Tomer Guriel is the co-founder and CEO of ezbob, a proprietary core lending platform that enables banks to migrate to digital services.
Fintech partnerships are of the moment, but sadly, only a few are built to last. Behind the flurry of announcements and integrations, a much more nuanced picture is emerging, and, as is the case with many of the best things in life, the most effective collaborations aren’t those that shout the loudest. Instead, they’re the ones that translate culture and strategy into innovation, and infrastructure into efficiency and execution, with a shared vision for sustained performance.
I believe this shift marks the maturing of the bank and fintech partnership model itself: Banks are no longer just looking for agile tech vendors, and fintechs aren’t chasing logos for social proof. Instead, both sides are seeking structural alignment—commercially and operationally—and when that alignment is well-designed from the start, the results can be transformative.
The real opportunity, however, lies in building partnerships that are scalable by design, not merely integrated but embedded, and not just compliant to meet regulatory requirements, but truly trustworthy. Here are some examples of what separates the partnerships that I think will endure from those that stall.
Beyond The Pilot: Building For The Real World
Successful fintech-bank collaborations rarely resemble the diagrams shown on launch day. Behind every scalable partnership is a hard-won operating model, one that clearly defines ownership, compliance and control. The most impactful models today are hybrid by their very nature, combining regulatory capital and risk frameworks with agile, modular infrastructure and digital front ends.
What separates viable, long-term partnerships from those that are short-lived is often the quality of early decisions. These include the responses to questions that might seem simple, but are important to nail early, including:
• Who owns the customer?
• Who handles underwriting?
• Who provides credit servicing?
• How does data flow?
• Where does risk sit?
Ambiguous or vague answers at early stages often lead to friction later, which may lead to project failure. This is why clarity matters more than chemistry, and why true structure beats early-stage enthusiasm every time.
Hidden Architecture: Compliance, Trust And Time
Compliance isn’t merely a box to tick; it should be considered a co-author. In high-stakes partnerships, regulatory considerations are a strategic lever.
Fintechs that succeed in enterprise settings are not just technically capable but also operationally mature, understanding data lineage, audit trails, model transparency and the nuances of onboarding regulated entities. In turn, the banks that succeed bring compliance into the room early, and they don’t isolate these teams from oversight (either intentionally or otherwise). They build bridges that close the gap that too often exists between product, legal, risk and compliance from day one. This collaboration, done well, reduces friction and accelerates efficient delivery that is scalable for the long term.
Trust is another critical, unscalable asset, not just between CEOs, but across operational layers. Shared Slack channels matter as much as integration of ownership and the ability to resolve issues without escalation. Trust should not need to be declared, as it is built through delivery every day.
While fintechs may be designed for speed, partnerships demand pacing: too fast, and the institutional side pushes back. Too slow, and the momentum dies. The best partnerships understand the tempo of decision making and maintain pressure without creating strain, and those that succeed recognize the difference in timing and can allocate decision responsibility accordingly.
Commercial Models That Don’t Break At Scale
Even the most technically sound partnerships can fail if the commercial model between the parties isn’t designed to scale. Flat fees, misaligned incentives or unbalanced revenue shares can work in pilot mode but fall apart when the real volume arrives.
Smart partnerships treat monetization as a strategic design question, and they account for asymmetry, anticipate future scale and leave room to evolve. Financial alignment and incentives are not a one-time negotiation—they must be a recurring dialogue.
When done well, the result is not only mutual profitability but also a form of strategic interdependence, making the partnership durable.
What The Next Wave Of Partnerships Will Look Like
Future fintech partnerships won’t be defined by dashboards or APIs. They’ll be defined by outcomes: faster credit decisions, lower operating costs, better regulatory and economic capital efficiency and broader reach. The most transformative models will blur the lines between who owns the customer, who powers the experience and who manages the risk.
This kind of partnership will not work for every institution, and it will require operational discipline, cultural fluency and the ability to work across regulatory and commercial boundaries. But for those willing to engage deeply, the reward will be an operationally sound partnership built on trust, aligned on structure and designed to scale.
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