FAQ

Last Updated: November 29, 2021

The basics

What is Swan?

Swan is a licensed Financial Institution. Our BaaS platform (Banking-as-a-Service) enables companies to embed white-labeled banking services like accounts, cards, and IBANs directly into their products and customer experiences.

Where is Swan available?

Swan's e-money license allows to provide banking services across the EEA including:

🇦🇹 Austria
🇧🇪 Belgium
🇨🇾 Cyprus
🇪🇪 Estonia
🇫🇮 Finland
🇫🇷 France
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇷 Greece
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇮🇹 Italy
🇱🇻 Latvia
🇱🇹 Lithuania
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇹 Malta
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇸🇰 Slovakia
🇸🇮 Slovenia
🇪🇸 Spain

How is Swan different from other Banking-as-a-Service providers?

Swan differentiates itself from other BaaS providers in many ways, but these three stand out:

Product Experience: Our product-centricity guarantees the best implementation- and end-user experience. This is achieved by choosing to build many BaaS components internally (such as our core banking system). Check out our APIs to understand what we mean when saying this.
No Payment Risk: We own the payment risk – no need to setup a risk management process or fraud detection.
No Agent-license required: You can piggy-back on our license, thus eliminating the regulatory burden for you.

Who is behind Swan?

The company was created in 2019 within the start-up studio eFounders. Swan's founders are experienced developers, entrepreneurs, and experts in the payments industry: Nicolas Benady, Nicolas Saison, and Mathieu Breton. Learn more.
Swan secured an e-money license to deliver banking features across Europe and is backed by leading tech investors such as Accel, Creandum and Bpifrance.

Pricing

What's the difference between Swan Solo and Swan Multi?

If you plan to offer banking features to your own customers, go with Swan Multi. However, if you just want to use API-based business bank accounts to run your payment flows, Swan Solo is right for you. We are happy to ideate around your exact needs in a discovery call.

Is there an initial setup fee at Swan?

Nope. There are no setup or registration fees. You won't pay a cent until you have real money flowing in your accounts.

Is there a setup fee for Apple Pay or Google Pay at Swan?

Yes and no – it depends on what you'd like to do.

No fee: If you want to let your users enter their card number by directly opening their Apple Pay or Google Pay wallets.
Fee & project time: If you wish to let users add cards to Apple Pay or Google Pay directly from your own app. This involves a two month project with Mastercard and all processes need to be certified by an external company.

How much does it cost to print and ship physical cards?

We offer two off-the-shelf designs for cards. We charge 5€ per card using one of these two designs. Additionally, the shipping costs are charged on a per cost-basis:

Tracked shipping in France: 1.37€
Standard shipping in Europe: 1.30€
Tracked shipping in Europe: 10€

Does Swan have a negative bank interest rate?

For accounts holding more than 100,000€, a negative interest will be charged. For each 1000€ over 100,000€, Swan will apply the European Central Bank negative interest rate. No negative interest rates will be applied to accounts holding less than 100,000€

How much are account holders charged for ATM Cash withdrawals?

Cash withdrawals at ATMs in France and the SEPA area: €1 incl. VAT
Cash withdrawals at ATMs outside the SEPA area: 2% of the amount withdrawn

Is there an additional fee for payments made outside the SEPA area?

Payment for goods and services in shops or remotely outside the SEPA area: 2% of the amount paid

What happens if an account holder loses their card?

Shipping or replacement of a card after loss, theft, damaged card, or card blocked or stopped following 3 incorrect codes: €7 incl. VAT

Are there other extraordinary events account holder events I should be aware of?

Fee for direct debit rejections due to an insufficient balance: €10 incl. VAT per rejected direct debit, up to the amount of the rejected direct debit
Funding an account by credit card: 0.7% of the amount deposited + €0.12 incl. VAT
Call to "Customer Service": cost of a local call, depending on the operator
Improper use of the account (attempting or performing acts in violation of the law and/or this Account Agreement): €180 incl. VAT
Processing of judicial or administrative seizures, notice to third party holders: €20 incl. VAT per file
Drafting a circulation letter for a legal entity holder: €54 incl. VAT

Using Swan

Do I need a license to embed banking services with Swan?

No. You don't have to be a banking agent or expert to work with Swan as Swan is a licensed financial institution. We have an e-money license and are regulated by the French banking agency, the ACPR.

Companies that work with Swan get to piggyback on this license to provide banking services to their customers. You don't need to go through the process of becoming regulated, nor hire a compliance team, set up a risk management process, or worry about being audited.

Why does Swan use the API language graphQL?

graphQL is an interesting alternative to REST or x-rpc. It's strongly-typed, resilient, and offers a finer command. We also love its "Introspection System" and the fact that it's future-oriented. Learn more.