EST. 2012 CODEGO GROUP LTD · MALTA BANKING AS A SERVICE LOCAL IBAN · 15 COUNTRIES SEPA · SEPA INSTANT · SWIFT · 21 CCY PCI DSS CERTIFIED 2025 API FIRST · WEBHOOKS 79 COUNTRIES DEPOSITS MULTI-CURRENCY · 12+ FIAT $1.1BN PROCESSED 2025 EST. 2012 CODEGO GROUP LTD · MALTA BANKING AS A SERVICE LOCAL IBAN · 15 COUNTRIES SEPA · SEPA INSTANT · SWIFT · 21 CCY PCI DSS CERTIFIED 2025 API FIRST · WEBHOOKS 79 COUNTRIES DEPOSITS MULTI-CURRENCY · 12+ FIAT $1.1BN PROCESSED 2025
Codego · Banking infrastructure · est. 2012 Comparison · Vol. XIII · Issue 06/2026 ● Live · 15 countries · Malta HQ
CMP

Codego vs Banking Circle.
An honest comparison
of payment infrastructure, IBAN and white-label banking.

Banking Circle is a Luxembourg-licensed bank serving PSPs, EMIs and marketplaces with high-volume payment infrastructure, correspondent banking and virtual IBANs. Codego approaches the same space from a different angle: a full white-label stack — card issuing, IBAN, KYC/KYB, neobank app — designed for fintechs that want to launch their own branded product rather than bolt onto a payment backbone. Where Banking Circle excels at enterprise settlement infrastructure, Codego delivers a self-service card and banking programme in 15 days.

Talk to Codego Comparison table
01
At a glance

At a glance

  Codego Banking Circle
Headquarters Malta (EU) Luxembourg (EU)
Founded 2012 2013
Regulatory framework NBB EMI distribution licence; Codego's partner EMIs in EMI process; pan-EU passporting Full banking licence (CSSF, Luxembourg); regulated bank providing payment infrastructure to PSPs and EMIs
Card schemes Visa and Mastercard, both with BIN sponsorship No card issuing; payment infrastructure only
White-label crypto cards First-class: stablecoin and crypto-funded with on-the-fly conversion; 7 regions Not offered
Local IBAN reach Native issuance in 15 EU countries Virtual IBANs for PSPs/marketplaces; enterprise onboarding
EU IBAN issuance SEPA, SEPA Instant, SWIFT; 21 currencies SEPA and SWIFT; primarily for payment business account use cases
Time to launch Virtual cards day 1; full programme by day 15; self-service portal Enterprise onboarding; timeline varies; managed service
Self-service / API Yes — full self-service portal + REST API + sandbox API-driven but enterprise-only; no self-service sign-up
Apple Pay / Google Pay Provisioned within 24 hours of card issuance Not applicable — no card issuing product
Pricing / target client Transparent B2B infrastructure pricing; fintechs, neobanks, programme managers Enterprise-grade; PSPs, EMIs, marketplaces processing high volumes
02
Where Codego is the stronger choice

Where Codego is the stronger choice

White-label card issuing — a product Banking Circle does not offer

Banking Circle's core proposition is payment infrastructure: settlement accounts, correspondent banking and virtual IBANs for PSPs and marketplaces. It does not issue Visa or Mastercard cards, and it does not offer a white-label card programme. If your roadmap includes issuing branded debit, prepaid or expense cards to end users, Codego is the relevant infrastructure layer. Codego holds BIN sponsorship on both Visa and Mastercard and supports white-label card programmes across prepaid, debit, expense and gift card product types from a single infrastructure layer. Banking Circle simply does not compete in this space.

Crypto card infrastructure across 7 regions

Codego's white-label crypto card platform supports stablecoin and crypto-funded programmes with on-the-fly conversion at point of sale. The cardholder spends in fiat; the programme settles from a crypto or stablecoin balance. Apple Pay and Google Pay provisioning completes within 24 hours of card issuance. This infrastructure is available across 7 regions and is configurable via the self-service portal without requiring a bespoke integration engagement. Banking Circle offers no equivalent product — if crypto card issuing is part of your business model, Codego is the only comparison that applies.

Self-service 15-day launch — no enterprise procurement cycle

Banking Circle operates an enterprise sales model: custom onboarding, negotiated commercial terms and a managed-service engagement. There is no self-service sign-up. For fintechs and programme managers who need to move at commercial speed, this introduces weeks or months of procurement overhead before a single card is issued. Codego's core banking platform delivers virtual card issuance on day one and a full programme by day 15 via a self-service portal that programme managers operate directly — no support ticket required for limit changes, fee schedule updates or card art customisation.

Full neobank stack in one place — KYC, IBAN, card and app

Codego's platform combines KYC/KYB onboarding, native IBAN issuance in 15 EU countries, card issuing on both Visa and Mastercard, a white-label neobank app and a Card Reveal SDK under a single infrastructure agreement. A fintech building a consumer or SME neobank does not need to assemble these capabilities from four separate vendors. Banking Circle provides the payment plumbing — settlement accounts and correspondent rails — but requires you to source card issuing, KYC and the user-facing product layer independently. Consolidating onto Codego eliminates the integration overhead and the reconciliation complexity of a multi-vendor stack.

PCI DSS Level 1 certified card processing with Apple Pay and Google Pay

Codego maintains PCI DSS Level 1 certification across its card processing infrastructure. Its card processor layer handles authorisation, clearing and settlement in compliance with scheme rules on both Visa and Mastercard. Apple Pay and Google Pay tokenisation is provisioned within 24 hours of card issuance, ensuring the mobile wallet experience matches premium consumer fintech expectations from launch day. Banking Circle's infrastructure is not a card processor and is not PCI DSS scoped in the card issuance sense — it is a payment account and settlement layer.

Accessible to fintechs without their own banking licence

Banking Circle's client base is predominantly licensed PSPs, EMIs and regulated marketplaces. Its product set presupposes that the client already carries a payment institution or e-money licence. Codego's Banking-as-a-Service model is explicitly designed for fintechs that are pre-licence or that want to launch under Codego's partner EMI framework while they pursue their own regulatory authorisation. This makes Codego accessible at an earlier stage of a fintech's regulatory journey. If you hold your own licence, Codego can also serve as pure technical infrastructure beneath your regulated entity — the same flexibility Banking Circle's enterprise model does not provide.

03
Where Banking Circle is the stronger choice

Where Banking Circle is the stronger choice

Honesty matters. There are scenarios where Banking Circle is the better answer — particularly for large, licensed payment businesses with needs that go beyond card issuing and neobank infrastructure.

Enterprise-scale payment settlement and correspondent banking

Banking Circle operates as a licensed bank and provides direct access to payment clearing infrastructure, correspondent banking relationships and high-volume settlement accounts. For a large PSP or EMI processing hundreds of millions of euros monthly and needing direct clearing access, Banking Circle's position as a regulated bank — rather than a technology provider — confers capabilities that Codego does not replicate. Codego's strength is the fintech product layer; Banking Circle's is the settlement backbone beneath large payment businesses. If your primary requirement is correspondent banking or high-volume SEPA/SWIFT settlement infrastructure at bank level, Banking Circle is the specialist.

Full banking licence with direct scheme and clearing membership

Banking Circle holds a full Luxembourg banking licence granted by the CSSF. This means it can hold client funds as a bank, access payment schemes as a principal member and provide regulated banking services in a way that an EMI distribution licence does not. For regulated financial institutions — banks, large EMIs, major marketplaces — that need a counterparty with full bank status for regulatory, capital or structural reasons, Banking Circle's licence type is a meaningful distinction. Codego's regulatory framework is appropriate for fintech programme management and card issuing; it is not equivalent to a full banking licence.

Established infrastructure for high-volume PSPs and marketplaces

Banking Circle's product set is specifically built for the operational patterns of large payment service providers and e-commerce marketplaces: multi-currency settlement accounts, virtual IBANs at scale for marketplace sub-accounts, and correspondent banking rails that reduce the cost of cross-border settlement. If you operate a marketplace that needs to hold funds for thousands of merchants simultaneously, or a PSP that needs to optimise cross-border settlement costs through a single banking partner, Banking Circle's infrastructure is purpose-built for that use case. Codego's platform is optimised for card programme management, IBAN issuance per end-user and neobank product delivery — a different operational pattern.

04
Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Q1.Is Codego suitable for fintechs that want to launch quickly without a full banking licence?
Yes. Codego's BaaS model allows fintechs and programme managers to launch card issuing and IBAN programmes through Codego's partner EMIs without holding their own banking or e-money licence. Virtual cards are available on day one; physical cards by day 15. If you already hold your own licence, Codego can function as pure technical infrastructure beneath your regulated entity. Banking Circle, by contrast, is primarily oriented towards PSPs, EMIs and marketplaces that are already licensed and need correspondent banking or payment infrastructure at scale.
Q2.Does Codego support crypto-funded cards, and how does settlement work?
Yes. Codego's crypto card infrastructure performs on-the-fly conversion at the moment of authorisation. When a cardholder makes a purchase, the required fiat amount is converted in real time from the designated crypto or stablecoin balance. The cardholder's POS experience is identical to any standard card transaction. Conversion rates, spread parameters and supported asset pairs are configurable at programme level via the self-service portal. Banking Circle does not offer white-label crypto card issuing as part of its core product set.
Q3.What payment rails does Codego support for IBAN issuance?
Codego's platform natively issues IBANs in 15 EU countries with full SEPA, SEPA Instant and SWIFT connectivity across 21 currencies. SEPA Instant availability at the counterparty side depends on the receiving institution's participation in the RT1 or TIPS infrastructure. Outbound Instant payments from Codego-issued IBANs are supported where the beneficiary bank accepts them. Your account manager can confirm per-country availability during onboarding. See the SEPA Instant glossary entry for scheme-level detail.
Q4.Does Codego require me to hold my own EMI licence to launch a programme?
No. Codego's BaaS model is specifically designed to allow fintechs and programme managers to launch through Codego's partner EMIs while they build towards their own licence if desired. Codego's partner-EMI authorisations cover programmes operating under that framework. If you already hold an EMI licence, Codego can also serve as pure technical infrastructure beneath your own regulatory entity.
Q5.What is Banking Circle best known for, and where does it excel?
Banking Circle is a Luxembourg-licensed bank providing high-volume payment and settlement infrastructure, correspondent banking, virtual IBANs and accounts for PSPs, EMIs and marketplaces. It excels at enterprise-scale payment clearing, direct scheme access and correspondent-banking network coverage for large-volume payment businesses. Its focus is payments and settlement infrastructure rather than white-label card issuing or turnkey neobank platforms — which is precisely where Codego's proposition is strongest.
Q6.Can I issue both Visa and Mastercard cards through Codego?
Yes. Codego holds BIN sponsorship on both Visa and Mastercard. This gives programme managers the flexibility to run parallel programmes, choose a scheme per market or offer both to end cardholders. Dual-scheme access is operationally significant for corporate expense programmes and co-brand arrangements where a specific scheme may be required or preferred. Apple Pay and Google Pay provisioning completes within 24 hours of card issuance on both schemes. See card issuing for full scheme details.