Banking-as-a-Service Fintech Griffin Submits UK Banking License Application

Originally published by Alt Fi

Griffin – a UK Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) fintech has submitted its application for a UK banking licence in a bid to become an official bank.

Founded by two Silicon Valley engineers David Jarvis and Allen Rohner, who previously co-founded tech unicorn CircleCI, Griffin has a team made up of former employees from the Bank of England - PRA, Nasdaq, Visa, HSBC, Form3, Monzo, SWIFT, GoCardless.

It first revealed its intentions to become a fully licensed bank in November 2020 with plans to be the go-to banking partner and offer financial compliance infrastructure to non-financial brands looking to move to offer financial services as well as fintechs not wanting to have to go through the lengthy process themselves.

Griffin’s BaaS platform is designed to provide fintechs with access to all the UK's payment rails, bank accounts, debit cards, an integrated ledger, and customer onboarding automation.

“From the beginning, we’ve known that a full-stack approach delivers more value to customers.” said David Jarvis, CEO and co-founder of Griffin.

“Our platform brings historically siloed infrastructure components that all share a data model into a single platform, allowing fintechs to launch quickly without compromising on compliance or operational resilience. We’re incredibly proud to have reached this milestone in our journey to become a bank that our customers can build on,” he added. 

The process for applying for a banking licence requires companies like Griffin to demonstrate that they meet key regulatory requirements and expectations. This includes effective governance arrangements, a viable and sustainable business model, adequate capital and liquidity and safe and secure infrastructure and operations.

Between 2013 and September 2019, just one in four (28 per cent) of companies that held initial meetings with the regulators reached the application submission stage, according to the PRA and the FCA. 

Griffin is backed by EQT Ventures, Tribe Capital, Paul Forster (co-founder Indeed.com), Matt Robinson (co-founder GoCardless/Nested), and Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas ( former COO of GoCardless and now a partner at Index Ventures).