September 29, 2025
Integrations via BaaS APIs can simplify complex development steps, reducing time and costs, as long as they respect the technical scope, compliance requirements, and necessary approvals. Understand a little more!
What is BaaS and what is the role of APIs in this model?
The Banking as a Service (BaaS) is a model in which authorized financial institutions provide their infrastructure so that other companies can offer financial products and services on their digital platforms. Instead of building a bank from scratch, a fintech or even a retail company can, through APIs, launch digital accounts, process payments, and offer cards.
The APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are at the core of this model. They function as "bridges" that connect the user's system to the BaaS provider, enabling communication between different platforms quickly, standardized, and securely. Without well-structured APIs, BaaS would not have the flexibility and scalability that made it so attractive to the market.
Informative content. Does not constitute an offer of securities, foreign exchange, or payment services. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Azify acts directly or through duly authorized partners, as per the scope. Assess risks, accounting, and tax impacts with your advisors.
What are the main features of BaaS APIs?
As BaaS APIs cover a wide range of services. Among the most common and relevant are:
Issuance of digital accounts: allows creating payment accounts in the name of end customers, registered with the authorized provider.
Payment and transfer processing: support for TED, Pix, boletos, and international transfers.
Virtual and physical cards: issuance and management of cards linked to digital accounts, both for consumption and corporate payments.
Balance management, statement, and financial reconciliation: real-time inquiries that allow greater transparency and cash flow control.
Compliance and security: KYC (Know Your Customer) tools, anti-money laundering and anti-fraud, essential for meeting the regulations of Bacen and CVM.
These functionalities can be activated modularly. This means that a company can start by offering only digital accounts and payments, and later expand to cards and more complex services.
How does the integration of BaaS APIs work in practice?
In practice, integrating a BaaS API means creating a connected architecture between the company's system and the financial provider.
Example of flow: a user requests to open a digital account within a delivery application. The request is sent via API to the BaaS provider, which processes the data, executes KYC checks, and returns the confirmation. All of this happens in seconds, transparently for the customer.
Technical structure: APIs typically use REST or GraphQL standards, with authentication via tokens and advanced encryption to protect the data in transit.
Approval: before going live, integrations go through testing environments (sandbox) to validate flows and ensure regulatory compliance.
This model reduces technical barriers and accelerates the creation of financial products in different sectors.
What are the benefits of using BaaS APIs?
The integration of BaaS APIs is not just a technological solution but a strategy to accelerate innovation and reduce entry barriers in the financial sector. Among the main benefits are:
Agility in launching financial products – Traditionally, creating banking infrastructure requires licenses, approvals, and development that can take years. With BaaS, this cycle is reduced to a few weeks, allowing fintechs and companies from other sectors to launch services such as digital accounts, cards, and payments almost in real time.
Reduction of operational costs – By utilizing the infrastructure of a BaaS provider, your company avoids high expenses with proprietary technology, server maintenance, audits, and regulatory oversight. This frees up budget to focus on customer experience and new functionalities. Flexibility and customization – The APIs are modular: it is possible to integrate only what makes sense for the business — whether a digital account solution for a marketplace or prepaid cards for ride-share drivers. This flexibility allows for creating differentiated products aligned with the needs of the audience.
Guaranteed scalability – Companies can start with a basic set of financial services and expand as demand grows. This scalability is crucial for digital businesses looking to operate in different markets, including multi-currency support.
Improvement of user experience – The end customer accesses financial services directly on platforms they already use daily — such as delivery apps, e-commerce, or mobility — without needing to open an account with a traditional bank. This increases convenience, loyalty, and generates new revenue sources for the company.
The BaaS APIs allow companies to innovate safely and quickly, while also reducing costs and offering financial experiences aligned with the expectations of the digital consumer.
What challenges and precautions should be considered?
Despite the benefits, integrating BaaS APIs requires attention to some critical points:
Data security: implement strong authentication, end-to-end encryption, and constant monitoring of access.
Regulatory compliance: closely follow rules from Bacen, CVM, and LGPD regulations, which directly impact how data and transactions are handled.
Continuous monitoring: APIs require active maintenance to ensure availability, performance, and resilience.
Choosing the right provider: assess criteria such as SLA (service level agreement), observability, compliance history, and technical support.
Technological dependency: relying on trustworthy partners reduces the risk of unavailability or critical failures in financial operations.
A common mistake is to treat APIs as “plug and play” without considering the complexity of the financial environment. The ideal is to adopt a compliance by design strategy, that is, ensuring compliance from the conception of the solution.
What are real examples of using BaaS APIs?
The BaaS model is already present in different sectors in Brazil and around the world:
Credit Fintechs: use APIs to offer digital accounts linked to loan operations.
Marketplaces and e-commerce: integrate payments and digital wallets to increase customer retention.
Mobility and delivery companies: offer prepaid cards for drivers and delivery personnel, integrating payments directly into their platform.
International corporations: adopt BaaS APIs to expand multi-currency operations, facilitating transactions in different countries.
These examples show how APIs allow non-financial companies to innovate and create new revenue streams.
How does Azify position itself in this market?
A Azify offers a differentiated BaaS model, based on three main pillars:
Modular and pluggable APIs: allow companies to choose exactly the functionalities they wish to integrate, without technical overload.
Compliance by design: solutions developed from the outset to meet Bacen, CVM, Law 14.478/2022 and LGPD, reducing regulatory risks.
Multicurrency support: prepared for international operations and environments that require integration with different payment systems.
This positioning places Azify as a strategic partner for companies that want to launch digital financial services in an agile, secure, and scalable manner.
Informative content. Does not constitute an offer of securities, exchange or payment services. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Azify operates directly or through duly authorized partners, as per the scope. Evaluate risks, accounting and tax impacts with your advisors.
Why are BaaS APIs essential today?
APIs BaaS represent much more than a technological solution: they are the foundation of the digital transformation of financial services. In a scenario where customers seek integrated and frictionless experiences, offering banking services directly on digital platforms has ceased to be a differentiator and has become a market requirement.
Through these APIs, companies can drastically reduce time to market, launching products like digital accounts, virtual wallets, or cards in weeks — something that, in traditional models, could take years of development and investment. Furthermore, they allow for operating in regulatory compliance from the outset, incorporating KYC processes, anti-money laundering measures, and fraud management already embedded in the solution.
Another essential factor is scalability. BaaS APIs offer a modular architecture, allowing a company to start with basic services and gradually expand to more sophisticated solutions, without compromising existing operations. This guarantees flexibility to innovate without needing to restructure the entire technological infrastructure.
However, the adoption of this model is not without challenges. Issues such as data security, continuous monitoring of integrations, and choosing reliable partners are crucial for the success of the implementation. That is why the decision on which BaaS provider to use should consider not only price and deadlines but also compliance history, support quality, and platform resilience.
In summary, BaaS through APIs is not limited to offering operational efficiency. It opens doors to new revenue models, greater customer loyalty, and competitive positioning in sectors that are increasingly digitalized — from retail to fintechs, including marketplaces, mobility, and even traditional companies looking to diversify services.
