Cross River and FinClusive Partner on Compliance-Driven Financial Services

FISPAN - Next-Gen Commercial Banking - August 2022 - Explore how FIs can use embedded banking to meet SMB clients' digital needs

Cross River and FinClusive have partnered to deliver financial services to underserved communities.

Working together, Cross River’s embedded finance solutions and FinClusive’s Compliance-as-a-Service (CaaS) infrastructure will provide account and payment services to financially underserved communities and organizations, the companies said in a Friday (March 31) press release.

“Regulatory compliance, responsibility and transparency are central to Cross River, and we continue to expand our partnerships with technology leaders focused on increasing financial access,” Cross River founder, President and CEO Gilles Gade said in the release. “Both Cross River and FinClusive share fundamental values and a compliance-driven approach.”

In the newly announced partnership, Cross River will provide enhanced payment capabilities and connectivity to the United States banking system with the aim of providing financial services that are safe, sound, compliant and affordable, according to the release.

FinClusive will contribute its CaaS application and digital gateway that embeds compliance-backed identity credentials into network transactions, delivering the necessary consumer and business protections, the release said.

“In an uncertain industry environment — with ongoing challenges impacting both traditional and alternative financial services providers — this partnership is another example of our unwavering commitment to accountability and responsible governance within the financial system,” FinClusive CEO Amit Sharma said in the release. “Our partnership provides local communities with much-needed, reliable access to comprehensive compliance capabilities and demonstrates our shared commitment to innovation and compliance in tandem.”

Ninety percent of financial institutions are pursuing embedded finance solutions, according to the “Next-Gen Commercial Banking Tracker®,” a PYMNTS and FISPAN collaboration.

Cross River offers a diverse set of embedded finance solutions, starting with payments, to meet its customers’ needs, Cross River Head of Cards and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) Anthony Peculic told PYMNTS in an interview posted in August.

It provides customers with almost every way to move money, including numerous real-time payment options, Peculic said at the time.

“This allows our customers to … select and use the best methods to get the money where they need to, whether [they are] paying bills, paying businesses, or just moving money around accounts,” Peculic said. “All those things come together, and we need to provide all the tools to support that.”