Selling to banks: a free playbook for fintech and B2B vendors

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A free 18-page PDF, no email needed. The bank buying committee, what each person on it needs from you, the five stages of a bank deal, the vendor due diligence file, how to scope a first deal, the cold email rules in six markets, and what a first meeting is worth. Every rule is named and linked.

Short answer: To sell to a bank you need a business owner who wants your product enough to sponsor it, and a vendor file that survives third-party risk review. This free playbook puts the whole route in one PDF: who to write to, what each person on the committee needs, what the regulators tell banks to check, how to scope a first deal so it is approved, how to keep outreach legal, and what a first meeting is worth. Download the PDF (18 pages, A4). No email needed.

What is inside

Why banks buy slowly. The US interagency guidance, the EBA outsourcing guidelines, DORA and PRA SS2/21, and what each means for a vendor.
The buying committee. Ten roles in one table: who can sign and who can block.
What each person needs from you. The question in each role's head, and what to give them before they ask.
Who to email first. The first title by what you sell: fraud and AML, payments, lending, data, regulatory reporting, credit union software.
The five stages of a bank deal. Planning, due diligence, contract, monitoring and exit, from the seller's side.
The vendor due diligence file. What to have ready before your first serious meeting, and how to handle gaps.
Scope your first deal small. Pilot design, and the six reasons bank pilots stall.
Getting the first meeting. Cold email, warm introductions, core providers and events, and the mistakes vendors make.
Keeping outreach legal. Cold email rules in the UK, Germany, other EU countries, the US and Canada, and when an email becomes a financial promotion.
What counts as a qualified bank meeting. Eight edge cases to settle in writing, and what to bring to the first meeting.
What a bank meeting is worth. The break-even formula with a worked example, and published agency prices.
What our data says about finance inboxes. DMARC enforcement at 478 ranked fintech and financial-services firms, by segment.
A checklist for before the first email, the sources cited, and links to the longer page for every chapter.

Every chapter has a longer, linked version on this site, kept up to date: start with how to sell to banks, the bank buying committee map, is cold email legal for financial services and the financial services cost per meeting calculator.

Who wrote it

I'm Moe Alhosni, founder of ROI Maximizer. I spent 4 years and 7 months at Moody's in London (October 2019 to April 2024): first as a Client Service Associate, then as an Account Manager on Tier 1 banks and asset managers, then in Credit Solutions sales, and finally as Assistant Director, Sales. Before that I worked at BLOM Bank France in London on settlements and customer due diligence. The playbook is the general version of what I saw from the seller's side and from inside a bank's control functions. It holds no former employer's data, clients or methods.

The honest position: ROI Maximizer has not run a finance campaign yet. Our published results are in PR: PR Noir and P1 Communications. What this playbook brings is buyer-side knowledge, not a list of bank logos.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to give my email to download the playbook?

No. The download link works straight away, with no form. The PDF is free to share under CC BY 4.0.

Who is the playbook for?

B2B companies whose buyer is a bank, a building society or a credit union: fintech, regtech, data, software and services firms. It covers the US, the UK and the EU.

Is the playbook legal advice?

No. It names and links the rules, but it is general information. Check your own case with your compliance team or counsel.

How is it different from the bank buying committee map?

The bank buying committee map goes deep on one question: who sits on the committee at each size of bank. The playbook covers the whole sale, from the first email to the due diligence file, the contract and what a meeting is worth.

ROI Maximizer is a trading name of M Ventures LTD, registered in England and Wales, company no. 15554493. Registered office: 4 Beau Street, Bath BA1 1QY, United Kingdom. moe@roimaxi.com