We sponsor Visa and Mastercard programs on our own licences and scheme memberships in APAC, Europe and the UK. Use your existing processor and platform or bring more of the program together with EML.
A BIN sponsor holds the scheme membership and the regulatory permissions that allow cards to be issued. Without one, you need your own licence, your own scheme membership and your own compliance function, which takes years and capital most organisations would rather spend elsewhere.
Most card programs involve three roles:
You. You own the customers, the brand and the proposition.
The processor looks after the authorisation, spend controls and card lifecycle. You can retain an existing provider or use EML.
The sponsor provides the licence, the BIN range and the scheme membership, plus accountability to the schemes and the regulator.
Sponsorship is only as real as the permission behind it in the market you are launching in. Here is what we hold, and where the model changes.
Australian Financial Services Licence and Mastercard membership. We sponsor directly.
Payment Institution and electronic money authorisations with the FCA, and Mastercard private label issuance. We sponsor directly.
Electronic money authorisations with the Central Bank of Ireland and a Payment Institution licence covering the EEA, so programs can issue across Europe from an EU authorised entity. We sponsor directly.
We work through established issuing bank partnerships rather than our own licence. The model and the commercial terms differ. Contact our sales team for details.
United States and Canada
Through established issuing bank partnerships rather than our own licence.
Ireland and the EEA
Central Bank of Ireland e-money authorisation and an EEA Payment Institution licence. We sponsor directly.
United Kingdom
FCA Payment Institution and e-money authorisations. We sponsor directly.
Australia
Australian Financial Services Licence and Mastercard membership. We sponsor directly.
Contact us about your requirements and we can plan a pathway forward.
Every sponsor sets its risk appetite. Being clear about ours saves you weeks. Every proposal is assessed against our risk appetite, regulatory requirements, and the characteristics of the card program.
Established businesses adding payments to an existing customer base
Program managers and platforms with a defined use case, understood program mechanics, and a volume forecast
Regulated firms expanding into a market where we hold the appropriate permissions
Enterprise and government backed programs
Programs with appropriate and demonstrable financial crime controls
Pre-revenue businesses with no funding and no volume forecast
Use cases where the controls cannot be evidenced
Markets where we hold neither a permission nor a partner, or that fall outside our regulatory permissions or risk appetite
Programs where the underlying business model is unclear
A BIN sponsor holds the card scheme membership and regulatory permissions that allow cards to be issued. EML BIN Sponsorship lets you launch a card program on those permissions instead of obtaining your own licence and scheme membership.
In Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland and the EEA, we are the sponsor and hold the permissions directly. In the United States and Canada we work through established issuing bank partnerships.
We sponsor directly in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland and the EEA. In the United States and Canada we work through issuing bank partners. If you need another market, contact us and we can plan a pathway forward.
No. BIN sponsorship lets you issue on our licences and scheme memberships. If you already hold permissions of your own, tell us and we will factor them into the model.
In the markets where we sponsor directly, EML is the issuer of record. In the United States and Canada, it is our issuing bank partner.
We assess the use case, market, customer type, forecast volumes, funding model, financial crime risk and controls, regulatory requirements and the team behind the program.
It depends on the program. Pre-revenue businesses with no funding and no volume forecast fall outside our risk appetite. If you have funding, a defined use case and a volume forecast, talk to us.
Send us the use case and where you are up to. We will come back with a straight answer on appetite, the likely model and what the diligence would involve.
We also issue, process and run programs.
