What is the difference between core banking and BaaS?

Core banking is the internal system a bank uses to manage accounts, transactions, compliance, and services. BaaS (Banking as a Service) is the externally exposed API layer that allows third parties — fintechs, marketplaces, HR platforms — to embed those banking capabilities into their own products. Codego provides both: a white-label core banking platform for institutions and a BaaS API layer for fintech partners.

Codego Banking as a services White label Card Issuing Prepaid

F1 · Core Banking

The ledger,
the rails,
the audit trail.

Codego Core Banking is the central system of record powering every white-label programme. A real-time multi-currency ledger, transaction monitoring, KYC liveness and AML screening, strong customer authentication — exposed through a single API.

Ledger: Real-time · multi-currency · double-entry
Compliance: KYC liveness · PEP · sanctions · adverse media
Authentication: SCA · biometric · device binding
Monitoring: Transaction screening · alert engine · audit trail
Integration: REST API · webhooks · sandbox

Read platform brief

Codego Core Banking platform — administrator console with real-time ledger, multi-currency accounts, KYC and transaction monitoring

Fig. 01 Core Banking — administrator console Real-time · multi-currency · audited

02

Process

From contract to live programme — typically in fifteen days

≈ 3 min · 4 phases

From contract to live card programme,
typically in fifteen days.

Launching a white-label banking platform or card programme involves four structured phases. The longest segments are commercial alignment and technical certification — most operational work runs in parallel.

Phase Description Timeline · weeks 1 — 5 Duration

01

Commercial & technical agreementDefine product scope, card type, payment rails, branding. Integration roadmap and compliance checklist.

Wk 1—2

02

KYC, compliance & licensingCodego's compliance team handles regulatory framework. Partner KYC/AML onboarding in parallel.

Wk 1—3

03

API integration & brand configurationConnect platform to Codego's APIs. Configure domain, card art, logo, spending rules, cardholder limits. Sandbox available day one.

Wk 2—4

04

Testing, certification & go-liveEnd-to-end testing, Apple Pay / Google Pay provisioning, certification, 24/7 monitoring post-launch.

Wk 4—5

Source — internal onboarding data, average across 59 programmes launched 2024 — 2025.

03

Product index

Eight programmes · one API · shared ledger

8 products

Issuer of debit, prepaid
and corporate card programmes.

From BIN sponsorship to full white-label neobank infrastructure — Codego's modular platform covers every layer of a fintech product stack. Each product line below is documented separately; the underlying ledger and authorisation engine is shared.

P.01 · Infrastructure

Core banking

Real-time ledger, transaction monitoring, KYC liveness, PEP & sanctions screening. Central record for every product.

→

P.02 · Network access

BIN sponsorship

15 active BIN programmes across prepaid, debit and corporate. Visa & Mastercard, no principal membership.

→

P.03 · Manufacturing

Card issuer

Plastic, metal, wood, transparent, virtual. Apple Pay / Google Pay included. PCI DSS issuance.

→

P.04 · Programmes

Card programmes

Prepaid, debit, expense, payroll, gift, white-label. One API, full lifecycle: issuance to settlement.

→

P.05 · Acquiring

Card processor

Virtual and physical acquiring. API-powered processing. Chargebacks, scaling, certified rails.

→

P.06 · Banking

Virtual IBAN

EU IBAN in 6 countries. SEPA, SEPA Instant, SWIFT, local rails. Multi-currency, real-time balances.

→

P.07 · Crypto

Crypto card programmes

Fiat at point of sale, balances in crypto. Real-time conversion. 500+ assets, certified custodians.

→

P.08 · Hardware

POS terminals

EMV-certified card-present acceptance. Branded terminals, contactless, chip-and-PIN, daily reconciliation.

→

04

Mobile platform

White-label · iOS & Android · 12 fiat · 500+ crypto

v2.0

Your white-label app,
shipped in under fifteen days.

A fully branded mobile banking application for iOS and Android. Codego customises every element to your brand and onboards users with our integrated KYC/AML liveness tool. Apple Pay and Google Pay provisioning is available within twenty-four hours of card programme activation.

The app includes individual and business accounts, IBAN management, prepaid and debit card controls, real-time transaction notifications and peer-to-peer transfers.

Currencies: 12 fiat · 500+ crypto
Wallets: Apple Pay · Google Pay
Integration: REST API · webhooks
Compliance: PSD2 · PCI DSS · SCA

Get started

Codego white-label mobile banking app for iOS and Android with Apple Pay, Google Pay, virtual cards and IBAN

05

Digital wallets

Apple Pay & Google Pay — 24 hour provisioning

Visa · Mastercard

Your card design on
Apple Pay & Google Pay.

No implementation friction, no waiting times. Codego's agreements with Visa and Mastercard enable your card programme to provision to Apple Pay and Google Pay within twenty-four hours of activation — your brand, your card art, your app.

Card design on virtual and physical programmes

Corporate, expense and consumer cards carry your full brand identity on Apple Pay and Google Pay. Card art, colours and logo are configured during programme setup and can be updated without hardware changes.

Instant virtual card issuance

Virtual cards are issued in seconds via API. Customers receive a notification and can immediately add their card to Apple Pay or Google Pay — enabling spend before the physical card arrives.

Real-time settlement and controls

All transactions settle in real time inside your application. Cardholders and administrators can set spend limits, block or unblock cards, and configure merchant-category controls via API or the admin console.

White-label debit card on Apple Pay and Google Pay

06

Economics · build vs buy

9-dimension comparison · 2024–2025 benchmarks

≈ 4 min

BaaS versus building
in-house.

Most fintechs estimate twelve to twenty-four months and US$ 500,000 to US$ 2,000,000 to build card-issuing and core-banking infrastructure from scratch. Codego's BaaS model compresses that to less than fifteen days at a fraction of the cost.

Dimension	Build in-house	Codego BaaS
Time to first card	12 — 24 months	< 15 days
Initial investment	US$ 500K — 2M+	Tailored on volume & scope
Banking licence required	Yes (12 — 36 mo, US$ 1M+)	No — Codego's licences apply
Visa / Mastercard membership	Yes (principal, US$ 2M+)	No — BIN sponsorship included
PCI DSS compliance	Your responsibility	Covered by Codego
KYC / AML / PSD2	Separate procurement	Built-in liveness, PEP & sanctions
Apple Pay & Google Pay	Separate certification	Ready from day one
SEPA & SWIFT rails	Correspondent banking	6 European countries, included
Team required	10 — 30 engineers + compliance	Your product team + Codego API

Estimates based on industry benchmarks and Codego onboarding data, 2023 — 2025.

07

Networks & certifications

Audited · live · inherited automatically by every programme

9 standards

Certified across the rails
that actually move money.

+ more

(A) Cards 2025: 366,000
(B) Volume 2025: $1.1bn
(C) WL programmes: 59live
(D) BIN programmes: 15active

08

Why Codego

Replaces 4 — 8 vendors with one API partnership

6 notes

One partner.
Replaces four to eight vendors.

Codego consolidates card issuing, core banking, payment rails, compliance and KYC into a single API partnership. Most clients replace four to eight separate vendor relationships with one.

A · Audit

Core banking platform

Real-time expense tracking, multi-currency account management, month-on-month spending comparison. Full visibility for cardholders, full audit trail for compliance.

B · Network

Fifteen BIN programmes

Active BIN sponsorship across prepaid, debit and corporate types. Visa & Mastercard membership without a principal licence.

C · Manufacturing

Every card format

Plastic, metal, wood, transparent, virtual. Industry-leading SLA. Apple Pay and Google Pay included. Your art, embossing, packaging.

D · Security

PSD2-native security

SCA on every transaction. Biometric liveness, device binding, face recognition. Payments approved only by the verified cardholder.

E · Funding

Multiple deposit rails

Bank transfer, SEPA, SWIFT, voucher codes, real-time card top-up from any Visa or Mastercard. Region-aware, reconciled by Codego.

F · Coverage

IBAN in six countries

Local IBAN in 6 European countries via API. SEPA Instant, SWIFT, local rails. Dedicated IBAN per end user, multi-currency, webhooks.

09

About Codego

Group structure · licences · presence

est. 2012

Twelve years building
financial infrastructure.

Codego was founded in 2012 at the intersection of programming, financial systems and authentication technology. Today it operates as a group of independent entities across twelve countries, providing a single comprehensive banking and card-issuing infrastructure to fintechs, financial institutions and businesses worldwide.

As a Banking-as-a-Service provider, Codego holds the necessary licences and maintains the compliance frameworks, network memberships and technical certifications so its partners don't have to. The result: faster time to market, lower operational cost, and a fully compliant product from day one.

Codego Group LTD holds the core-banking software intellectual property. Codego SRL (Italy) is an authorised electronic-money distributor. Codego Europe SIA (Latvia) is in the EMI licensing process.

About us

Founded: 2012 · twelve years in fintech infra
Presence: 12 countries with offices and licences
HQ: Codego Group LTD, Malta
Italy: Codego SRL · e-money agent distributor
Latvia: Codego Europe SIA · EMI in progress
Trademark: EUIPO registered · ref. 018922174
PCI DSS: Certificate by Adsigo, 2025
Products: Core banking · BaaS · card issuing · BIN sponsorship · vIBAN · SEPA · SWIFT · POS · crypto · expense · gift
Contact: banking@codegotech.com

10

Frequently asked

Six questions about BaaS and card issuing

6 Q&A

Common questions about
BaaS & card issuing.

Q1.What is Banking as a Service (BaaS)?

Banking as a Service is a model where a licensed banking infrastructure provider — like Codego — delivers core banking capabilities via API to fintechs, businesses and financial institutions. BaaS allows companies to offer financial products such as accounts, cards, IBAN and payments under their own brand without needing a banking licence.

Q2.How long does it take to launch a white-label card programme?

With Codego, a white-label card programme can be live in less than fifteen days, depending on complexity. Includes branded prepaid or debit cards, virtual issuance and Apple Pay / Google Pay integration. Building in-house typically takes 12 — 24 months.

Q3.What is BIN sponsorship?

BIN sponsorship is an arrangement where a licensed bank or principal network member shares its BIN range with a third party, enabling them to issue Visa or Mastercard cards without principal membership. Codego offers fifteen BIN programmes across prepaid, debit and corporate.

Q4.Do I need a banking licence to use Codego?

No. Codego holds the necessary licences and regulatory approvals across its operating jurisdictions. As a BaaS partner you operate under Codego's regulatory umbrella for core banking, card issuing and payment services. Your team focuses on product, customer experience and growth.

Q5.Difference between core banking and BaaS?

Core banking is the internal system a bank uses to manage accounts, transactions, compliance. BaaS is the externally exposed API layer that lets third parties embed those capabilities into their products. Codego provides both: a white-label core-banking platform and a BaaS API layer.

Q6.What payment rails does Codego support?

SEPA, SEPA Instant, SWIFT, local payment rails, virtual IBAN issuance in 6 European countries. Visa and Mastercard global acceptance with real-time settlement and multi-currency support across 12 fiat currencies and 500+ crypto. Faster Payments (UK) on configuration.

II

Plate II · Brands in production

Live consumer & B2B products on Codego infrastructure

9 brands · live

Brands running today
on Codego rails.

A selection of consumer banking apps, KYC services, white-label platforms and group properties currently in production on Codego infrastructure.

B.01 Codegopay codegopay.com

Business banking application — multi-currency IBAN, prepaid & debit cards, transfers and card controls under Codegopay brand.

Visit site

B.02 CoxiWallet coxiwallet.com

Hybrid crypto and fiat wallet — IBAN account, prepaid card, on-chain settlement and conversion in a single mobile app.

Visit site

B.03 Banqa banqa.io

Neobanking platform delivering branded multi-currency accounts, card programmes and SEPA / SWIFT rails for end-users and merchants.

Visit site

B.04 CodegoLab codegolab.com

Cloud hosting and infrastructure platform for fintechs — virtual servers, web spaces, USDC topup and full deploy stack on demand.

Visit site

B.05 CodegoKYC codegokyc.com

KYC / AML / liveness verification as a service — face biometrics, document OCR, PEP & sanctions screening via API.

Visit site

B.06 WhiteLabelCard whitelabelcard.com

Self-service white-label card issuing portal — launch a branded prepaid or debit card programme online in days, no integration required.

Visit site

B.07 PressNow pressnow.io

AI-powered news publishing SaaS — launch a branded news site in minutes with curation from 20+ sources, 50+ languages, custom domains and built-in monetisation. Crypto checkout via Codego merchant gateway.

Visit site

B.08 Codego Europe codegoeurope.com

European acquiring entity (Latvia, SIA) — payment acquiring solutions, card scheme membership and safeguarding framework for merchants and partner programmes across the EU.

Visit site

B.09 GPTbanq gptbanq.com

European banking app — open a multi-IBAN euro account in minutes, send and receive SEPA / SEPA Instant payments, prepaid & debit cards and mobile-first banking experience.

Visit site

11

Get started

Response within 24 hours · banking@codegotech.com

Form · 7 steps

Become a fintech now,
on our technology.

One partner. All in one. Launch your branded banking platform with EU IBAN, prepaid and debit card programmes, Apple Pay and Google Pay — on Codego's licensed, PCI‑DSS certified infrastructure.

Codego Group LTD · Malta · Est. 2012
EUIPO 018922174 · PCI DSS by Adsigo, 2025

Start your programme

Get started today

Fill out the seven-step form and our team will respond within twenty-four hours with a tailored proposal.

Open programme

Direct contact

banking@codegotech.com

For enterprise inquiries, BaaS partnerships and technical integration.

API docs Support

White-label Bank as a Service. Card issuing, prepaid, debit, IBAN.

The ledger,the rails,the audit trail.

From contract to live card programme,typically in fifteen days.

Issuer of debit, prepaidand corporate card programmes.

Your white-label app,shipped in under fifteen days.

Your card design onApple Pay & Google Pay.

BaaS versus buildingin-house.

Certified across the railsthat actually move money.

One partner.Replaces four to eight vendors.

Core banking platform

Fifteen BIN programmes

Every card format

PSD2-native security

Multiple deposit rails

IBAN in six countries

Twelve years buildingfinancial infrastructure.

Common questions aboutBaaS & card issuing.

Brands running todayon Codego rails.

Become a fintech now,on our technology.

Get started today

banking@codegotech.com

White-label Bank
as a Service.
Card issuing,
prepaid, debit, IBAN.

The ledger,
the rails,
the audit trail.

From contract to live card programme,
typically in fifteen days.

Issuer of debit, prepaid
and corporate card programmes.

Your white-label app,
shipped in under fifteen days.

Your card design on
Apple Pay & Google Pay.

BaaS versus building
in-house.

Certified across the rails
that actually move money.

One partner.
Replaces four to eight vendors.

Twelve years building
financial infrastructure.

Common questions about
BaaS & card issuing.

Brands running today
on Codego rails.

Become a fintech now,
on our technology.