Lesson 3 of 8
Licences and partnership models: referral, agency, banking-as-a-service and an own licence
A non-financial company can reach financial services in four main ways: by referring its customers to a provider, by acting as the provider's agent, by offering the provider's product under its own brand, or by obtaining a licence itself. This lesson describes each model, what the company does and does not do in it, and what changes in control, obligations and cost as it moves from one to the next.
Published 16 October 2026 · Listen to this lesson
In this lesson
- Four models, from lightest to heaviest
- Referral: introducing customers
- Agency: acting for the provider
- Banking-as-a-service: the provider's product under the company's brand
- An own licence: what a payment licence allows, and what it does not
- Choosing a step