-- For most of the 20th century, managing money meant visiting a branch, speaking to a banker, filling out paper forms — and waiting. That world is disappearing. Across Europe and North America, consumers and businesses now move money, store balances, and pay bills entirely within apps — often without ever engaging a traditional bank.
Increasingly, the institution behind the IBAN doesn’t matter. What matters is functionality, flexibility, and speed.
“The IBAN isn’t going anywhere — but the bank is,” says Edgars Lasmanis, founder of Walletto, a regulated electronic money institution based in Vilnius. “People want functionality, not formalities. They want to move money in real time, not wait in a queue or fill out forms.”
The shift toward mobile-first, modular finance has been long underway. Early innovators like PayPal in the U.S. and Revolut in Europe began by addressing specific pain points. Today, a new wave of platforms — including Walletto — are embedding full banking-like capabilities directly into apps and APIs.
Walletto, licensed by the Bank of Lithuania and a principal member of Visa and Mastercard, operates as a fully regulated Electronic Money Institution (EMI). It offers services once reserved for banks: issuing cards, processing payments, facilitating IBAN transfers, and enabling SEPA and SWIFT transactions — all without legacy branch infrastructure.
This modular approach allows companies to access “banking-as-a-service” features without building their own costly infrastructure or navigating complex compliance requirements.
Regulation and Political Scrutiny
The fintech boom has been driven by regulatory reforms, particularly the EU’s PSD2 directive, which opened doors for EMIs to issue IBANs and run payments securely.
However, the rise of non-bank platforms has drawn scrutiny in the U.S. Lawmakers such as Senator Elizabeth Warren have warned regulators about potential risks to consumers and financial stability. Similarly, Senator Sherrod Brown has cautioned that fintech companies operating like banks, but without identical safeguards, “put people’s hard-earned money at risk.”
While regulation continues to evolve, fintech proponents argue that transparent, licensed EMIs like Walletto enhance competition and efficiency while maintaining robust consumer protections.
How Traditional Banks Are Responding
Banks are adapting — albeit slowly. Institutions like JPMorgan Chase are launching digital-first brands in Europe, while others are forming partnerships with fintech providers to modernize their offerings.
Still, legacy infrastructure remains a major hurdle. Reports from The Economist Intelligence Unit show that many banks struggle with operational complexity and outdated tech, even as they invest in AI, blockchain, and data-driven systems. Analysts argue that meeting modern customer expectations will require more than incremental improvements.
Cards Without Banks: The Walletto Model
One of Walletto’s most striking offerings is co-branded card issuing. Traditionally restricted to banks, this service now allows enterprises to launch branded card programs with Apple Pay, Google Pay, 3D Secure, chip-and-PIN, and customizable spend controls — all without acquiring their own Visa/Mastercard memberships.
“We’re replacing the idea of a ‘bank account’ with a more flexible toolkit,” Lasmanis explains. “You don’t need a banker anymore. You need a working interface.”
Walletto also caters to e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and cross-border firms with tools like mass payouts, recurring billing, e-invoicing, and real-time monitoring — critical features for businesses scaling globally.
The Next Layer of Finance
As apps and APIs redefine how money moves, analysts expect digital wallets to account for over 60% of global e-commerce transactions by 2027, with account-to-account (A2A) payments poised to disrupt traditional debit card revenues.
In this future, the financial institution becomes a background layer. Users will focus less on who holds their funds and more on how quickly and seamlessly they can access them.
“We’re not here to replace banks,” Lasmanis notes. “We’re here to build the next layer on top — the layer that actually works for people.”
Former Fed governor Raghuram Rajan captures this sentiment: “Healthy and competitive financial markets are an extraordinarily effective tool in spreading opportunity. But they must evolve with technology.”
A Future That’s Already Here
From its base in Vilnius, Walletto is emblematic of this shift: a licensed, PCI DSS-certified platform combining card issuing, payment acquiring, and IBAN account services in one place. For businesses and consumers alike, banking is becoming modular, mobile, and increasingly invisible — and companies like Walletto are showing what that future looks like.
Contact Info:
Name: Alex
Email: Send Email
Organization: WALLETTO
Website: http://walletto.eu/
Release ID: 89166464
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