Strategy Recommendation
01Operating model decisionRecommended
02Sponsor bank shortlistRanked
03Target architecture specificationDefined
04Contract-sequencing planOrdered
Sponsor Bank Architecture
Choose The Operating Model Before You Choose The Bank.
We determine where your platform should sit on the payments operating model continuum, which risks it should own, and which sponsor bank can support the design.
The Problem
The Buyer Arrives With The Wrong Question.
Should we replace our processor? That question starts one layer too low. The right question is where on the continuum you should sit, and which sponsor bank supports it.
Eight-figure ARR platforms still run on Agent/ISO economics because nobody ever reframed the architecture.
Decision Reframing RegisterArchitecture First
Question Brought In
Should we replace our processor?
Too Narrow
Decision To Make
Where should we sit, and which sponsor bank supports it?
Right Level
Eight-Figure ARR
A rate conversation cannot solve a structural economics problem. Operating model, risk ownership, sponsor support, and provider terms have to be compared as one system.
What You Get
One Decision Package, Built To Move From Strategy To Contract.
The work joins the operating model, sponsor bank, provider economics, target architecture, and contract order. Each decision is explicit, and each number is normalized.
PFaaS / Sponsor Bank StrategyRecommendation Package
Provider A$887K
Provider B$1.88M
Provider C$1.38M
Provider economics can vary two to three times on the same portfolio. Normalization makes the real cost basis and tradeoffs comparable.
Operating model support
Risk allocation
Underwriting and onboarding
Settlement and funds flow
Economics and reserves
Contract and implementation path
The Engagement Arc
Six Decisions, In The Order They Need To Be Made.
The sequence prevents a bank conversation, processor proposal, or contract deadline from deciding the architecture by accident.
01Current State
Map the current-state architecture.
Document providers, sponsor relationships, funds flow, contracts, economics, controls, and current risk ownership.
Output / Current-State Map02Model
Make the operating-model decision.
Compare Referral, Agent/ISO, PFaaS, Hybrid PayFac, and Registered PayFac against control, economics, effort, and risk.
Output / Model Recommendation03Bank
Build the sponsor bank shortlist.
Rank the banks that support the target model, risk allocation, operating requirements, and path to launch.
Output / Ranked Shortlist04Economics
Build the economics model.
Put provider costs, take rate, reserves, implementation effort, services, and risk ownership on the same basis.
Output / Economics Model05Architecture
Write the architecture specification.
Define provider roles, integrations, funds flow, reporting, controls, ownership boundaries, and the transition state.
Output / Architecture Spec06Contracts
Build the contract-sequencing plan.
Order sponsor, processor, platform, and implementation commitments so one agreement does not close off the better design.
Output / Contract PlanProof, De-Identified
Architecture Changes The Economics Before A Rate Is Negotiated.
Structural marks a fact about how the market or system works, not an outcome of one engagement. Executed means an architecture decision adopted in an engagement.
Evidence RegisterOutcome Framed / Public Safe
Core Thesis
PayFac is a feature bundle, not an entity decision.
Referral at 8 to 12 bps versus PFaaS at 40 to 50 bps creates a structural yield delta before any provider rate is negotiated.
A regional bank committed to a two-tier partner-directory model instead of a proprietary build.
A dual-provider architecture was committed after the vendor cost basis was normalized across three providers.
Fit Check
This Work Starts Where Architecture Can Change The Economics.
The question has to be large enough to support a real operating model choice.
Platform Fit
$200M+ GMV platforms on referral or Agent/ISO economics, with a real decision about control, margin, or risk.
Bank Fit
Regional banks designing a PFaaS strategy, partner model, and target operating model.
Not A Fit
Early platforms below the volume where an architecture change can pay for the work and the operating lift.
What Happens Next
Choose The Model. Sequence The Contracts.
The first call locates the architecture decision, the evidence needed to make it, and whether the economics support a change.