Nayax seeks US bank charter for embedded banking

By Milan Rojan

Nayax has filed an application with the Connecticut Department of Banking to establish Nayax America Bank Inc., a proposed non-depository innovation bank that would expand the company’s embedded financial services offering for US merchants.

The proposed bank, which would be headquartered in Fairfield County, Connecticut, has been structured as a wholly owned subsidiary of Nayax USA Holdings Inc. If approved, it has enabled Nayax to provide business-focused financial services, including corporate cards, controlled-spend programmes, merchant cash advances and equipment financing, directly through its existing payments platform.

The company has said the proposed bank would not accept customer deposits, offer consumer banking products or operate physical branches. Instead, it has focused on extending its embedded finance capabilities for small and medium-sized businesses already using its payment services.

Alongside the charter application, Nayax has launched Yellow Account, an account and deposit service for SMB customers in partnership with Adyen. Under the arrangement, Adyen has held customer deposits and fulfilled the applicable banking and regulatory requirements, while Nayax has delivered the service through its platform. The company has stated that, once the proposed bank becomes operational, it expects to expand its financial product suite while continuing to rely on Adyen for deposit services.

According to Nayax, North America has generated approximately 40% of its global revenue, making it the company’s largest market. The company has added that establishing regulated banking infrastructure in the US would complement its existing payment and card-issuing licences across the European Union, the United Kingdom and Israel.

The Connecticut Department of Banking has begun reviewing the application, which has included an independent feasibility study and a public hearing as part of the approval process. Nayax has noted that the review is expected to take around six months and has acknowledged that regulatory approval is not guaranteed.