We’re excited to announce White-Label App—the fastest and easiest way for software companies to launch branded banking and lending, with one line of code.

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Before today, companies that wanted to offer embedded financial products to their customers had to invest 6-12 months of engineering time to launch.  

Now, with White-Label App, Unit is offering software companies an even simpler way to embed banking and lending. Our fully built app can be launched with one engineer, in one hour. It includes complete functionality that took companies like Mercury, Ramp, Chime, and Venmo years to build.

What is white label banking?

When a company partners with a bank to provide their customers with financial products, that’s white label banking.

The bank’s financial products (e.g., charge cards, high-yield accounts) are marketed under the company’s—rather than the bank’s—brand. Hence the term “white label.”

White label banking is synonymous with terms such as banking as a service (BaaS), embedded finance, and API banking; they’re just different names for the same thing. Some well-known companies that use this technology are Uber (Uber Pro), Shopify (Shopify Capital), and Square (Square Checking).

White label banking is different from white-label UIs. The latter are prebuilt elements that you can use to shorten your time to market when launching white label banking. 

How does Unit’s White-Label App work? 

Our White-Label App is based on our experience serving hundreds of customers, from publicly traded companies to high-growth startups. 

You can offer your customers a branded banking and lending experience, while reducing engineering lift and radically accelerating time to market. At the click of a button, your customers will instantly have access to products like branded bank accounts, physical and virtual cards, lending, ACH payments, wires, checks, ATM access, and cash deposits. 

With White-Label App, you get:

• A complete solution you can customize. White-Label App appears inside your app or website with your branding, ensuring your customers have a cohesive experience. 

• Seamless updates. As Unit releases new versions, your product will automatically be updated. For example, when we added high-yield savings accounts, they were made available automatically in our White-Label App.

• Banking and lending built-in. With White-Label App, you don’t need to develop in-house financial product expertise or use costly product, engineering, and design resources. 

• Responsive, optimized, and secure. White-Label App is a responsive web app; we provide all of the financial infrastructure you need to launch. It’s designed to meet industry-leading standards for security, fraud prevention, and compliance, with features like device fingerprinting and 2FA. 
  

Over time, you can choose to take over more of the engineering lift to customize your frontend more deeply. 

For example, you could initially launch with our White-Label App. After seeing how your customers use your financial solutions, you could absorb the experience into your product by switching to our low-code or full-code options. You’ll maintain access to the same Unit Org and Unit Dashboard, and your customers will have access to the exact same accounts, cards, and payments.

The White-Label Components enabled us to integrate Unit into our existing app in under a month. Many companies promised similarly fast integrations, but only Unit actually delivered. - Matt Pavelle, Piñata, CTO and Co-Founder

What financial products can I offer with a white label banking platform?

White label banking products include:

• Bank accounts (e.g., Uber, Roofstock): You can provide branded accounts with customizable features, such as interest rates, rewards programs, and account management tools. These accounts may also be eligible for FDIC pass-through insurance coverage.

• Credit, debit and charge cards (e.g., DoorDash, AngelList): You can offer customers branded cards, which they can use at any point of sale (POS). With these cards, platforms are able to generate interchange revenue. Our revenue model shows that interchange fees can make up 75% of a fintech company’s revenue. 

• Embedded payments (e.g., Shopify, Covercy): You can enable customers to make secure, fast, and cost-effective payments and transfers within your app or website. These payment methods include ACH, cards, wires, and inter-bank transfers.

• Embedded lending and financing (e.g., Affirm, Veryable): You can provide customers access to various types of loans, such as lines of credit and personal, business, or mortgage loans. You can offer flexible repayment options, such as installment plans or buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans. Since you know your customers better than a traditional bank, you are better positioned to know how much financing they need, their ability to repay, and how to price your services.

Why customers choose white label banking

Tech leaders sometimes ask us, “Why would my customers want this?”

They’re wondering why businesses and consumers would choose white label banking products over the other options available to them.

The answer is that many traditional financial products are one-size-fits-all. By contrast, white label banking products are tailored to the needs of a given target audience or vertical—and they’re offered in context, right when customers need them.

Broadly, there are five reasons customers choose white label banking:

• Convenience. Your customers don’t want to manage their business and their finances separately. They’d much rather use a single software tool, especially one they know and trust.

• Faster payouts. For most workers, accessing wages in their bank accounts takes at least 2-5 business days. But with white label banking, you can pay them much faster—even instantly. 

• Better financing. 62% of small businesses we surveyed said they can’t get the financing they need. Fortunately, you’re in a great position to help. Because you understand your customers’ business models and their cash flow, you can offer them financing options that are uniquely attractive.

• Fewer fees. Many traditional financial-service providers are still charging businesses and consumers a variety of obnoxious fees: minimum deposit fees, monthly service fees, ATM fees, overdraft fees, foreign transaction fees. With white label banking, you may be able to eliminate some or all of these.

• ‍Targeted rewards. With white label banking, you can offer rewards that your customers care about. The Uber Pro Debit Card is a great example; with it, drivers can earn up to 6% cash back on gas.

The value of white label banking for platforms

The fact that end-customers prefer white label banking is an important reason to launch it—but it’s only half the equation.

White label banking also generates a lot of value for platforms (e.g., Shopify, Toast) that offer it. In fact, it has been shown to increase revenue per user by 2-5x.

Platforms that offer white label banking can reap the following benefits:

• Engagement. When they use your white label banking products, customers are more likely to engage with the rest of your platform. For example, customers who use Nav’s white label banking products are 2.5x more likely to purchase additional products.

• Retention. Banking and lending are famously sticky. When you offer access to these products, your customers are less likely to churn. For example, Wethos found that customers who use their white label banking products are retained at a rate 6x higher than those who don’t.

• Data. When your customers use your white label banking products, it generates a trove of valuable data. You’ll gain insights into what your customers purchase, whom they’re paying, and how much money they have in their bank accounts. That, in turn, can help you build better products and make targeted offers.

• Revenue. All of the aforementioned benefits are ultimately realized as revenue. To be precise, white label banking can generate up to five new revenue streams, resulting in a 2-5x increase in revenue per user.

What does it take to launch? 

In other words, what will you need to invest in terms of time, money, and staffing? It’s an important question—and the answer varies widely based on your approach. 

On one hand, it’s possible to work directly with a bank. This approach was favored by many early fintechs (e.g., Chime, Current) for the simple reason that there weren’t any other options. However, it can take 2 years to launch your product, and it will require hiring a large, dedicated banking team.

On the other hand, you could partner with a white label banking platform. If you choose this route, it’s often possible to launch your product in a matter of weeks. Your platform should be able to help you with the following:

1. Bank relationship. There are more than 4000 banks in the United States, but only a few dozen have demonstrated the ability to effectively partner with tech companies to offer embedded banking. A good financial infrastructure platform will help you identify a bank partner that specializes in your target audience and use case.

2. Technology. Embedded banking requires dedicated software to perform tasks like ledgering, payments, and reconciliation. It’s complex, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Choose a partner with a proven track record of success who can provide all the necessary banking technology.

3. Compliance. Banking is subject to dozens of compliance and regulatory requirements—most of which will be unfamiliar to non-experts. Your embedded-banking provider should have a team of experienced compliance professionals to help guide you.

4. Underwriting. Underwriting means figuring out whom to lend to, how much, and on what terms. It’s hard to get right, and mistakes can be costly. Fortunately, a financial infrastructure platform can facilitate underwriting and make the process simple.

5. Capital. Lending to your customers requires operational capital—the funds you’ll advance, which will later be repaid. Many tech companies prefer not to leverage funds from their balance sheet for this purpose. For this reason, several financial infrastructure platforms also provide access to the capital needed to fund lending programs.

Unit (our company) is a white label banking platform that helps companies like yours make embedded financial products available to their customers. Nearly two hundred leading tech companies—from startups to enterprises—have trusted us to help launch their programs.

If you’re interested in implementing White-Label App, please view our guide and contact our Sales Team or your Success Manager.
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