Griffin is now listed on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) register and is in mobilisation, meaning the company can hold a limited amount of deposits and carry out a limited amount of payment services.

“This moment has been years in the making,” David Jarvis, CEO and co-founder of Griffin, said. “Becoming a bank is testament to the determination of our team, who have been tirelessly building a modern core banking system, a resilient operational backbone and a robust compliance framework. This will enable us to deliver an exceptional banking platform for the UK fintech community.”

Griffin recently closed a £12.5 million funding round led by Notion Capital and launched its first BaaS product, Verify, which helps fintechs manage risk, automate KYC and KYB checks, and streamline customer onboarding. The firm has raised a total of £19 million since inception in 2020.

The company says it will begin working with a select group of customers who will receive early access to its BaaS products in a sandbox environment and provide feedback as the bank prepares for general availability.

One such early adopter is embedded finance solutions provider Liberis.

“Griffin’s proposition is to offer a suite of banking products that will help embedded finance platforms like Liberis deliver more value to small businesses and differentiate our proposition in a competitive market. We’re thrilled to be an early adopter of Griffin,” Rob Straathof, CEO of Liberis, says.