Interview: Adriaan Mol, CEO of Mollie — Product, Compliance, and the Road Ahead

Summary: Mollie is a European payment service provider founded to simplify online payments for merchants, marketplaces and platforms. Operating under a Payment Institution (PI) regulatory framework in the Netherlands, Mollie provides a portfolio of payments and embedded finance services: card and alternative payment acceptance, SEPA (including SEPA Instant where available), payouts, IBAN-based collections via partner accounts, recurring billing/subscriptions, KYC/KYB onboarding, fraud and AML tooling, and developer-first APIs and SDKs. Mollie relies on a mix of in-house capabilities and regulated partners for acquiring, IBAN issuance and cross-border settlement, balancing speed-to-market for merchants with a compliance-first risk posture. Over the next 12–24 months Mollie is prioritising broader IBAN and card-issuing capabilities, deeper embedded finance for platforms, expanded Open Banking services and MiCA-readiness for crypto-related customers, while strengthening AML/fraud tooling and geographic reach across the EU.

Interview

Q1: Can you summarise your current role and your background prior to leading Mollie?

A1: I am CEO of Mollie, responsible for business strategy, product direction and regulatory relationships. I founded Mollie with the goal of simplifying payments for European merchants. Prior to Mollie I worked in technology and product roles focused on payments and developer platforms, and I’ve been involved in building API-first product teams since the early days of the company. My day-to-day spans product prioritisation, partnerships with acquirers and banks, compliance strategy and large customer relationships.

Q2: What is Mollie’s regulatory status today?

A2: Mollie operates as a regulated Payment Institution under PSD2, registered and supervised in the Netherlands. For services that require e-money accounts or issuer capabilities we work with licensed partners and banking partners. Mollie does not present itself as a credit institution or bank — we build payment rails, offer merchant accounts and orchestrate settlements through regulated partners and our PI infrastructure.

Q3: Do you have an acquiring licence or do you use an agent/acquirer model?

A3: Mollie uses a hybrid model. We have our Payment Institution regulatory framework for PSP services, and we partner with EU acquirers and card schemes to provide merchant acquiring and settlement. In some markets we operate as an agent of local acquiring banks to support local acquiring footprints. This model lets us combine a consistent API and merchant experience with the local licences and scheme memberships required for card acquiring and settlement.

Q4: Which core products does Mollie offer today?

A4: Core product areas are: (1) Payments acceptance — cards, SEPA credit transfer (SCT), SEPA Instant where supported, local alternative methods (iDEAL, Bancontact, giropay, SOFORT), (2) Recurring & subscription billing, (3) Payouts and mass payouts for platforms, (4) IBAN collection and virtual account routing via partners for reconciliation, (5) Developer APIs, SDKs and plugins, (6) KYC/KYB onboarding flows and identity verification, (7) Fraud & AML screening, rules engine and blocking, (8) Marketplace tooling including split settlements and escrow-like flows (via partners), and (9) Open Banking/PIS access for selected markets.

Q5: How does Mollie position its IBAN offering?

A5: Mollie provides IBAN-based collection via virtual or pooled IBAN accounts issued through regulated banking partners. We focus on predictable reconciliation and routing rather than wholesale banking services. Each merchant gets a means to receive SEPA payments with clear remittance metadata and automated reconciliation. We are expanding the footprint and number of partner banks to reduce routing costs and improve settlement speed.

Q6: Does Mollie support SEPA Instant? How is routing determined?

A6: Yes — where the payer and payee banks are SEPA Instant-enabled and when a merchant opts into the Instant product, Mollie will route payments via SEPA Instant rails. Our routing logic checks availability, cost and recovery options: instant rails are preferred when both origin and destination support them; if not available, we fall back to standard SEPA SCT. For merchants, we expose configuration flags to prefer instant settlement versus cost-optimised routing, and reconciliation tags indicate which rail was used.

Q7: What is Mollie’s stance on Open Banking and PIS/AIS?

A7: Mollie treats Open Banking as a complementary channel. We offer PIS for merchants that want an alternative to card-based flows, and AIS for account aggregation in specific markets. Our PIS is integrated into our payments API and is offered where local third-party access and demand justify it. We prioritise reliability, consent continuity and strong authentication (SCA) compliance.

Q8: How mature are your KYC/KYB and fraud/AML capabilities?

A8: Mollie provides automated KYC/KYB workflows for standard onboarding, including identity documents, corporate registry checks, UBO discovery and AML screening against sanctions/PEP lists. For higher-risk merchants (marketplaces, crypto, adult content, high-volume cross-border flows) we apply enhanced due diligence, manual review and transaction monitoring. Our fraud stack combines rules-based controls, device fingerprinting and behavioural signals, and we integrate third-party screening vendors to maintain coverage across high-risk jurisdictions.

Q9: Which verticals are core to Mollie’s target clients and which are restricted?

A9: Core verticals: SMB e-commerce, subscription SaaS platforms, marketplaces and local commerce across Europe. We also serve fintechs and platforms that need embedded payouts and payment orchestration. Restricted or conditional verticals: gambling, high-risk crypto VASPs, adult content and certain affiliate models — these require specialised contracts, stricter AML/KYC, and in many cases local licences or partner guarantees. We review each high-risk application case-by-case and often require additional controls, documentation and sometimes partner-led compliance assurances.

Q10: What are typical onboarding timelines and documentation requirements?

A10: Standard e-commerce merchants: onboarding can be completed in 24–72 hours for digital-first businesses with straightforward risk profiles. Documentation typically includes company registration data, proof of identity for owners/beneficial owners, recent bank statements, website and product information, and representative’s ID. Marketplaces and high-risk merchants: onboarding extends to days or weeks, with additional KYB, contracts, UBO checks, API integration reviews and live transaction testing. For acquiring bank approvals we often coordinate multi-party checks which lengthen timelines.

Q11: How does Mollie price its services at a high level?

A11: Pricing is transparent and volume-based: there is a per-transaction fee for card and alternative payment acceptance, tiered pricing for higher volumes, and optional add-ons (chargeback protection, instant payout, custom onboarding). For card acquiring we use a combination of a fixed fee plus interchange/processing costs reflected in a blended rate. IBAN accounts and virtual account features may carry a monthly fee and per-transaction payout costs. We avoid opaque long-term commitments for standard SMB plans while offering negotiated commercial terms for larger merchants and marketplaces.

Q12: What does Mollie’s tech stack look like for integrations?

A12: Mollie provides RESTful APIs with clear endpoints for payments, payouts, subscriptions, and account management, extensive webhooks for event-driven notifications, client SDKs and server libraries, and a sandbox environment for testing. Internally we run microservices, CI/CD pipelines, event-driven processing and observability tooling. The dashboard supports reconciliation, reporting and dispute handling. Security controls include tokenisation for card data and role-based access for merchant accounts.

Q13: How does Mollie handle card issuing and virtual cards?

A13: Card issuing is an area of active development. Today we offer card-based acceptance and can support partner-driven card issuance for specific use cases via third-party issuers. Our roadmap includes expanding in-house card issuing capabilities (virtual and physical) through regulated partnerships or expanded licensing, targeting use cases like expense management, platform payouts and embedded customer cards.

Q14: How do you approach partnerships with banking infrastructure providers such as Banking Circle or similar?

A14: We partner with specialised banking infrastructure providers to access IBAN issuance, cross-border settlement and faster clearing rails without becoming a bank ourselves. These partnerships allow us to scale multi-currency settlement, reduce settlement latency and offer better routing options for SEPA and cross-border flows. We manage contracts, integration and compliance overlays so merchants get a single API and unified reporting.

Q15: How does Mollie compare with competitors such as Stripe, Adyen, Lemonway and Swan?

A15: We position Mollie as a European-first, merchant-friendly PSP with straightforward integration and local payment method coverage. Versus Stripe: Mollie is more focused on EU-centric merchants with simpler pricing and faster local onboarding in some markets; Stripe has broader global reach and a wider platform of financial services. Versus Adyen: Adyen targets large enterprise merchants with global acquiring and complex risk desks; Mollie targets SMBs, scale-ups and EU platforms seeking simplicity. Versus Lemonway and other marketplace specialists: Lemonway focuses heavily on regulated escrow and marketplace flows; Mollie provides marketplace tooling and works with partners where deeper escrow or payment trustee models are required. Versus Banking Circle and Swan: those firms are banking infrastructure providers; Mollie is a PSP that integrates those services to deliver merchant-facing products.

Q16: What is Mollie’s risk appetite and compliance philosophy?

A16: Our risk appetite is conservative for higher-risk sectors and moderate for mainstream e-commerce and SaaS. We prioritise regulatory compliance, real-time monitoring and a layered controls approach: pre-onboarding screening, post-onboarding transaction monitoring, and manual reviews for anomalies. We continuously update our AML rules and sanctions screening to reflect geopolitical changes and regulatory guidance across EU member states.

Q17: How is Mollie preparing for crypto regulation such as MiCA and evolving EU frameworks?

A17: We follow MiCA and related EU frameworks closely. Mollie’s approach is to require that crypto VASPs demonstrate appropriate licensing and compliance in their jurisdictions before onboarding, and to apply enhanced transaction monitoring for crypto-related flows. We are building product-level controls to enforce customer and transaction restrictions that align with MiCA obligations and local rules, and we continue to engage with regulators and partners to support compliant crypto custody and fiat-crypto on/off ramps.

Q18: What is your approach to SEPA Instant settlement costs and merchant configuration?

A18: SEPA Instant carries different clearing costs versus standard SEPA. We surface these trade-offs to merchants: lower latency at a higher per-transaction cost. Merchants may configure which payment methods or customer segments use Instant. For high-value merchants we provide routing decisions and cost transparency so they can balance customer experience with margin. We also offer reconciliation tags that indicate the rail used for each transfer for accounting clarity.

Q19: How long does it typically take to integrate Mollie’s APIs and go live?

A19: For standard e-commerce integrations using our SDKs or plugins, merchants can go live in hours to a few days. Custom API integrations typically take 1–3 weeks depending on developer resource availability and test cycles. For marketplaces or 플랫폼s requiring split settlements, escrow-like flows and multiple bank relationships, integration and compliance can take several weeks to months because of additional contract negotiations and KYB steps with our acquiring partners.

Q20: Can Mollie support platforms that require marketplace split payments and escrow functionality?

A20: Yes. We provide split settlement capabilities and tools for platforms to route funds to multiple sub-merchants. For full trustee-style escrow where regulation requires custody of client funds, we work with licensed partners or implement arrangements that meet local regulatory requirements. We pair product primitives (split payouts, fee management) with contractual and compliance guardrails for marketplace operators.

Q21: How does Mollie tackle cross-border FX and multi-currency pricing?

A21: Mollie supports multi-currency acceptance and settlement via partner banking networks. FX is handled either at settlement with partner FX providers or via card scheme conversion. We offer merchants the option to settle in local currency or EUR depending on partner corridors. Currency routing and conversion fees are transparent and disclosed in merchant contracts; for high-volume clients we negotiate bespoke FX terms and hedging arrangements where feasible.

Q22: What’s on Mollie’s roadmap for the next 12–24 months?

A22: Key priorities: (1) Expand direct IBAN and card-issuing capabilities via new banking partnerships and potential licence extensions, (2) Deepen embedded finance offerings for platforms — improved split payouts, escrow and lending-led products, (3) Strengthen Open Banking integrations and PIS coverage across more EU markets, (4) Continue MiCA readiness and enhance crypto VASP onboarding controls, (5) Improve fraud and AML automation with machine learning models and richer telemetry, (6) Expand geographic footprint across the EU and selected growth markets, and (7) Invest in developer experience — faster SDKs, more webhooks and better sandbox parity.

Recent developments and commentary

Contextual note: In light of evolving EU regulation (Open Banking evolution, MiCA implementation and ongoing PSD2/PSD3 discussions), Mollie is actively adapting its product and compliance roadmap. This includes closer integration with regulated banking partners for IBAN issuance and settlement, enhanced onboarding and transaction monitoring for high-risk use cases and expanded Open Banking offerings to complement card rails.

Technical and product detail highlights

APIs & SDKs: REST APIs for payments, payouts, subscriptions; client SDKs and plugins for major ecommerce platforms; event-driven webhooks for reconciliation and dispute workflows; sandbox with test credentials.

Dashboard & reporting: Merchant dashboard with settlements, chargebacks, dispute workflows, reconciliation exports and legal documentation storage.

Security & compliance: PCI-DSS alignment for card acceptance (tokenisation), strong customer authentication (SCA) support, layered AML screening, and role-based access for merchant teams.

Competitive positioning (concise)

Strengths: Localised European focus, simplified onboarding for SMBs, developer-friendly APIs and transparent pricing. Strong merchant UX and localisation for EU payment methods.

Gaps vs large incumbents: Less direct global acquiring footprint than some global processors; certain advanced issuer/banking features rely on partners. Ongoing roadmap work aims to close those gaps.

FAQ

Is Mollie a bank or an e-money issuer?

A: Mollie is a regulated Payment Institution (PSD2/PI) and not a bank. For e-money and IBAN issuance or custodial needs Mollie uses regulated banking and e-money partners while maintaining merchant-facing APIs and controls.

Does Mollie support SEPA Instant for all merchants?

A: SEPA Instant is available where the payer/payee banks and local infrastructure support it. Merchants can opt into SEPA Instant; Mollie offers smart routing and fallbacks to standard SEPA when Instant is not available.

Can I onboard a crypto exchange or VASP?

A: Onboarding crypto businesses is conditional. Mollie requires evidence of appropriate licences, AML controls, custody arrangements and enhanced due diligence. Each application is assessed case-by-case and may require partner arrangements to satisfy regulatory obligations.

How long does KYC/KYB onboarding take?

A: Typical merchant onboarding: 24–72 hours. Complex KYB or high-risk business models: several days to weeks, depending on documentation, manual reviews and acquiring bank processes.

Does Mollie provide issuing (virtual/physical) cards today?

A: Card acceptance is fully supported. Card issuing (virtual/physical) is being expanded via partnerships and roadmap work; current issuing uses partner issuers for selected customers while in-house capabilities are being developed.

What documentation is required to get started?

A: Company registration, proof of identity for owners/representatives, bank statement, website/product description, proof of processing volumes and, for marketplaces, company structure and sub-merchant details.

Do you support adult content, gambling or affiliate marketing?

A: These verticals are higher risk. Mollie may support them under stricter contractual terms, enhanced due diligence and operational controls. Availability varies by market and acquiring partner restrictions.

How does Mollie handle chargebacks and disputes?

A: Mollie provides dispute management tools in the merchant dashboard, chargeback notifications via webhooks, and guidance for representment. We work with merchants to supply evidence and may offer optional chargeback protection services in specific markets.