Sponsor and partner banks, fintechs and vertical software platforms launching financial products, compliance and KYC providers, card networks and issuer processors, venture investors and accelerators | Bank capacity and program appetite, the fintech pipeline on the other side and whether both can be built in step |
| Ledger and money movement platforms | Banks offering payment and treasury services, vertical software and marketplaces that move money for their customers, payment processors, ERP and accounting platforms, embedded finance providers | Where the partner's customers need a ledger or payment orchestration, the integration path and who owns the customer |
| Digital banking and front-end platforms | Core providers, resellers and integrators, bankers associations, CUSOs and complementary fintech vendors sold into the same institutions | Core certification status, the reseller's incentive and overlap with your direct pipeline |
Partnership models for infrastructure growth
Sponsor and partner bank partnerships
If you are a BaaS or money movement platform, the bank is half your product. A sponsor bank supplies the charter, the deposit insurance and the oversight, and it chooses which middleware and which programs it will work with. Banks are choosing fewer partners than they did three years ago, and they are choosing on compliance tooling, reporting and the quality of the fintechs you bring them.
We identify banks with the appetite, capacity and risk posture to support your model, open conversations with the executives who own fintech strategy, and work through program criteria, economics, oversight responsibilities and the launch sequence. Your compliance and product teams own the operating model the bank will review. We keep the commercial conversation moving and make sure the fintech pipeline on the other side is real before the bank signs.
Core marketplace and integrator partnerships
Core providers, their marketplaces and the consultancies and integrators that run conversions sit closest to the buying decision. Getting certified, listed and recommended inside those ecosystems puts your product in front of an institution at the moment it is already changing systems and already has budget.
We assess which cores and integrators cover your target institutions, what certification and partnership programs they run, how referral and co-sell arrangements work and what the partner expects in return. Your engineering team handles the integration. We handle the relationship, the commercial terms and the internal champions who decide which vendors get recommended.
Association, CUSO and consultancy alliances
Bankers associations, credit union leagues, CUSOs and bank consultancies have something no vendor can buy, standing trust with hundreds of institutions at once. An endorsed vendor program, a league partnership or a consultancy's preferred list can produce qualified introductions for years.
We evaluate which associations and advisors reach your buyers, what their endorsement or referral programs require, how the economics work and what you would owe in support, education and sponsorship. These relationships are slow to open and durable once they are, so we treat them as a channel to build rather than a one-time listing.
Platform and co-sell partnerships
Vertical software, marketplaces and embedded finance providers need ledgers, accounts, payments and cores underneath their products, and complementary infrastructure vendors are selling into the same institutions you are. Both are distribution. A platform that embeds your product brings you every customer it signs. A complementary vendor that co-sells with you brings you into deals you would not have seen.
We identify platforms where your capability solves a specific problem and vendors whose products sit next to yours in the buyer's stack, build the case for a commercial partnership and work through placement, revenue sharing, referral terms and joint go-to-market responsibilities.
What makes an infrastructure partnership worth pursuing
A partner's logo count is only a starting point. We look at how many of its institutions or clients fit your product, whether it actually influences the buying decision, what a referral or co-sell would produce and whether that revenue justifies the integration, the certification and the partner's share.
- Buyer access. Which institutions, fintechs or platforms does the partner actually reach, and does it influence what they buy?
- Timing. Does the partner meet the buyer at a decision moment, a core conversion, a de novo launch, a new program, a new product line?
- Product fit. Does your product solve a specific problem in the partner's own delivery, so the partner has a reason to recommend it beyond the referral fee?
- Economics. What revenue is plausible after the partner's share and the cost of certification, integration and partner support, and how does that compare with your direct cost of sale?
- Compliance path. What third-party risk, certification or regulatory review applies, and can both sides clear it in a reasonable time?
- Partner commitment. Who owns the relationship on each side, and will the partner's own sales and account teams actually bring you in?
For example, a core provider with thousands of institutions may have limited near-term potential if its marketplace lists two hundred vendors and nobody promotes them. A regional consultancy that runs forty conversions a year and recommends three vendors in your category could deserve priority, because every engagement is a buying decision.
Our approach to partner selection is explained further in how we identify strategic partners.
How we develop your partner pipeline
Identify the right targets
We agree on the product, the buyer segment, the revenue objective and the partner categories to pursue. Research then narrows the opportunity to specific companies, relevant decision-makers and a clear partnership rationale. You can see why each target belongs on the list and which assumptions still need to be tested.
Engage the decision-makers
We open executive conversations with an explanation of why the partnership could matter to that company and what revenue or client value it could produce. Existing relationships help where there is relevant overlap; we also develop new conversations through targeted outreach. Follow-up addresses the partner's questions and keeps the next decision clear.
Qualify the opportunity
Discovery tests buyer access, product fit, economics, certification and compliance requirements and the partner's willingness to act. We establish who needs to be involved and what each side needs to evaluate. Every active opportunity has a next step, an owner on each side and a target date for the next decision.
Scope and negotiate the agreement
We develop the commercial proposal and lead negotiations around the agreed partnership model. Topics may include referral fees or revenue sharing, co-sell rules, lead registration, exclusivity, certification and support obligations, marketing commitments and responsibilities for launch and ongoing enablement. We coordinate with your legal, compliance, product and sales leads so decisions and outstanding requirements stay visible.
Coordinate launch and handover
Once an agreement is signed, we coordinate the commercial work needed to prepare the partnership for launch. That includes agreed responsibilities, partner enablement materials, launch milestones and the handover of contacts and deal documents. Your teams retain responsibility for technical integration, certification and approvals. Ongoing partner management stays with your team unless separately scoped.
Weekly pipeline reviews distinguish outreach, qualified opportunities, proposals, signed agreements and launched partners. Once a partner is live, reporting should separately show partner-sourced introductions, qualified opportunities, closed clients and revenue.
See our business development consulting services for the broader deliverables and reporting.
Senior partnership leadership and execution
Every engagement is run by a senior partnerships executive who leads partner strategy, executive conversations and commercial negotiations. That ownership continues through agreement and launch coordination. Kevin Schwaner is the person on every call.
We have 200+ enterprise relationships across insurance, banking, lending, automotive and consumer platforms, built over nearly a decade, and have driven over $200M in partnership revenue for the companies our team members have worked for. Two of those experiences say more about how we work than any process diagram.
The first was a partnership with a top-five property and casualty carrier. There was no introduction and no existing relationship. Our team reached 173 people across that organization before the right conversation started, and that conversation became a signed partnership. Large financial institutions are not closed. They are layered, and the work is finding the person whose problem you solve.
The second was getting the chief business officer of one of the largest mortgage lenders in the country onto a call with nothing but a well-built reason to talk. No warm introduction, no mutual investor, no conference handshake. A clear explanation of the revenue the partnership could produce, delivered to the right person, is still the most reliable way into an enterprise, and it is how we open the banks, cores and platforms on your list.
A supporting team handles research, materials, scheduling and follow-up. Your team receives regular pipeline updates with clear next steps, outstanding decisions and an owner for each opportunity. This engagement fits an infrastructure provider with a working product, a defined revenue target and internal capacity to integrate and support partners. We can lead a specific channel, sponsor banks for example, alongside your sales and partnerships team. If you need senior ownership across a broader mandate, our fractional head of partnerships service explains that structure.
Banking infrastructure partnership FAQs
What is banking as a service?
Banking as a service, or BaaS, is the arrangement in which a licensed bank provides accounts, payments, cards or lending to a nonbank company's customers through technology, so the nonbank can offer banking products under its own brand. A BaaS platform or middleware provider typically supplies the APIs, ledger, compliance tooling and program management between the bank and the nonbank. The bank keeps regulatory responsibility and oversight of the program.
What is a sponsor bank?
A sponsor bank, also called a partner bank, is a chartered, insured bank that holds the deposits, issues the cards or originates the loans behind a fintech or platform's financial product. The fintech owns the customer experience. The sponsor bank owns the regulatory relationship, approves the program and oversees compliance. Since 2024, sponsor banks have generally moved to direct contracts with fintechs and tighter program criteria, and they choose middleware and programs that make that oversight easier.
Can you help a BaaS platform find sponsor banks?
Yes. We identify banks with the appetite, capacity and risk posture for your model, open conversations with the executives who own fintech strategy and negotiate program criteria, economics and oversight responsibilities. Your compliance and product teams own the operating model the bank will review. We also make sure the fintech pipeline on the other side is real, because a sponsor bank signs for programs, not for software.
Can you get us into core provider marketplaces and integrator channels?
Yes. We identify which cores, marketplaces, consultancies and integrators cover your target institutions, work out what their partner programs require and negotiate the referral, co-sell and certification arrangement. Your engineering team handles the integration and certification work. We handle the relationship and the commercial terms, and we work the internal champions who decide which vendors get recommended.
Do you sell directly to banks and credit unions for us?
No. We build the partners that bring you into those institutions, and we can open executive conversations at specific institutions where we have relevant relationships. Direct sales, demos, procurement and vendor due diligence stay with your sales team. We agree on account ownership and handoff rules at the start so the two motions reinforce each other.
Can you work alongside our internal partnerships or alliances team?
Yes. We can own a defined channel or partner category while your team manages the rest. We agree on account ownership, decision authority and reporting at the start so both teams know who leads each relationship and when product, compliance or sales specialists should participate.
How long does it take to launch an infrastructure partnership?
Timing depends on the model, the partner's priorities, certification work and compliance review. Referral and co-sell arrangements move faster than marketplace certification or a sponsor bank program. We establish milestones after discovery and track progress against them. A signed agreement, a launched partner and a partner-sourced client are separate milestones; the timeline should make each one clear.
How are banking infrastructure partnership engagements priced?
Schwaner & Co. works on a monthly retainer plus a performance fee on closed partnerships. The scope reflects the products, partner categories and work involved. We agree on responsibilities, commercial terms and how a closed partnership is defined before the engagement begins.
Discuss your channel partnership goals
Tell us about your product, the institutions or platforms you want to reach and the revenue target partnerships need to support. We will prepare an initial map of eight to ten potential partners for one channel and use a 20-minute conversation to discuss where there may be a fit.