Launched in 2013 as Saxo Payments and rebranded four years later, Banking Circle has evolved into what chief executive Laust Bertelsen describes as a “payment infrastructure”. Its model is simple in concept but complex in execution: rather than competing for end-users, the bank gives regulated institutions – fintechs, global payment providers, banks – direct access to local clearing systems through a single API.
Banking Circle’s setup allows cross-border transfers to move with the ease of domestic payments, cutting out much of the cost, delay and opacity of the old correspondent chain. Alongside this, the bank still runs a traditional cross-border model, with reach into 24 currencies through correspondent banking. Its latest step, in 2025, was to connect to Swiss Interbank Clearing, unlocking real-time settlement in Swiss francs and expanding coverage to five of Europe’s 12 major currencies.
The ambition, Bertelsen says, is “interoperability” – linking instant clearing systems worldwide. “With more access, we create one uniform system that can operate 24/7, 365. As we add more currencies, it gets better.”
Behind the scenes
Banking Circle processes more than 10% of Europe’s consumer e-commerce payment flows and has earned 600+ licensed customers. Its client base has expanded to include hundreds of regulated institutions, among them payment giants such as Stripe, Checkout.com and Alibaba. Yet, for the end-consumer, the brand is almost invisible.
This is deliberate. The firm positions itself as a super-correspondent bank for the digital age, enabling others rather than competing with them. It has so far avoided retail or small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) banking, despite market speculation. “We will not compete against our own clients,” says Bertelsen. “That has always been the mantra.”
We saw an opportunity to redesign the whole payment infrastructure. Now we have created it
Laust Bertelsen, Banking Circle
Banking Circle has built its value by embedding itself into the businesses of its partners. In 2017, it introduced virtual IBANs, giving fintechs and marketplaces the ability to issue account numbers across jurisdictions – a tool that streamlined reconciliation and improved transparency. More recently, it launched EURI, a euro-denominated stablecoin designed to comply with the EU’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, making it one of the first bank-issued tokens of its kind.
The firm has also built links with global networks including Visa and Mastercard, broadening its reach across international payment flows.
These innovations are not about novelty, insists Bertelsen, but about solving pain points. “Cross-border payments were running on the same infrastructure for 30 or 40 years,” he says. “We saw an opportunity to redesign the whole payment infrastructure. Now we have created it – and every time we add a new currency, it gets better.”
Building trust
If technology is one pillar of the strategy, trust is the other. In an industry where reputation is everything, a relative newcomer cannot afford missteps.
“When you are in the financial sector, it’s all about trust – that’s basically what you’re selling,” says Bertelsen. “The hard part is at the start. But when you become bigger and bigger, it becomes self-fulfilling.”
Banking Circle has doubled down on compliance and risk controls powered by AI to build credibility. Unlike many rivals, it has insourced its anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions screening, deploying machine-learning models to reduce false positives. Banking Circle only works with licensed and regulated institutions. “We rarely see false positives,” says Bertelsen. “We are trying to have the right model to ensure it flags the right names.”
We will not compete against our own clients. That has always been the mantra.
Laust Bertelsen
At the same time, the company is selective about its clients – typically regulated institutions. This, Bertelsen argues, helps manage complexity across jurisdictions, where onboarding requirements and regulatory expectations vary widely.
Built in-house and hosted entirely on the cloud, it uses a microservices architecture to support real-time, event-driven processing rather than batch settlement. This allows faster deployment of updates, instant visibility into payment status and a uniform infrastructure across geographies.
“Compared to all the banks that have been buying and buying and buying, that have a very scattered IT infrastructure, we have one uniform system,” says Bertelsen.
This single-platform approach also supports scalability. Once the foundations of the licence and the infrastructure were laid, the business model became highly scalable at relatively low marginal cost.
Global push
While Europe remains core, Banking Circle has begun expanding further. In 2023, it entered Australia with BC Payments, later acquiring Australian Settlements Limited to deepen its domestic footprint. It has also secured in-principle approval for a payments licence in Singapore, and is in talks with regulators across South America, Asia and the Middle East.
“We are looking to add around three currencies with direct connectivity yearly going forward,” says Bertelsen. “The better our network is, the more clients we can get and the better service we can provide.”
Rapid expansion brings organisational challenges. Banking Circle stresses its culture of focus, flat hierarchy and selectivity in hiring. “The goal we set when we founded the company is the same goal we have today,” says Bertelsen. “We are very focused on this payment side. We try not to deviate into other spaces.”
Looking ahead, the model is set to be tested further as regulators tighten scrutiny of payments, particularly around sanctions and digital assets. But the trajectory is clear: more currencies, more corridors, more partnerships.
