Money20/20 Exclusive Video: Griffin’s Growth Journey
Griffin, a UK-based Banking as a Service (BaaS) firm, has recently achieved a significant milestone by obtaining its banking license in February 2024. This development marks a crucial step in the company's journey to revolutionise the relationship between banks and fintechs, as Adam Moulson, Chief Commercial Officer at Griffin, shared with us at Money20/20 Europe.
"Since we got our banking licence fully approved earlier this year in February, we've been focused on getting our first customers in a position where they can go live on our platform," he explains. This approach will allow Griffin to learn from initial implementations and share that knowledge with newer customers onboarding in recent months.
Griffin: Prioritising the UK market
Griffin's primary focus remains the UK market, where it aims to demonstrate the potential of innovative partnerships between banks and fintechs.
"We want to really demonstrate what's possible in terms of creating new partnerships between banks and fintechs," continues Moulson. The company's approach goes beyond just technology, incorporating new commercial models that don't currently exist in the fintech-bank relationship landscape.
The vision behind Griffin's foundation is to transform banking into a platform business, similar to cloud services provided by tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
Moulson elaborates on this concept: "I got inspired with this vision that we can embed banking and banking expertise and banking value propositions inside other people's companies and other people's products, and create value from that which is meaningful for us as a bank, but also meaningful for our customer and their customers.”
This innovative approach addresses a gap in the market where many companies have smart solutions but lack banking expertise. Griffin aims to bridge this gap by embedding banking capabilities into these companies' products and services, creating a mutually beneficial ecosystem.
Griffin: Hitting milestones
Griffin's journey has been marked by rapid growth and significant milestones. When Moulson joined the company three and a half years ago, the team consisted of only about 10 people. Despite its small size, the company had already raised substantial funding and harboured ambitious goals.
Looking ahead, Griffin is exploring the possibility of expanding into Europe. “At some point, we will be expanding to Europe. That's something we're exploring, but at the moment, very focused on servicing the UK market," Moulson adds.
The company's progress is particularly noteworthy given the challenges involved in obtaining a banking licence. "Getting a banking licence is no easy feat," says Mouslon, an achievement that underscores Griffin's commitment to its vision and its ability to navigate complex regulatory landscapes.
As Griffin continues to grow with the promise of expanding into new markets, it will be interesting to see how its platform model reshapes the relationship between traditional banking, fintech, and end-users.
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