Where bank and fintech partnerships strain
In many partnership models, the bank holds the charter and the deposits while the fintech owns the customer interface, and regulators expect the bank to oversee its partners' compliance closely. Federal banking agencies' guidance on third-party risk management, which the agencies have moved to revise, makes that oversight a regular subject of examinations. Disputes often concern who must fix compliance gaps, who pays for remediation, and whether the bank can suspend a program. Ledger reconciliation and the ownership of customer records became pressing after a middleware provider's collapse in 2024 left some end users unable to reach their funds for an extended period. Money transmission licensing, consumer protection rules, and anti-money laundering obligations may attach to the fintech even when a bank is involved.
Materials to have in front of you
Collect the program agreement, schedules setting fees and service levels, and any processor or card network agreements that sit alongside it. Compliance policies, complaint handling procedures, and marketing review processes show how responsibilities actually operate. Records of how customer funds flow, including account titling and reconciliation reports, are essential if something goes wrong. Data sharing and security terms should be read with privacy laws in mind. Correspondence with the partner's compliance team and any regulatory findings that affect the program belong in the file.
Points we negotiate or review first
We start by mapping each regulated activity and confirming which party performs it, approves it, and bears the cost if it fails. Termination rights, wind-down obligations, and data portability matter as much as launch terms, because exits are where value is lost. We look at audit and examination access, restrictions on changing vendors, and indemnities for regulatory penalties. Rules on consumer access to financial data have been the subject of rulemaking and litigation, so the current status should be checked when drafting data terms. If a partner has issued a notice of breach or suspension, we review the cure provisions and timing first.
