Insights

How distribution partnerships actually make money

Four economic shapes cover almost every arrangement in this dataset. Which one you are in determines what to negotiate and what to measure.

The four shapes

The partner is paid per transaction. Common where a financial product sits inside a non financial company's flow. The retailer earns on financed volume, the issuer earns on the balance. Both sides grow with the same number, which is why these arrangements last.

The provider is paid a platform fee. Common where one financial company supplies capability to another. Revenue is stable and does not track the partner's success, so the partner carries the growth risk alone.

The partner is paid for the introduction. A referral is the cheapest arrangement to sign and the easiest to stop caring about, because nobody's operations change.

Nobody is paid, and access is the consideration. Marketplace listings and alliance programmes work this way. The provider gets distribution, the platform gets a more complete product, and no money changes hands at all.

Why the shape matters more than the rate

A revenue share negotiated inside the wrong shape does not survive. Per transaction economics in an arrangement where the partner cannot influence transactions produces a partner who stops selling. A platform fee in an arrangement where the provider carries the support burden produces a provider who stops answering.

What to measure

Each shape has one number that predicts renewal. Per transaction: partner-attributed volume. Platform fee: support cost per partner. Referral: conversion of introduced accounts. Access: whether the listing is still surfaced a year later.

Written from the partnership dataset. Economics described here are the stated terms in announcements, not contract terms, which are not public.