Marqeta is the largest publicly listed card-issuing platform in the world, headquartered in Oakland, California, and processing more than two hundred billion dollars in payment volume annually. Codego is a European banking-infrastructure provider operating from Malta with a National Bank of Belgium electronic-money distribution licence, focused on white-label card issuing, EU IBAN issuance and BaaS for fintechs and corporates that need fast launch and pan-European coverage.
| Codego | Marqeta | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Malta · serving 12 countries | Oakland, California |
| Founded | 2012 | 2010 |
| Status | Private | Public (NYSE: MQ) |
| Primary geography | Europe + MENA + SE Asia | United States primarily; selective international |
| Regulatory licence | NBB electronic-money distribution; pan-EU passporting | US programme manager; international via partners |
| EU IBAN issuance | Native, six countries | Not natively supported |
| White-label crypto cards | Native, custodial and non-custodial | Not a core offering |
| BaaS coverage beyond cards | Yes — accounts, ledger, KYC, AML, IBAN | Card issuing focused; ledger and accounts via partners |
| Self-service onboarding | Yes | Enterprise-led, contract-driven |
| Time-to-launch | ≈ 15 days | 60-120 days typical |
| Pricing model | Custom · accessible to mid-market and start-ups | Custom · volume-driven, larger minimums |
Codego runs on European rails: SEPA, SEPA Instant, SWIFT, EU IBAN issuance, EUR / GBP / USD multi-currency core ledger and pan-European regulatory passporting. Marqeta's strength is the United States: routing a European card programme through Marqeta typically requires a separate European partner for IBAN, local payments and EU regulatory cover, layering cost and complexity. See Codego Banking-as-a-Service.
Codego onboards programmes in around fifteen days through a self-service portal that handles configuration, card art, controls and APIs without enterprise procurement. Marqeta is sales-led with formal commercial reviews; new programmes typically reach production in two to four months. For start-ups and mid-market fintechs without large card-volume commitments, the difference is substantial.
Codego natively issues crypto-funded cards: spend stablecoins, on-chain assets or fiat from one wallet on Visa or Mastercard rails, with on-the-fly conversion and AML monitoring. See white-label crypto card. Marqeta has historically positioned around fiat card issuing for US fintechs; crypto programmes are not a core offering.
Codego ships card issuing on top of a full core banking ledger with KYC, AML, transaction monitoring and treasury. Marqeta is card-issuing-first; partners running neobank, marketplace or expense-management products typically combine Marqeta with a separate ledger provider. One vendor versus two has operational consequences.
Codego pricing scales with programme size and is accessible to fintechs in the early growth phase. Marqeta's volume-driven model and enterprise contracting tend to fit later-stage companies with already substantial transaction volumes.
Codego is a banking-infrastructure provider with cards as one of several products (BaaS, IBAN, core banking, processing, POS). For a fintech building anything more than a single card programme — say, a neobank, a marketplace payout system, an expense management platform — that breadth turns into fewer integrations and one regulatory umbrella.
Marqeta is the right answer in clear scenarios.
Programmes targeting US consumers or businesses, integrated with US ACH rails and processing volumes high enough to justify Marqeta's commercial structure, are exactly Marqeta's home turf. Codego's US presence is limited compared with the European footprint.
Companies that have already invested heavily in Marqeta APIs and deployed at scale are unlikely to find migration cost-effective. Marqeta's tooling, ecosystem partners and regulatory infrastructure for the US are extensive and battle-tested.
Marqeta is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For procurement teams that require a publicly audited issuer of record, this is a structural advantage Codego cannot match as a privately held group.