A European fintech or merchant can offer branded wallets, IBANs and cards without holding a banking licence. The route is Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS): a provider supplies the regulated and technical layer through an API, and the business keeps its brand, its app and its customer relationship. This guide explains what WaaS is, how the custody models differ, what a white-label stack includes, and how long a launch actually takes in Europe.
What is Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS)?
Wallet-as-a-Service is infrastructure that lets a company embed digital wallets into its own product through a single API, without building or licensing the underlying financial services itself. The provider runs custody, compliance and the payment rails. The company owns the interface and the customer.
It sits inside the broader category of embedded finance, the practice of adding financial services to non-financial products. That category is large and growing: the embedded finance market is projected to reach around 251.5 billion US dollars by 2029 (source: industry forecast reported by FinTech Strategy, 2025), and the World Economic Forum described embedded finance in 2025 as a structural shift in how financial services reach end users.
WaaS is often confused with Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS). The distinction is scope. BaaS typically exposes full banking functions, including regulated deposit-taking, usually via a licensed bank. WaaS focuses on the wallet layer: holding balances, moving value, issuing cards and accounts. For most fintechs and merchants, the wallet layer is exactly what they need and nothing more.
Custodial, non-custodial or MPC: which wallet model fits?
The first real decision in any WaaS project is who controls the private keys that secure the funds. There are three models, and each carries a different balance of user experience, security and operational load.
Custodial: keys held by the provider or by you. Simplest user experience and easy recovery, but heavier custody and compliance responsibility. Best fit: consumer apps and regulated flows.
Non-custodial: keys held by the end user. Maximum autonomy and self-sovereignty, but more friction, higher support burden and no recovery if keys are lost. Best fit: crypto-native audiences.
MPC: keys split across parties. Institutional-grade security with no single point of failure, more complex to implement. Best fit: serious products at scale.
Multi-Party Computation (MPC) splits a private key into shares held by different parties, so no single party can move funds alone and there is no single point of failure. It has become the default for products that need institutional-grade security without forcing end users to manage seed phrases.
There is no universally best model. The right choice depends on the audience, the risk profile and the regulatory context. A good WaaS provider supports all three behind one API, so the decision does not lock you into a vendor or a rewrite later.
How do you add an IBAN and cards to your app?
You add an IBAN by connecting to a provider that issues accounts and payment rails on your behalf, then calling its API to create an account for each user. The provider handles identity verification, account issuance and settlement. Your app displays the IBAN and the transactions.
The same pattern applies to cards. Through a card-issuing API, you can create virtual or physical cards linked to a user's balance, with 3-D Secure authentication and network acceptance handled at the platform layer. A card can draw from a euro, dollar or stablecoin balance, with conversion applied at the moment of spend.
In practice the integration work is: verify the user once, create the account or wallet, attach a card if needed, and reconcile transactions against a single ledger. The heavy parts, custody, compliance and rail connectivity, sit with the provider.
What does a white-label banking stack include?
A white-label banking stack is a set of composable modules a company can offer under its own brand without building each one. A complete stack usually includes:
Multicurrency accounts and IBANs, so users can hold and move euro and other currencies.
Wallets across custodial, non-custodial and MPC models.
Card programs with issuing, 3-D Secure and rewards.
Cross-border payments across bank rails and stablecoin corridors.
A compliance layer with identity verification and risk controls built in rather than bolted on.
Aurea provides these as six composable modules behind one API, with EU compliance at the platform layer and settlement in roughly two seconds across more than 60 currencies (source: aureahub.com). The point of composability is that you deploy only the modules you need and replace any single rail without rewriting your business logic.
How long does it take to go live with WaaS in Europe?
Timelines depend on scope, but the WaaS model compresses a build that used to take years into weeks, because the licensing and rail integrations already exist. A narrow launch, for example wallets and IBANs for a defined user base, moves faster than a full multi-product rollout with cards and cross-border payments.
The realistic accelerators are a sandbox you can build against immediately, identity and compliance handled by the provider, and a single ledger that removes reconciliation across vendors. The realistic constraints are your own product decisions: which custody model, which currencies, which user journeys.
The honest framing is that WaaS does not remove the work of designing a good product. It removes the work of becoming a regulated financial institution first.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a banking licence to offer a wallet in Europe?
No. With Wallet-as-a-Service, the regulated layer is provided by the infrastructure partner. You offer branded wallets, accounts and cards without holding a licence yourself.
What is the difference between WaaS and BaaS?
Wallet-as-a-Service focuses on the wallet layer: holding balances, moving value, issuing cards and accounts. Banking-as-a-Service typically exposes full banking functions including deposit-taking, usually through a licensed bank.
What is an MPC wallet?
An MPC wallet secures funds with a private key split into shares across multiple parties. No single party can move funds alone, which removes the single point of failure found in simpler custody models.
Can a card spend from a stablecoin balance?
Yes. A card program can draw from euro, dollar or stablecoin balances, converting at the point of sale, with 3-D Secure applied at the platform layer.