Who Griffin is
Griffin is a London-based bank built for banking-as-a-service. It received its UK banking licence with restrictions in 2023 and became a fully operational bank in 2024, and it is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA.
Fintechs, wealth and savings apps, lenders, payroll providers and property platforms use it for embedded accounts, savings, safeguarding and client money accounts, with customer checks through its Verify product. That is why it is one of the banking-as-a-service providers our Accounts & IBANs module connects to.
What it does in your platform
Accounts & IBANs
Holds your customers' sterling accounts as bank accounts in their own name, protected by the FSCS, with Faster Payments, Bacs and Confirmation of Payee. Your brand is on the app; Griffin is the bank behind it.
How the connection works
One connector in the Accounts & IBANs module talks to Griffin's API with an API key, signs its requests with HTTP message signatures as Griffin requires in live, and verifies Griffin's signed webhooks with the public keys Griffin publishes.
The customer applies
The module submits the customer's details to Griffin, which runs its onboarding checks, identity and sanctions screening included, through Verify.
The account opens
Once the customer is approved, the module opens an embedded account in their name, with its own sort code and account number.
Money arrives
A Faster Payment comes in. Griffin sends a payment-created event, admission events while it processes the payment, and a transaction-created event with the new balance.
The ledger books it
The module checks each event's signature, posts the transaction to the ledger and shows it on the customer's statement within seconds.
Money goes out
A payment out leaves on Faster Payments, and Griffin's signed events report its progress to the module.
Next to other providers
Griffin covers sterling accounts in the UK. The module talks to it through the same interface as every other banking partner, so the app, the ledger and the statements look the same whichever partner holds an account.
Changing partner later does not change the app, though customers get new account details under the new partner, a move we plan with you.
When Griffin fits best
A strong fit when
- Your customers are in the UK and need sterling accounts in their own name.
- You want customer balances held as FSCS-protected bank deposits rather than e-money.
- You want the bank to run onboarding checks and hold the licence, while your brand is on the app.
Also worth a look
- ClearBank, another UK bank offering embedded accounts, with euro accounts through its European entity.
- Modulr, when e-money accounts fit your product.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your Griffin account and contract in place, for the account types you plan to offer.
The onboarding
We set up with you the accounts your customers get and the onboarding checks Griffin runs through Verify.
The keys
The API key and the private key that signs requests stay in your platform's secrets; only the public key is registered with Griffin.
A full test run
The flow runs first in Griffin's sandbox, with message signatures switched on so it behaves like live.
