FIS has launched Embedded Banking Platform, its first Embedded Finance offering built for banks, with pilot participants Cogent Bank, Commercial Bank of California, and M&T Bank.
The platform is aimed at banks seeking to extend their services beyond traditional banking portals and into the software environments where corporate customers manage their day-to-day operations.
Under the model, a bank partners with a vertical software provider or fintech and embeds its own accounts and payment capabilities into that partner's product. The bank retains the customer relationship, the software partner manages the user experience, and FIS provides the underlying infrastructure. In addition, banks can deliver Embedded Banking Platform through APIs, software development kits, embeddable widgets, or white-labelled applications, depending on the preference of the software partner involved.
Balance sheet control and regulatory positioning
A distinguishing feature of the platform is that customer accounts remain on the bank's own balance sheet rather than being held on a virtual ledger managed by a third party. According to FIS, this structure allows banks to retain full ownership of the customer relationship while maintaining a more straightforward regulatory and compliance position compared with models that rely on third-party ledgers. The approach is positioned as a way for banks to extend their reach across the deposit, payment, and lending lifecycle without ceding account ownership to external platforms.
FIS is launching Embedded Banking Platform with a small group of pilot banks, including Cogent Bank, Commercial Bank of California, and M&T Bank. Account opening and payment functionality tied to the pilot are planned to go live in the fourth quarter of 2026. Furthermore, the rollout follows a broader industry pattern in which corporate customers increasingly expect banking functions, such as opening accounts or moving money, to be available inside the software they already use to run their business, rather than through a separate banking interface.
Industry context
The launch reflects a wider shift in Embedded Finance, in which banking functions are increasingly delivered through third-party software rather than standalone banking applications. For banks, embedding services into vertical software used by corporate customers offers an additional distribution channel alongside direct sales. Jon Briggs, Global Head of Embedded Solutions and Money Movement at FIS, said the platform is intended to let banks meet customer expectations for embedded functionality while preserving the regulatory control and customer ownership associated with traditional banking structures.
The approach also positions banks to compete with fintechs and software vendors that have built payment and account capabilities directly into vertical platforms, by allowing banks to supply similar functionality while keeping the underlying accounts within the regulated banking system.
