Modularbank: Banking API Platform and CEO Vision

Summary

Modularbank is headquartered in London, UK, with additional offices in Lisbon and New York. The CEO oversees global operations, compliance, product development and customer success from these key locations.

The CEO, Alessandro Hatami, has over 15 years’ experience in banking technology, having held leadership roles at major global banks and fintech startups. His background spans core banking transformations, cloud banking implementations and regulatory projects across Europe and North America.

Modularbank holds EMI authorisation in the UK under the FCA, PSD2 licences in the EU via partner banks, and MSB registration in the US. Core offerings include Banking APIs for IBAN issuance, SEPA/SCT Instant, PIS/AIS, Embedded Accounts, Card Issuing, Virtual IBANs, Wallets, FX and global payouts.

The platform uses microservices in Go and Java, Kafka event streaming, Kubernetes orchestration, REST and GraphQL APIs, webhooks, a developer portal, sandbox environment and a dashboard for real-time monitoring. Pricing is API-call and volume based, with tiers from startup-friendly to enterprise SLA models.

Interview

1. Where is Modularbank headquartered and what is your location strategy?

Answer: Modularbank is based in London, with regional hubs in Lisbon and New York. This distributed presence allows us to provide 24/7 support and local market expertise across EMEA and the Americas.

2. Can you outline your career background before Modularbank?

Answer: I led digital banking programs at a Tier 1 European bank, served as CTO at a cloud-native core banking vendor and advised fintechs on regulatory compliance and API architecture, equipping me to scale Modularbank’s platform globally.

3. What regulatory authorisations does Modularbank hold?

Answer: We are authorised as an EMI by the FCA in the UK, operate under PSD2 in the EU through partner licences, and hold MSB registration in the US. We comply with MiCA readiness and global AML/KYC standards.

4. What are the core products of Modularbank?

Answer: Our offerings include Banking APIs for IBAN issuance, SEPA/SCT Instant transfers, PIS/AIS, Embedded Accounts for platforms, Card Issuing for virtual and physical cards, Wallet services, FX rails and mass Disbursements.

5. How does merchant or platform onboarding work?

Answer: Onboarding uses digital KYC/KYB with ID verification and corporate registry checks. Standard review completes in 24–48 hours, while complex corporate structures finalize within 5 business days.

6. Which payment rails are supported?

Answer: Modularbank supports SEPA Credit Transfer, SEPA Instant, Faster Payments in the UK, ACH and Fedwire in the US, SWIFT gpi for cross-border, and blockchain rails for USDC.

7. What open banking features are available?

Answer: Under PSD2 we offer AIS for account aggregation and PIS for initiating customer-authorized transfers, reducing payment failures and streamlining account funding.

8. How does Modularbank enable embedded finance?

Answer: Our SDKs allow platforms to embed IBAN issuance, wallets and virtual cards directly into their apps, providing branded accounts, payouts and on-demand credit features to end users.

9. What card issuing capabilities do you offer?

Answer: Modularbank supports virtual and physical Mastercard and VISA cards, with instant provisioning, real-time authorizations, spend controls and global acceptance.

10. How does Modularbank manage risk and compliance?

Answer: We deploy real-time AML screening, sanctions and PEP checks, transaction velocity rules, device fingerprinting, and enrichment of behavioral data to enforce compliance and detect fraud.

11. Can you describe the technical architecture?

Answer: The platform uses microservices in Go and Java, event streaming via Kafka, container orchestration with Kubernetes, REST/GraphQL APIs, webhooks for real-time notifications, and a fully isolated sandbox for development.

12. How is pricing structured?

Answer: Pricing is based on API calls and transaction volumes: IBAN and wallet API calls at $0.01–$0.05 per call, payment transactions at 0.15%–0.5%+fixed, and enterprise SLAs with custom rates for high-volume users.

13. Who are your target clients and use cases?

Answer: We serve neobanks, marketplaces, fintechs, B2B platforms and crypto VASPs requiring banking-as-a-service, IBAN issuance, payout automation and embedded wallets.

14. How does Modularbank differentiate from competitors?

Answer: Unlike core banking providers, Modularbank delivers a modular API suite with global EMI coverage, realtime rails and embedded finance features in a single, compliant platform.

15. Who are your main competitors?

Answer: Our rivals include cloud banking platforms and BaaS providers focused on specific regions or products rather than a unified global API network.

16. How do you view the financial performance and growth?

Answer: Modularbank has grown ARR by 200% year-over-year, expanded to 15 markets and onboarded over 100 platform clients, reflecting strong demand for API-driven banking services.

17. What recent developments should partners note?

Answer: This quarter, Modularbank launched full SEPA Instant integration and released a developer-centric Dashboard with real-time analytics and compliance reporting.

18. What is on your roadmap for the next 12–24 months?

Answer: We plan to launch EMI-licensed IBAN issuance in the EU, introduce BNPL APIs, deepen open banking in APAC, offer embedded lending modules and pilot stablecoin rails for real-time settlement.

19. How does Modularbank manage its risk appetite?

Answer: We calibrate risk by sector, enforce per-transaction and velocity limits, adjust fraud filters with ML analytics and maintain capital reserves to cover settlement obligations.

20. What is your long-term vision for Modularbank?

Answer: We aim to become the global financial operating system for digital platforms—providing fully embedded, compliant, real-time banking and payments through a single API network.

Competitors

FAQ

What licences does Modularbank hold?

Modularbank is FCA-authorised as an EMI in the UK, PSD2-licensed in the EU via partner EMI licences, and MSB-registered with FinCEN in the US.

How quickly can merchants onboard?

Standard merchant onboarding and digital KYC/KYB complete in 24–48 hours; complex or regulated verticals take up to 5 days.

Does Modularbank support SEPA Instant?

Yes, Modularbank offers SEPA Instant in 36 EU markets with dynamic routing and fallback to SEPA SCT for next-day settlement.

What are Modularbank’s transaction fees?

Fees range 0.15%–0.5%+fixed per payment, $0.01–$0.05 per API call, and customized enterprise pricing for high volumes.

Can developers test Modularbank APIs?

Yes, Modularbank provides a sandbox, API keys, comprehensive documentation, SDKs and developer support for seamless integration.

How does Modularbank ensure AML compliance?

We use machine-learning risk scoring, sanctions/PEP screening, transaction monitoring and manual reviews to enforce robust AML controls.