GreenBox Forms BaaS Partnership With Cross River

digital banking

Payments solutions firm GreenBox POS has formed a licensing partnership with Cross River Bank to launch its first banking-as-a-service (BaaS) initiative.

The partnership, announced in a news release Wednesday (Feb. 16), will allow GreenBox to use Cross River’s infrastructure and access to payment rails to open custodial, reserve and operating accounts for its customers, who can then manage those accounts with a tools powered by Cross River.

GreenBox CEO Fredi Nisan said the company chose Cross River because of its banking technology expertise, and called the partnership a “game changer” for his company.

“Not only will we eventually be able offer all our existing merchant clients cutting-edge banking services, but we can also open these solutions to strategic partnership, and enterprises seeking white-label solutions,” he said. “We expect this to be a significant driver of revenue growth.”

By leveraging all Cross River’s features, Nisan said, GreenBox can further its BaaS platform and help businesses lessen their dependence on multiple financial platforms.

Read more: Payment Approved, Cross River Bank Partner on Better Payment Options

Last year, Cross River launched a partnership with FinTech Payment Approved that the companies said gives businesses faster and more secure payment options.

The partnership involves Cross River providing the payments and technology infrastructure to facilitate disbursements through push-to-card capabilities for Visa and Mastercard. Cross River will also be the sponsor bank and will offer clearing accounts, FBO management and merchant acquiring services to Payment Approved’s clients.

Learn more: Banking As A Service Provides B2B Solutions For Businesses Of All Sizes

The global market for BaaS has become a $1 trillion industry, a PYMNTS article noted last year, but recent projections suggest this uptrend will continue — and accelerate — throughout the decade, with demand growing fourfold to $3.6 trillion by 2030.

GreenBox is one of 12,000 startups hoping to get a piece of the growing BaaS pie, along with legacy lenders. As PYMNTS noted before, U.S. lenders that offer BaaS already generated 200% to 300% higher returns on assets than other banks by providing these back-office services to their business customers.