fintech, and high-risk businesses
Banking, licensing, and formation for cases the standard route cannot place.
An account that will not open. A licence stuck in review. A structure that needs rebuilding. Jagelski & Partners scopes the case and introduces the one network partner whose risk appetite and coverage fit.
Short on time? Voice your request and Emma will navigate you, grounded in our verified comparison data.
Your shortlist in seconds
Three comparators screen 157 jurisdiction profiles: 50 for crypto licensing, 52 for formation, 55 for banking access, each on the criteria that vertical actually turns on. A fourth tool, the regulatory radar, tracks what changes next. Free, in the open, no call required.
The full picture, free
Reference-grade guides, free and unwalled: 52 of the 55 jurisdictions we cover carry a full profile, alongside 17 banking guides written by sector. Requirements, costs, timelines, and the trade-offs nobody advertises.
Or simply ask Emma
Emma, our AI advisor, answers from the same verified data, in your language, around the clock. No office hours, no waiting, no form to fill.
Spanning crypto, fintech, and high-risk markets
Worldwide scoping and specialist matching
Across partner banking and EMI relationships in 2025
Paid by partners, not by clients. No onboarding fee.
When the standard route fails, we open a different door.
For most founders the trigger is a refusal letter, a stalled application, or a structure their accountant has just flagged. Jagelski & Partners does not open the accounts or sign the regulatory filings. We scope the case, identify the specialist in our network whose risk appetite, jurisdiction coverage, and pricing fits, and make the introduction. Where two or three services interlock, the written scope sets out the sequence and dependencies before the handoff. Banking, licensing, and formation: each opened with a partner who has handled the profile before.
More about Jagelski & PartnersPre-Qualified Matching
Cases are checked against the current acceptance criteria of 90+ banking institutions and matched worldwide to the specialist that fits before any formal application. You approach only the providers likely to accept the case.
Aligned Economics
The institution that takes the case pays Jagelski & Partners, not the client. There is no markup on banking or EMI pricing, and no onboarding fee billed to the client.
Clear Handoff
One written brief, a qualified introduction, and no ambiguity about responsibility. Jagelski & Partners owns the scoping and matching; from the introduction onward, the independent specialist owns the relationship and delivery.
From the case to the introduction.
Scope the case and structure the route
Understanding the case comes first: the business model, the markets, and the specific point of friction. The output is a structured roadmap covering jurisdiction, entity type, licensing path, and banking requirements, delivered within one business day of the initial enquiry.
Select the partner
Before any formal application, we check the case against the current acceptance criteria of 90+ banking institutions and match the case worldwide to the specialist whose risk appetite, pricing, and timeline fit.
Make the introduction
Then comes the introduction to the partner who can take the case on. The client and specialist contract directly. When a call is useful, the matched independent specialist holds it and remains the point of contact through delivery. Where two or three services are needed together, the written brief gives the specialist the sequence and dependencies.
Banking for the cases other firms cannot place.
Operators typically come to us after rejected applications. We pre-qualify the case against 90+ banking and payment institutions in the partner network, then introduce the one that fits. Through Jagelski & Partners' partner network, businesses placed more than fourteen billion euros in client turnover across banking and EMI relationships in 2025. Payment comes from the institution, not from the client.
Across banking and EMI relationships in 2025, businesses placed more than fourteen billion euros in client turnover through Jagelski & Partners' partner network. Because of the volume the network places, partner institutions extend pricing terms a direct applicant cannot access. The institutional rate passes through unmarked.
Two questions the rest of the market answers as one: whether a local account is realistic, and whether the workable stack holds anyway. Tap a filter and the 55 banking jurisdictions below narrow live.
No jurisdiction matches every filter. or open the full tool →
A jurisdiction can be hard to bank in locally and still perfectly bankable through a multi-provider stack. That is the normal case, not a contradiction.
Licensing for applications that need a different approach.
Applicants usually reach us mid-cycle, with a stalled file or a regulator request on the desk. The introduction goes to the licensing partner who has lodged a comparable file in the same jurisdiction within the past 12 months, not to the firm with the deepest international brand. The partner network covers 50 jurisdictions, including firms engaged by governments to draft national crypto and virtual-asset frameworks.
The shortlist most firms make you book a call for: tap a filter and the 50 licensing jurisdictions below narrow live, with no signup and no sales call.
No jurisdiction matches every filter. or open the full tool →
Every figure behind these filters is re-verified on a schedule. See what changes next on the Regulatory Radar.
Formation built for the banking and licensing that follows.
Founders often arrive with an entity that fails downstream review: wrong jurisdiction, wrong director profile, no substance. We introduce the formation partner whose specialism fits, with a written scope showing how formation needs to sequence with licensing and banking. Company formation runs across 52 jurisdictions in the partner network.
EU member states, Caribbean offshore centres, Middle East free zones, Asia-Pacific hubs: each jurisdiction selected for a specific strategic purpose. Formation is planned alongside licensing and banking from day one.
Same live shortlist for the corporate seat: 52 formation jurisdictions filtered by what drives the decision, from tax and privacy to banking access and speed.
No jurisdiction matches every filter. or open the full tool →
Behind these filters, every figure is re-verified on a schedule. Track what changes next on the Regulatory Radar.
Tailored Infrastructure for Every Business Model
Agentic Payments
EMI, PI, and MiCA rails plus mandate frameworks for products where AI agents pay.
Crypto Exchanges
VASP licensing, banking access, and entity structuring for centralised and decentralised exchange operators.
Crypto Lending
Regime selection, collateral custody, and disbursement banking for crypto-backed lending businesses.
Fintech Companies
EMI and PSP licensing, payment infrastructure, and corporate banking for neobanks, lenders, and payment platforms.
High-Risk Businesses
Corporate banking for established businesses in industries banks routinely reject: gambling, forex, adult, CBD, and more.
Prediction Markets
Regulatory routes, customer-fund banking, and market infrastructure for event-contract venues.
Stablecoin & Token Issuers
MiCA EMT/ART classification, reserve management frameworks, and compliant issuance infrastructure.
DeFi & Web3
Legal wrappers, regulatory guidance, and compliant entity structures for protocols and DAOs.
Traditional Finance Adding Crypto
Compliance frameworks and licensing for banks, brokers, and asset managers entering digital assets.
Gambling & iGaming
Gambling licensing across Curaçao, Malta, and other jurisdictions for online operators.
Forex & Trading
Forex broker licensing, formation, and banking for trading platforms and proprietary trading firms.
Real Outcomes From Businesses That Built With Jagelski & Partners
"We spent eight months trying to open a corporate account on our own: every bank either rejected us or went silent. Jagelski & Partners pre-qualified us against their network and we had three offers within six weeks. The account we chose has been stable for over a year."
"Jagelski & Partners coordinated our VASP registration in Lithuania and company formation in parallel. The entire process took three months. Our previous consultancy quoted six months and wanted to handle formation as a separate engagement."
"What impressed us most was the pre-qualification. Instead of applying blind, we knew exactly which banks would accept our model before we submitted a single document. That saved us months and tens of thousands in compliance costs."
Tell us about the case
Crypto, fintech, and high-risk operators reach us at a single decision point. Each case is scoped, then introduced to the specialist who can take it on.
Start the conversationAnswers Before You Apply
Banking & Working With Jagelski & Partners
Specialist partners in our network do. Jagelski & Partners scopes the case, identifies the independent specialist whose expertise, jurisdiction coverage, and risk appetite fit, and makes the introduction. The specialist decides whether to accept the case. If accepted, the client and specialist contract directly, and the specialist remains responsible for the legal opinions, regulatory submissions, bank-account work, advice, and delivery.
Banks classify crypto, fintech, gambling, forex, adult, and related businesses as high-risk partly because of current national AML/CFT rules implementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 as amended, as well as regulatory uncertainty and chargeback exposure.
The AMLR applies generally from .
Many banks reject applications outright or terminate accounts without warning. Through Jagelski & Partners' partner network, businesses placed more than fourteen billion euros in client turnover across banking and EMI relationships in 2025. We pre-qualify your business across 90+ institutions before any formal application, so you approach only providers likely to accept your business. There is no markup on institutional pricing and no onboarding fee.
Jagelski & Partners is paid by the institution that takes the client's business, in the form of a referral or revenue-share arrangement. The institution extends this arrangement because the network delivers volume (through Jagelski & Partners' partner network, businesses placed more than fourteen billion euros in client turnover across banking and EMI relationships in 2025) and because the introductions are pre-qualified, which materially reduces the institution's onboarding cost. The pricing the client sees on their account-opening documentation is the institutional rate. There is no markup. There is no onboarding fee billed to the client.
No. Jagelski & Partners does not charge a banking onboarding fee. We never bill the client at all: our compensation is the institution's referral or revenue-share arrangement, and the partner who executes the work pays us. There is no onboarding fee, no retainer and no separate engagement to buy.
In many cases, yes. Jagelski & Partners' partner network includes institutions with materially different risk appetites, from tier-1 EU EMIs that onboard licensed CASPs to specialist high-risk partners that take operators with complex jurisdictional or sectoral profiles. In our experience, fewer than one in ten well-prepared cases that enter the placement process fail to find a banking home. The qualifier matters: well-prepared means a complete KYB pack, a credible AML/CFT manual, a documented source-of-funds trail, and a business model that the institution can underwrite. The placement assessment determines whether the case is one that the network can place.
Nothing. Jagelski & Partners does not bill the client, for banking placement or for anything else: no onboarding fee, no retainer, no engagement to buy. The institution or the specialist partner that takes the case pays us, and the pricing on the client's documentation is the institutional or partner rate with no markup. What a client does budget for is the partner's own professional fees and the government fees on a licence or a formation. Both are stated in full on the jurisdiction pages and in the comparators, and both are quoted before anything is signed.
Jagelski & Partners is not a law firm, accounting practice, or generalist corporate services provider. Jagelski & Partners is a strategic consultancy that connects businesses with specialist partners for each component of their infrastructure, banking, licensing, and company formation. Each partner has been selected for depth of expertise in their specific domain.
Licensing & Formation
A VASP licence (Virtual Asset Service Provider licence, a term defined by FATF Recommendation 15) is a regulatory authorisation required by businesses that offer services involving virtual assets, including crypto-asset exchanges, custodial wallet providers, and crypto-to-fiat settlement platforms. Inside the EU the equivalent permission is a MiCA CASP authorisation, which replaced the national VASP registrations when the Article 143(3) transition closed on . Outside the EU, VASP registration or licensing applies in jurisdictions including the BVI, Dubai (VARA), and Hong Kong.
MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) is the EU's framework for crypto-asset service providers. The CASP regime applied from , and the outer Article 143(3) transition has closed. For MiCA-scope services, Article 59(1) now requires a CASP authorisation under Article 63 or an eligible financial entity permitted under Article 60; a pending application alone is not an operating permission. MiCA still contains scope exclusions and a narrow reverse-solicitation rule that require case-specific analysis. An authorised CASP can passport across all 27 EU member states, reaching Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway subject to the in-force status of JCD 41/2025.
Timelines vary by jurisdiction. Inside the EU the permission is a MiCA CASP authorisation (see ESMA's MiCA implementation page): Slovakia runs 3 to 9 months, Lithuania 4 to 8, Latvia 6 to 9, Estonia (authorised by Finantsinspektsioon, the Estonian financial supervision authority) 6 to 12, and Malta 9 to 18 and Ireland 12 to 18 for a higher service class. Poland and Romania are the exceptions. Poland's Crypto-Asset Market Act is still not in force after three presidential vetoes, so the KNF cannot accept CASP applications and no domestic Polish route exists. Romania has no designated competent authority or operational domestic authorisation route as of 10 September 2026. Outside the EU, the BVI takes 4 to 6 months and the UAE 4 to 18. Jagelski & Partners provides jurisdiction-specific estimates during the initial assessment.
The right jurisdiction depends on your business model, target markets, banking needs, and budget. For EU market access with passporting, eleven of the thirteen EU/EEA jurisdictions in our licensing matrix can authorise a CASP; Poland and Romania are the exceptions. Slovakia is materially cheaper and faster on paper, at EUR 39,200 to EUR 79,900 and 3 to 9 months, but speed and cost on paper are not the same as a route with a track record. Operators serving the Polish or Romanian market authorise elsewhere in the EU and passport in under MiCA Article 65. For offshore operations with tax efficiency, the BVI and Cayman Islands remain the primary choices. For Middle East market access, Dubai (VARA) is the main option. Jagelski & Partners assesses your requirements and recommends jurisdictions based on your specific situation.
Costs vary by jurisdiction and service class. The EU licence is now a MiCA CASP authorisation. Slovakia runs EUR 39,200 to EUR 79,900, Latvia EUR 180,500 to EUR 440,500, Estonia EUR 132,700 to EUR 312,000, and Lithuania EUR 75,925 to EUR 268,425; those ranges are year-one all-in, covering government fees, legal work, the compliance build, and local substance. Portugal is EUR 80,500 to EUR 281,000 for the first-year build subtotal, with official application and supervision fees excluded and to confirm directly with the Banco de Portugal and the CMVM. Malta, Ireland, and Cyprus sit higher again. Minimum own-funds capital of EUR 50,000, EUR 125,000, or EUR 150,000 by service class is separate and stays in the company. The licensing comparator carries the same figures for all 50 jurisdictions, and Jagelski & Partners provides an exact breakdown during the initial assessment.
VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) is the term used in pre-MiCA national regulations and in jurisdictions outside the EU such as the BVI and Dubai. CASP (Crypto-Asset Service Provider) is the term defined by MiCA, the EU's unified crypto-asset regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, Article 3). In practice, CASP authorisation under MiCA replaces national VASP registrations within the EU. The transition closed on ; an existing VASP registration no longer carries a route into MiCA.
Company formation across EU, offshore, and emerging-market jurisdictions is a core service. Formation includes registered addresses, virtual offices, and corporate documents, and is often bundled with licensing: because a licence application requires a properly structured local entity.
Notes from the field on licensing, banking & regulation
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View AllTell us about the case.
Describe the case, the business, the jurisdictions involved, and the specific point of friction. Within one business day, the assessment comes back with a recommended path, the partner from the network who fits the case, and an estimate of timeline and costs. One enquiry, one conversation, and the introduction follows.