Regulators warn small banks considering banking-as-a-service partnerships off the record

The news: Cornerstone Advisors Partner Brad Smith recently alleged on LinkedIn that government regulators “have told more than one of my BaaS clients off the record that their agencies don’t believe any bank under $100B should be in the banking-as-a-service (BaaS) space."

The rationale: A recent survey confirms compliance has been a major issue for many sponsor banks.

  • 80% say managing and meeting the compliance requirements of BaaS partnerships is “challenging.”