Scaling Embedded Finance: How Commercial Banks Can Build and Operate Partner Ecosystems

Embedded finance is rapidly reshaping the financial services landscape, enabling banks to deliver their products and services directly within the digital journeys of non-financial partners. For commercial banks, the opportunity is clear: embedded finance can unlock new revenue streams, extend reach to new customer segments, and accelerate digital transformation. Yet, while many banks have launched pilot projects, few have managed to scale embedded finance into a profitable, multi-partner ecosystem. This guide provides a practical playbook for commercial banks seeking to move beyond experimentation and build scalable, resilient embedded finance businesses—drawing on Publicis Sapient’s deep experience in designing, launching, and scaling BaaS-first banks and embedded finance platforms.

The Imperative: Why Scale Matters in Embedded Finance

The embedded finance market is growing at a breakneck pace, with global revenues projected to reach $160 billion by 2025. Early success stories have largely come from fintechs and digital-native challengers, but commercial banks are now recognizing the strategic importance of embedding their services into third-party platforms—whether that’s e-commerce, ERP, or industry-specific software. The benefits are compelling: banks can access new distribution channels, diversify revenue, and deepen customer relationships. However, the economics of embedded finance only become attractive at scale. Serving a single partner is rarely enough; banks must be able to efficiently onboard, integrate, and support dozens or even hundreds of partners, each with unique needs and technology environments.

The Modular Capability Stack: Foundations for Scale

To operate a scalable embedded finance business, banks must build a modular, flexible capability stack that supports rapid partner onboarding, efficient customization, and robust risk management. The key layers include:

  1. Customer Proximity (Partner/Distributor): The non-financial partner owns the customer relationship and digital journey. Banks must design propositions that seamlessly integrate into these journeys, supporting both the partner’s business goals and the end-customer’s needs.
  2. API Layer: Modern, well-documented APIs are the digital bridge between the bank and its partners. The API layer must be multi-tenant, allowing multiple partners to consume services from the same endpoints, and support rapid, low-friction integration. This is critical for scaling efficiently and avoiding bespoke, one-off builds for each partner.
  3. Financial Product Manufacturing: Banks must be able to design, configure, and refine financial products that can be distributed through partners. This requires modular product architectures and the ability to adapt features, pricing, and compliance requirements to different partner contexts.
  4. Banking Infrastructure: The underlying processes—payments, KYC/AML, credit decisioning, servicing—must be robust, automated, and accessible via APIs. Cloud-native, event-driven architectures and composable services are key enablers.
  5. Risk and Compliance (Regulated Entity): As the regulated entity, the bank must manage risk, capital, and regulatory obligations, even as it distributes products through third parties. This includes real-time monitoring, transaction screening, and the ability to adapt to evolving regulatory requirements across jurisdictions.

Challenges in Onboarding and Serving Multiple Partners

Scaling embedded finance is not simply a technology challenge—it requires a fundamental shift in how banks approach product development, partner management, and delivery. Key challenges include:

Lessons from the Field: Publicis Sapient’s Experience

Publicis Sapient has helped leading banks build and scale embedded finance platforms, including the rapid launch of a BaaS-first SME bank and the creation of SCB TechX, a platform-as-a-service joint venture in Southeast Asia. Key lessons include:

Delivery Models: From Pilot to Platform

Banks that succeed in scaling embedded finance typically follow a staged approach:

  1. Ignite: Identify the right market opportunity and initial partners. Develop a clear value proposition and minimum viable product.
  2. Validate and Refine: Launch with a pilot partner, gather feedback, and iterate rapidly. Use real-world data to refine the proposition and operating model.
  3. Scale: Build out the partner pipeline, invest in automation and modularity, and mature your partner servicing capabilities. Continuously review and adapt your strategy as the ecosystem evolves.

The Path Forward: Accelerating Your Embedded Finance Journey

Scaling embedded finance is a journey that requires both technological innovation and organizational transformation. Banks must move beyond product silos and legacy mindsets, embracing cross-functional teams, agile delivery, and a relentless focus on partner and customer experience. The rewards are significant: broader relevance, deeper relationships, and new sources of growth in an increasingly digital economy.

Publicis Sapient stands ready to help banks navigate this journey—from strategy and platform design to partner ecosystem management and rapid delivery. Our experience building BaaS-first banks and embedded finance platforms worldwide provides a proven blueprint for success. Now is the time for commercial banks to act boldly, build for scale, and lead in the new era of embedded finance.

Learn more about how Publicis Sapient is building the next generation of financial services at publicissapient.com/fs