For embedded finance, neobanks, payments, BNPL, lending, and wealth-tech running consumer sign-up demand and B2B pipeline against CAC-payback and onboarding-velocity targets.
Sector
Embedded + neobank + payments
consumer + B2B mix
Metrics
CAC payback + onboarding velocity
unit-economics literate
Senior practitioners
50+ combined years
Founder + MD + Ops + Search/Social
Compliance-aware
Risk warnings + restricted-targeting rules built into every ad set
MAS PSA · FCA sandbox · ASIC innovation · FinCEN · AUSTRAC
Fintech Marketing by leapbuzz, an AI-native marketing and business consultancy based in Singapore. Built for marketing, product, business, and sales leaders who want senior specialists inside the account from the first conversation. Five anchor markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the United States, and Canada. Fintech marketing engagements covering the regulated-sector compliance frame (MAS PSA + Securities and Futures Act + Payment Services Act + AML/CFT), the fintech buyer-committee structure, and the channel mix that fits the vertical: TikTok + Meta for consumer fintech prospecting, Google Search for intent capture, LinkedIn for B2B fintech infrastructure sales, Reddit for community-driven category education and developer awareness..
▸ Workflow
The same management approach that runs across every channel we touch. Read, wire, spark, measure.
01
Audit the programme end to end. Account health, signal integrity, attribution coverage, creative inventory, regulated-sector compliance assessment for SG FI clients. Two to three weeks. Findings document yours regardless of next steps.
02
Tagging, identity, server-side measurement, brand-safety stack, compliance pipeline. Built before launch, not patched after.
03
Launch into the structures the audit prescribed. Weekly creative and performance review with the senior practitioner who built the brief, not an account manager.
04
Monthly review against the bet we named in step one. Marketing mix modelling and incrementality testing where volume supports it.
▸ Capabilities
Six areas where senior-practitioner involvement makes a measurable difference in fintech accounts. Not a generic retainer; each engagement is scoped to the data, the compliance frame, and the unit-economics target.
Map the channel mix to the payback period, not the cheapest cost per install. Paid media strategy aligned to the unit-economics conversation your finance team expects: CAC, onboarding-to-active rate, 30-day retention, LTV curve. Google Search for intent, Meta for consumer prospecting, LinkedIn for B2B infrastructure sales.
Ad-asset approval cycles for MAS PSA-licensed fintechs run 3 to 7 days longer than consumer verticals. Compliance review is built into the production timeline, not appended. Every claim substantiated. Risk disclosures formatted to regulator specification. No surprises at the final review.
Signal-quality matters more in fintech than in most verticals because conversion events are high-value and infrequent. Conversions API on Meta (Event Match Quality target 7.0+), Enhanced Conversions on Google, UET and Offline Conversions Import on Microsoft. Server-side GTM as the routing layer. CRM-to-platform offline conversion loops for lead-quality feedback.
Most fintech onboarding drop-off happens between install and first funded event, not between ad and install. A diagnostic across the full onboarding funnel (ad creative, app store listing, install, registration, KYC, first transaction) identifies where the programme bleeds and which lever has the highest marginal return at current volume.
For embedded finance and infrastructure providers targeting CFOs, CTOs, and heads of payments at financial institutions. Account-based marketing (ABM) using LinkedIn Conversation Ads, Thought Leader Ads, and programmatic intent overlays. Longer sales cycles demand a different channel weighting than consumer fintech.
Platform-reported numbers overstate. Every fintech CFO knows this. We run geo-holdout Conversion Lift Studies where volume supports it, and marketing-mix modelling (MMM) for the annual budget conversation. The causal read on spend sits alongside the in-platform read, not in place of it.
▸ Compliance frame
Marketing claims, disclaimers, and ad-asset formats are governed by local financial services regulation in each market. These are not the same rulebook. A campaign that clears MAS review in Singapore does not automatically clear ASIC review in Australia. The compliance pipeline is built market by market, not once globally.
Singapore
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) governs advertising by Payment Services Act (PSA) licensees, Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence holders, and digital bank licensees. Marketing for DPT (digital payment token) services requires explicit risk disclosures. The Financial Advisers Act governs investment-related advertising. PDPC's Personal Data Protection Act shapes consent and retargeting architecture.
Reference: MAS regulatory guidelines, PSA Second Schedule, FAA-N20.
Australia
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Regulatory Guide 234 sets standards for advertising financial products and services. All claims must be clear, concise, and not misleading. Financial services guide (FSG) disclosures required where applicable. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) governs data practices and consent.
Reference: ASIC RG 234 advertising guidance.
United States
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) governs national bank marketing. The Federal Trade Commission sets truth-in-advertising standards. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) enforces against deceptive practices in consumer financial products. State money-transmission licences add additional advertising restrictions. Meta Special Ad Category: Financial Products or Services applies to US campaigns.
Canada
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) sets prudential standards. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) governs PIPEDA and the newer Bill C-27 digital-first consent framework. Quebec's Law 25 adds French-language and consent requirements. Federally regulated financial institutions have additional advertising conduct standards under the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.
Malaysia
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governs e-money issuers and digital bank licensees under the Financial Services Act 2013. The Securities Commission (SC) governs investment-related advertising. PDPA Malaysia shapes retargeting and data consent. Digital-bank licensees (five awarded 2022) are under active regulatory supervision; marketing must align with approved product scope.
The build-once mistake
Building one global creative set and localising copy is the structural error most multi-market fintech campaigns make. Risk disclosures differ. Required disclaimer formats differ. Audience restrictions differ (crypto ads: age-gated in SG, prohibited on TikTok globally, restricted on Google/Meta with pre-certification). Ad approval timelines on Meta and Google run 24 to 48 hours for consumer categories; financial-services categories take 3 to 7 business days. Build the pipeline with this lead time baked in.
▸ Channel mix
Consumer fintech (payments, wallets, BNPL) runs differently from B2B fintech infrastructure (embedded finance, BaaS, lending-as-a-service). The channel weights are different. The compliance frame is different. The measurement horizon is different. Getting this wrong costs two or three quarters.
▸ Consumer fintech
Buyer is digitally-native, compares on speed and friction, churns fast if the value proposition is unclear within 30 days. CAC is low in absolute terms ($5 to 150 by product category) but volumes need to be high, and the retention curve determines whether the economics hold.
▸ B2B fintech
Buyer committee is 6 to 10 stakeholders deep at a financial institution. Decision cycles run 6 to 18 months. The channel mix shifts toward relationship-building and pipeline warming, not volume-led app installs.
▸ Platform benchmarks: fintech (indicative, 2025 Q4)
| Platform | Avg. CPC (USD) | Avg. CPL (USD) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search | 3 to 6 | 120 to 200 | High-intent, B2B fintech |
| 5 to 10 | 80 to 250 | B2B, enterprise sales, ABM | |
| Meta Ads | 1 to 3 | 40 to 100 | Consumer fintech, app installs |
| TikTok | 0.50 to 1.50 | 30 to 80 | Gen Z, digital wallets, BNPL |
| Google App Campaigns | N/A (CPD) | Per product funnel | App install + post-install events |
Source: Varos Q4 2024 fintech benchmark report; platform-published indicative CPC ranges. B2B fintech sees higher CPCs offset by larger deal values and longer LTV. Your specific account performance will vary with quality score, audience definition, and creative relevance.
▸ Latest in the fintech stack
Platform and policy changes that actually move budget allocation on a MAS-licensed, ASIC-regulated, FINTRAC-aligned, or CFPB-supervised fintech in 2026.
Verification gating in Singapore (MAS license proof), Australia (AFSL or credit license), United States, Canada, India, Indonesia, and Taiwan adds 5 to 15 business days per asset launch. Enforcement remains inconsistent. Senior practitioner stages verification before the brief lands in production. Window: EU AI Act high-risk obligations land 2 August 2026; the 12-month runway closes faster than most product teams plan for.
Once Meta determines the ad falls under credit, Advantage+ Shopping and Advantage+ Lead operate under Special Ad Category constraints globally. Age, gender, ZIP, and detailed-demographic targeting collapse. The lift comes from architecting the audience layer to that floor from day one, not from fighting the auto-detection.
Licensed banks run with case-by-case review. Cryptocurrency, FX trading, and most investment products remain prohibited in most markets. BNPL permission varies by market. Singapore-licensed institutions positioning at brand or product-feature level can run; investment-yield positioning cannot.
IDFA-based attribution stays suppressed. SKAdNetwork (SKAN) 5 and AAK are the operative channels for iOS. Fintechs without first-party data, contextual buys, and a marketing-mix model are running blind on a meaningful share of iOS volume.
Credit scoring of natural persons under Annex III 5(b) is high-risk from 2 August 2026. Non-EU fintechs reaching EU customers fall under deployer obligations via Article 2. Risk management, data governance, human oversight, accuracy, and post-market monitoring all in scope. Twelve-month runway to implementation; the work starts now.
Updates rated against the working fintech account, not against the platform's marketing of its own changes. Senior practitioner reads the changelog the same week it lands.
▸ Industries
Insurance is the anchor sector with deepest operating history. The other 11 have been served across the team's combined 50+ years.
20-minute call, no deck, no templates, just honest thinking about your actual challenge.
▸ FAQ
Three reasons.
Generic agency frameworks miss all three.
Paid media earns the next dollar when intent capture has plateau'd (the search auction is saturated, retargeting frequency has peaked).
Content earns it when sales-cycle length is the bottleneck (buyers need more information before they convert).
Brand earns it when category awareness is structurally low (Brand Lift Studies show the gap).
The audit reads your funnel and tells you which lever has the highest marginal return for your specific buyer journey.
Three layers.
1. In-platform attribution per channel.
2. Server-side measurement. Conversions API on Meta, Enhanced Conversions on Google, Events API on TikTok, Conversions API on LinkedIn, UET + Offline Conversions Import on Microsoft. Keeps signal quality high under cookieless conditions.
3. Marketing-mix-modelling with a Conversion Lift baseline.
For fintech specifically, lead-quality feedback loops from CRM back to platforms are the highest-leverage adjustment.
Three triggers.
The audit reads which of the three is actually breaking the programme.
Three layers.
1. Business outcomes. Cost per qualified lead, pipeline contribution, payback period, return on ad spend net of platform fees.
2. Attribution caveats. Platform-reported conversion numbers diverge from causal reality; cite the most recent incrementality study for the causal number, and disclose the gap explicitly.
3. The bets. What we tested, what worked, what we are killing, what we are scaling.
Naming what you got wrong alongside the wins is the pattern that builds board confidence.
Six things 90 days before launch.
Most launches skip 3 of these 6 and pay for it for two quarters.
Yes, when the incumbent contract is up or you have decided to move. The handover:
We do not poach accounts mid-contract or pitch in competition with an active incumbent.
Three signals to evaluate any agency on:
Our leadership: Siddharth Surana (Founder/CEO, 18+ yrs, ex-Havas Regional CDO, ex-Media360 COO, Programmatic Pioneer APAC 2011), Sundeep Surana (MD, 16+ yrs), Ratnakar Nemani (Ops Director, 11+ yrs, Google Ads Certified), Nitesh Sanghvi (Search and Social Director, 12+ yrs, Google Ads & Google Analytics certified). 50+ combined years on the team.
The Payment Services Act (PSA) 2019, amended 2021, is administered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and licences digital payment token services, e-money issuers, and money transfer operators. For marketing:
Meta and Google both apply their own financial-services ad review layer on top of PSA requirements. Budget for both internal compliance review and platform review cycles.
ASIC Regulatory Guide 234 sets the standard: all financial product advertising must be clear, concise, and not misleading. Key requirements:
DDO in particular is a meaningful constraint: if your Target Market Determination (TMD) defines the product as unsuitable for high-risk investors, your advertising must not target them, and your media agency must understand this. Campaigns built without DDO input can result in regulator action.
Four tests worth running:
Risk teams should request the agency's ad approval process documentation and examples of declined ad assets and how they were resolved.
Event Match Quality (EMQ) is Meta's score (0 to 10) measuring how well conversion data sent via the Conversions API and Pixel matches a Meta user account. Target: 7.0 or above. Below 6.0, the conversion optimisation algorithm struggles to find the right audience.
For fintech, EMQ matters more than in most verticals because conversion events (account opening, first deposit, first transaction) are high-value but low-frequency. With low EMQ, Meta's algorithm cannot learn efficiently from the limited conversion data.
Improving EMQ from a typical 5.0 to 6.0 baseline to 7.0+ requires sending additional match keys: email, phone, name, and client IP address, hashed before transmission. Server-side events via Conversions API deliver these more reliably than browser-side Pixel, which is restricted by iOS App Tracking Transparency opt-outs.
Three structural shifts that are live now:
Public benchmarks are quoted in USD by the primary publishers. Sub-segment ranges with named sources:
The 2022 baseline figures are likely understated against 2026 reality given platform-cost inflation; date each number inline when you cite them internally. Singapore and Malaysia digital-wallet and BNPL ranges are inferred from observable cashback-offer economics for GrabPay and Touch 'n Go style campaigns rather than from a published benchmark report; treat as practitioner heuristic, not industry data.
KYC drop-off: 30 to 50 percent of users who start an application drop off during manual KYC (Signicat, "The Battle for Onboarding" report, 2022). Average touchpoints: a user requires 5 to 8 touchpoints across channels before installing a high-consideration fintech app (Forrester, "The Customer Life Cycle", 2022).
Referral programmes can reduce blended CAC materially. The sustainable floor is a 3:1 LTV-to-CAC ratio (practitioner heuristic); below 2:1, the programme is subsidising growth rather than compounding it.
SingPass MyInfo auto-fills KYC fields (name, NRIC, address, income) for Singapore residents, reducing onboarding time materially versus manual entry. For marketing:
MyInfo is available to MAS-licensed entities; integration requires approval from the Government Technology Agency (GovTech). Marketing claims about MyInfo-enabled speed must not specify completion times that your own onboarding cannot consistently deliver.
Engagements are scoped to the programme, not sold as standard packages. Indicative bands:
All bands include tools, reporting, and quarterly incrementality testing where volume supports it. We do not mark up media spend or tool subscriptions.
A fintech marketing agency runs paid media with sector-specific compliance knowledge as a default practice, not an add-on. A performance marketing agency runs paid media across verticals and treats fintech compliance as a project addition. A digital marketing consultancy reads the programme and advises on architecture, and may or may not run the media.
leapbuzz operates as a consultancy that also runs the media: the senior practitioner who reads the programme is the same person who runs the accounts. For fintech specifically, the compliance frame and measurement architecture are non-negotiable starting conditions, not optional extras.
Every engagement is scoped to the programme, not sold as standard packages. Two fintech brands at the same media spend can have very different complexity: one has a single-market consumer app, the other has a multi-product MAS-licensed entity running across Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia with different compliance requirements in each market.
Talk to us about your challenge; we come back with a scoped proposal. Indicative bands are in the pricing question above.
A written findings document covering:
2 to 3 weeks. Fixed scope. The document is yours regardless of whether we continue to work together. Founder participates in the engagement review.
Pre-licence marketing for regulated financial services in Singapore is restricted. You can market the company and the product concept (brand awareness, waitlist capture, community building) without making regulated activity claims. You cannot advertise the service as available if it is not licensed.
The MAS Fintech Regulatory Sandbox (FSAS) allows limited operation with relaxed requirements for up to 12 months. Sandbox status is a trust signal but must be clearly disclosed; the sandbox letter is not a full licence for advertising purposes.
We build pre-launch marketing within these constraints: waitlist campaigns, educational content, community programmes, and brand-trust signals that do not make unlicensed activity claims.
Three in descending order of restriction:
Payments and digital wallets are the least restrictive sub-category within fintech. Consumer neobanks sit between payments and investment in restriction level depending on the product features offered.
The CFPB Interpretive Rule issued 22 May 2024 confirms BNPL products are credit cards under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z). Operational implications for the marketing team:
Also relevant: CFPB Circular 2022-03 on AI in adverse-action notices means AI-driven credit decisions must still produce specific, accurate denial reasons. Marketing automation that segments by predicted decline cannot hide behind "algorithmic" as a denial reason.
Sources: consumerfinance.gov; CFPB Interpretive Rule on BNPL, 22 May 2024; CFPB Circular 2022-03, May 2022.
National-identity-scheme handoff is the single highest-leverage onboarding intervention available to a licensed fintech in markets that publish a national digital ID rail:
Vendor case studies from iProov and Jumio report a 15 to 25 percentage-point improvement on KYC completion vs manual entry. These are vendor case studies, not published industry benchmarks, and the magnitude is product-specific.
The marketing implication is twofold: (1) feature the identity-scheme integration prominently in conversion creative as a friction-reduction signal, and (2) set the identity-scheme entry point as a conversion event in Conversions API and Enhanced Conversions feeds so Meta and Google optimise toward it rather than toward registration-start. Marketing claims about identity-scheme-enabled speed must not specify completion times the onboarding cannot consistently deliver.
Cross-border launch sequencing is governed by licensing pace, not creative readiness. Five anchor-market observations:
Cross-border ad accounts should be structured per-market to allow asset-approval cycles to run in parallel rather than serial. Financial-services ad approval timelines on Meta and Google run 3 to 7 business days; sequencing them serially adds quarters to the launch window.
Two persona realities sit on the same fintech page.
Series-B-plus and licensed-digital-bank CMOs (GXS, Trust Bank, MariBank, Chime, KOHO) buy compliance-defensible scaling, multi-market regulatory fluency, and AI-native efficiency that survives a CFO read. The deck is built around CAC payback, LTV cohort modelling, and the incrementality conversation.
Pre-Series-A and seed founders are typically founder-as-CMO; the ask is funded-account count at a specific CAC over a specific window. The deck is built around what gets shipped before the next milestone.
The engagement shape differs:
The honest framing on both sides is the same: capability, not invented outcomes, drives the proposal. The audit is yours either way.
Information current as of . Sources: platform vendor documentation, regulator publications named inline (MAS mas.gov.sg, ASIC asic.gov.au, OSFI osfi-bsif.gc.ca), Varos benchmark report Q4 2024, Statcounter where market-share data is referenced. Not legal or financial advice. For Singapore regulated-sector engagements, refer to MAS PSA Second Schedule and MAS Notice FAA-N20; for Australia, ASIC RG 234 and DDO instrument 2019/1060; for the United States, FTC Truth in Advertising guidelines; for Canada, OPC PIPEDA guidance. Editorial corrections: [email protected].
20-minute call, no deck, no templates, just honest thinking about your actual challenge.
