FIS is launching an embedded banking platform for US banks.

It lets banks add accounts, card issuing and payments tools right inside the business software their corporate customers already use.

The Jacksonville-based fintech company wants banks to win customers through software, not just through their own banking apps.

Cogent Bank, Commercial Bank of California and M&T Bank are the first banks piloting the platform.

FIS expects accounts and payments to go live for them in the fourth quarter of 2026.

A bank partners with a software provider or fintech, then embeds its own accounts, payments, invoicing and expense tools into that partner’s product.

FIS supplies the technology behind this, including APIs, software kits, embeddable widgets or ready-made apps, depending on what the partner needs.

The bank keeps the customer relationship and the software partner owns the user experience.

FIS builds the infrastructure connecting the two.

Accounts stay on the bank’s own balance sheet, not on a third-party ledger.

FIS says this keeps banks in a cleaner regulatory spot and lets them fully own the customer relationship, unlike setups where a non-bank program manager holds customer funds on its own books.

“Banks’ customers want banking built into the software they use to run their business every day. Embedded Banking Platform lets banks meet those expectations and stay at the center of the relationship, while maintaining the regulatory control and customer ownership that define traditional banking,”

said Jon Briggs, Global Head of Embedded Solutions and Money Movement at FIS.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image RSplaneta via Magnific