With the acceleration of digital transformation, financial institutions find themselves at a strategic crossroads in 2025. Two business models stand out particularly: Banking as a Service (BaaS) and Banking as a Platform (BaaP). These approaches are revolutionizing how banking services are designed, distributed, and consumed. But which strategy should be prioritized in a constantly evolving environment? This article guides you through the nuances of these two models to help you make an informed choice for your business.

Definitions and Fundamental Differences Between BaaS and BaaP

Banking as a Service: Banking as an Infrastructure Provider

Banking as a Service represents a business model where a licensed financial institution makes its infrastructure and banking license available to third parties, generally non-banking businesses or fintechs. This approach allows these players to offer financial services without having to obtain their own banking licenses, a process that is often lengthy and costly. According to a study by Accenture on banking trends for 2025, this model is experiencing annual growth of 25% and should reach a market value of 7.2 billion euros by 2026.

Concretely, BaaS works via application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow the seamless integration of banking functionalities into third-party applications. For example, an e-commerce platform can integrate payment, credit, or account management services directly into its customer journey, without redirecting the user to an external banking application. Traditional banks and specialized providers like Basikon offer complete BaaS infrastructures that facilitate this integration.

Banking as a Platform: Banking as a Service Integrator

Conversely, Banking as a Platform adopts an approach where the bank itself becomes a platform that integrates third-party services into its own ecosystem. As clearly explained in Tuum's comparative analysis, "BaaP is essentially the inverse of BaaS, where the bank integrates third-party services into its own system using APIs."

In this model, the financial institution maintains the direct relationship with the end customer while enriching its offering with specialized services developed by external partners. For example, a bank could integrate financial analysis tools, wealth management, or insurance developed by fintechs, while remaining the main point of contact for its customers. The French Ministry of Economy emphasizes that this approach allows traditional banks to remain competitive against neobanks by quickly offering new innovative services without having to develop them internally.

Main Distinctions Between the Two Models

The fundamental difference between these two approaches lies in the direction of service flow and the ownership of the customer relationship. With BaaS, banking services are provided to third parties who integrate them into their own products and maintain the customer relationship. In contrast, with BaaP, the bank remains the owner of the customer relationship while enriching its offering with external services.

This distinction has profound implications for strategic positioning, revenue models, and technological requirements for each player. Low-code platforms like Basikon's play a crucial role in both models by facilitating the integration and customization of financial services, whether for BaaS providers or banks adopting a BaaP strategy.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Model for Different Market Players

The Strengths of Banking as a Service

For financial institutions that adopt a BaaS strategy, the advantages are multiple. First, they can generate new revenue streams by monetizing their infrastructure and banking license. An analysis by Les Échos on embedded finance reveals that banks offering BaaS services can increase their revenues by 20 to 30% through fees for using their infrastructure.

Additionally, BaaS allows reaching new customer segments via non-banking partners, often in sectors where traditional financial institutions struggle to penetrate. For example, the case study of Calvin illustrates how a leasing broker was able to quickly develop in Switzerland using the Basikon platform to connect to the information systems of major partner banks.

For non-banking businesses and fintechs, BaaS offers the opportunity to integrate financial services without the regulatory constraints and costs associated with obtaining a banking license. This significantly accelerates their time to market and enriches their value proposition. A report by the ACPR on digital platforms indicates that the average time to launch a new financial service via BaaS is reduced from 18 to 3 months.

The Limitations of the BaaS Model

Despite its advantages, BaaS presents certain constraints. For provider banks, there is a risk of disintermediation and loss of direct contact with the end customer. By becoming a simple background infrastructure provider, the financial institution may see its brand diluted and lose cross-selling opportunities.

Companies using BaaS services face challenges of technological dependency and limited control over the underlying infrastructure. Modifications made by the BaaS provider can impact their offering, and the provider's technical problems directly affect their customer service. Moreover, the commercial agreements of BaaS providers can reduce profitability, and the complexity of decoupling often leads to vendor lock-in, as highlighted in Tuum's analysis.

The Strengths of Banking as a Platform

The BaaP model presents distinct advantages, particularly for established financial institutions. By integrating innovative third-party services, banks can quickly enrich their offering without massive R&D investments. This approach allows them to remain competitive against digital challengers while retaining ownership of the customer relationship.

BaaP also facilitates collaborative innovation between banks and fintechs. Rather than seeing them as competitors, financial institutions can transform these players into strategic partners. The case of Orion Leasing, which used the Basikon platform to increase its leasing portfolio by 60% and multiply its customer base by 3, demonstrates how a platform approach can accelerate growth.

For specialized fintechs, BaaP offers a powerful distribution channel via the established networks of financial institutions. This allows them to focus on their niche expertise without having to invest heavily in customer acquisition.

The Challenges of the BaaP Model

The main challenge of BaaP lies in the complexity of integrating different third-party services into a coherent user experience. Banks must invest in open and flexible technical architectures, capable of accommodating various partners with varied technical standards.

Data governance and regulatory compliance also represent major issues. The integration of third-party services raises questions about responsibility in case of problems, customer data protection, and compliance with regulations like GDPR. According to the ACPR, banks adopting a BaaP model must implement robust partner supervision mechanisms to ensure compliance across the entire ecosystem.

Trends and Expected Developments for 2025 in the BaaS and BaaP Domain

The Convergence of Models and the Emergence of Hybrid Ecosystems

One of the major trends for 2025 is the progressive convergence of BaaS and BaaP models. Many financial institutions are now adopting hybrid approaches, acting simultaneously as banking service providers for certain partners and as integrating platforms for others. This strategic flexibility maximizes market opportunities while diversifying revenue sources.

According to Accenture's study on banking trends 2025, we are witnessing the emergence of interconnected financial ecosystems where traditional boundaries between banks, fintechs, and non-financial companies are blurring. These ecosystems rely on advanced technological infrastructures and open API standards that facilitate interoperability.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis

Artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming BaaS and BaaP models in 2025. Banking platforms now integrate advanced AI capabilities to personalize offerings, optimize processes, and improve risk management. As Accenture highlights, "AI opens the way to more personal, empathetic, and meaningful experiences for customers."

Low-code solutions like Basikon's play a crucial role in this evolution by enabling the rapid integration of AI functionalities without requiring advanced technical skills. This democratization of access to AI accelerates innovation in the financial sector and reduces entry barriers for new players.

Regulatory Evolution and Its Implications

The regulatory framework surrounding BaaS and BaaP models continues to evolve in 2025. Financial regulators, such as the ACPR in France, are developing specific approaches to supervise these new business models while encouraging innovation.

The trend is towards greater clarification of responsibilities in the complex value chains of BaaS and BaaP. Regulators demand increased transparency on the respective roles of different actors and strengthen obligations regarding operational resilience and consumer protection. This regulatory evolution favors players who have integrated compliance by design into their platforms, as Basikon does with its Core Lending solution.

The Rise of Embedded Finance

Embedded finance represents the natural evolution of BaaS and constitutes one of the most significant trends of 2025. It allows the seamless integration of financial services into non-financial user journeys, creating fluid and contextual experiences.

According to Les Échos, the embedded finance market should reach 230 billion euros in Europe by 2025. This explosive growth is fueled by consumer demand for financial services integrated at the precise moments when they need them, without having to leave the application or site they are using.

Selection Criteria and Methodology for Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Business

Evaluation of Your Current Positioning and Strategic Objectives

The choice between BaaS and BaaP must first be based on a thorough analysis of your current positioning in the financial ecosystem. For established financial institutions with a large customer base, a BaaP strategy can enrich the existing offering while maintaining control of the customer relationship. Conversely, banks seeking to monetize their infrastructure and explore new market segments might prefer a BaaS approach.

Long-term strategic objectives should also guide this choice. If your ambition is to become a central player in an expanded financial ecosystem, the BaaP model offers a conducive framework. However, if you aim for operational efficiency and generating recurring transaction-based revenues, BaaS may be more suitable.

For non-banking companies, the decision largely depends on the strategic importance of financial services in their overall value proposition. As illustrated by the case of Calvin, integrating financial capabilities via BaaS can constitute a major competitive differentiator.

Analysis of Your Technological Capabilities and Digital Maturity

The technological maturity of your organization is a determining factor in choosing between BaaS and BaaP. The BaaP model generally requires a more sophisticated technical infrastructure, capable of integrating and orchestrating various third-party services. Banks already having API-oriented architectures and modern digital platforms will be better positioned to adopt this approach.

Conversely, providing BaaS services requires a robust and modular banking infrastructure, as well as the ability to expose functionalities via secure and well-documented APIs. Low-code platforms like Basikon's can significantly accelerate this transformation by enabling the rapid creation of API interfaces without complex development.

The assessment of your capabilities should also take into account the available human resources. Both models require specific skills in system architecture, IT security, and API development. Adopting a complete solution like Core Banking from Basikon can fill gaps in internal skills.

Regulatory and Compliance Considerations

Regulatory requirements vary considerably between BaaS and BaaP models. For BaaS providers, regulatory responsibility is generally more extensive, as they must ensure that all services provided via their infrastructure comply with applicable standards. This requires robust monitoring mechanisms and clear governance of partnerships.

In the BaaP model, although the bank remains responsible for overall compliance, it must establish rigorous processes of due diligence for third-party partners and maintain complete traceability of transactions and data. The ACPR recommends adopting a risk-based approach to supervise these relationships.

Technological solutions that natively integrate regulatory compliance functionalities, as Basikon's platform does, can significantly reduce the complexity of managing these requirements and minimize non-compliance risks.

Evaluation of Potential Partners and the Ecosystem

The success of BaaS and BaaP strategies heavily depends on the quality of the partner ecosystem. For banks adopting a BaaP approach, it is crucial to identify innovative fintechs whose services complement the existing offering and bring significant added value to customers.

Similarly, BaaS providers must carefully evaluate companies that wish to use their infrastructure, considering not only their financial solidity but also their ability to respect security and data protection standards. The case of Orion Leasing, which increased its network of partner resellers by 80% in less than a year thanks to the Basikon platform, illustrates the importance of an adapted technological infrastructure to support ecosystem growth.

Use Cases and Success Stories with the Basikon Platform

Calvin: Accelerating Growth Through Banking as a Service

The case of Calvin, a Swiss leasing broker, perfectly illustrates the benefits of a well-executed BaaS approach. Having obtained its approval in 2020, this young company had the ambition to develop rapidly in a market where leasing brokerage was not widespread. The main challenge was to connect to the information systems of major partner banks while offering a smooth experience to the distributors of their products.

By implementing Basikon's low-code platform, Calvin was able to deploy a complete solution in just four months. Thomas Le Forestier, COO of Calvin, emphasizes: "What we appreciate most is the flexibility of the Basikon platform. Almost in the blink of an eye, we have a white-labeled partner page. Simulations, contract communications, signatures... everything is dematerialized."

This approach allowed Calvin to focus on its relationship with partners rather than managing back-office operations, thus eliminating the need to recruit staff dedicated to these tasks. The complete dematerialization of processes has not only reduced the risk of errors but also significantly increased productivity.

Orion Leasing: Harnessing the Potential of Banking as a Platform

The journey of Orion Leasing demonstrates how a BaaP approach can fundamentally transform a financial company's capabilities. Faced with the challenge of managing more than 600 clients and 90,000 data exchanges, Orion needed a scalable solution to support its international expansion, with configurable workflows and self-service capabilities for its clients.

By adopting the Basikon platform, Orion was able to increase its leasing portfolio by 60% and multiply its customer base by 3. Even more impressively, the company reduced its offer processing time from 10 minutes to less than 20 seconds, radically transforming the customer experience and operational efficiency.

The modular and 100% API structure of the solution allowed Orion to easily integrate third-party services, such as those from partner banks and other financial providers. This platform approach facilitated entry into new markets with reduced marginal costs, allowing the company to increase its network of partner resellers by 80% in less than a year.

Customization and Flexibility: The Strengths of Basikon's Low-Code Platform

These success stories highlight the unique capabilities of Basikon's low-code platform to support both BaaS and BaaP strategies. Basikon's Core Banking solution offers exceptional flexibility, allowing rapid configuration and deployment of new products and services without complex development.

The key features that distinguish this platform include:

- An API-first architecture that facilitates integration with external systems and the creation of modular banking services

- Advanced white labeling capabilities that allow customizing the user experience according to the specific needs of each partner

- Configurable workflows that adapt to the unique business processes of each organization

- Integrated scoring tools and electronic signature functionalities that streamline approval processes

- Flexible user management that supports multi-level organizations and complex account structures

These capabilities allow financial institutions and financing companies to rapidly implement their BaaS or BaaP strategy, significantly reducing time to market and development costs. As demonstrated by Basikon's Core Lending solution, this low-code approach is particularly effective for companies that want to quickly launch new financial products while maintaining full control over the customer experience.

Conclusion: Making the Strategic Choice Adapted to Your Context

The debate between Banking as a Service and Banking as a Platform is not about determining which approach is intrinsically superior, but rather identifying the one that best aligns with your current positioning, strategic objectives, and organizational capabilities. In 2025, we observe a growing trend towards hybrid models that combine the advantages of both approaches to maximize value creation.

For traditional banks seeking to remain relevant in an increasingly digital environment, BaaP offers a promising path to quickly enrich their service offering while maintaining control of the customer relationship. For financial institutions with robust infrastructures seeking to monetize their regulatory assets, BaaS represents an opportunity for expansion into new markets and customer segments.

Non-banking companies, meanwhile, can leverage BaaS solutions to integrate financial services into their value proposition without the associated regulatory complexities. As highlighted by the Ministry of Economy, this democratization of financial services stimulates innovation and creates new growth opportunities in various sectors.

Regardless of the chosen strategy, success will largely depend on the quality of the underlying technological infrastructure. Low-code platforms like the one offered by Basikon play a crucial role in facilitating the rapid and flexible implementation of these complex business models. They allow organizations to quickly adapt to market developments and regulatory changes, a decisive competitive advantage in the dynamic financial landscape of 2025.

Ultimately, the boundaries between BaaS and BaaP will continue to blur as the financial ecosystem evolves towards more interconnected and collaborative models. The organizations that will succeed will be those that know how to navigate with agility between these approaches, building strategic partnerships and fully exploiting the potential of emerging technologies.

Ready to transform your banking strategy with a solution tailored to your needs? Discover how Basikon's low-code platform can help you implement your BaaS or BaaP strategy. Request a personalized demo today.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about BaaS and BaaP

1\. What are the main differences between Banking as a Service and Banking as a Platform?

Banking as a Service (BaaS) is a model where a financial institution makes its infrastructure and banking license available to third parties via APIs, allowing them to integrate financial services into their own applications. In this model, the non-banking partner maintains the customer relationship.

Banking as a Platform (BaaP) represents the opposite approach, where a bank integrates third-party services into its own ecosystem via APIs. The bank remains the owner of the customer relationship while enriching its offering with specialized services developed by external partners.

2\. What skills are necessary to implement a BaaS or BaaP strategy?

Implementing these strategies requires a combination of technical and business skills:

- Expertise in API architecture to design and maintain robust and secure interfaces

- In-depth knowledge of financial regulations to ensure compliance across the entire ecosystem

- Partnership management skills to develop and maintain a network of effective collaborations

- Mastery of cloud technologies and modular architectures to ensure scalability and flexibility

Using low-code platforms like Basikon's can significantly reduce the need for advanced technical expertise in-house.

3\. How do BaaS and BaaP models integrate into the open banking strategy?

Open banking constitutes the regulatory and technological foundation that facilitates the development of BaaS and BaaP models. While open banking primarily focuses on the secure sharing of customer data between financial institutions (with the customer's consent), BaaS and BaaP go further by allowing the complete integration of banking functionalities into different ecosystems.

These models therefore represent a natural evolution of open banking, transforming what was initially a data exchange framework into true ecosystems of collaborative financial innovation.

4\. What are the risks associated with adopting a BaaS or BaaP strategy?

The main risks include:

- Cybersecurity risks related to opening systems via APIs

- Complexity of data governance across multi-actor value chains

- Regulatory compliance challenges, particularly regarding responsibility in case of an incident

- Technological dependency on partners or infrastructure providers

- Risk of brand dilution in the BaaS model

These risks can be mitigated by a robust technical architecture, rigorous due diligence processes for partners, and the use of platforms like Core Banking from Basikon that natively integrate security and compliance functionalities.

5\. How to evaluate the return on investment of a BaaS or BaaP strategy?

The ROI evaluation must take into account several dimensions:

- Direct revenue generation via infrastructure usage fees (BaaS) or commissions on third-party services (BaaP)

- Impact on customer acquisition and retention, measured by the evolution of the customer base and attrition rates

- Operational efficiency, evaluated by the reduction in development and maintenance costs

- Time to market for new products and services

- Diversification of revenue sources and business model resilience

Platforms like Basikon's typically offer analytical dashboards that facilitate the monitoring of these indicators and continuous optimization of the strategy.