Navigating Fintech Partnerships
How to Build and Scale a Successful Affiliate Program for Fintech Brands
Affiliate marketing has become a powerful growth engine for Fintech brands, but it's far from a plug-and-play strategy. Navigating complex regulations, building trust with cautious audiences, and competing in a saturated market all require a unique, strategic approach.
In this blog, we’ll outline the most common challenges you can expect to face and how you can overcome them. We'll also dive into what makes Fintech affiliate programs so unique from other industries. Whether you're launching a new program or looking to scale an existing one, these insights will help you grow your Fintech brand through affiliate partnerships, the right way.
What Makes Fintech Affiliate Programs Unique?
1. Education Driven and Trust Focused 📚
Unlike impulse-buy industries like fashion or beauty, Fintech requires a high level of consumer trust. Financial decisions are rarely made quickly, they involve complex terms and long-term consequences. That’s why it's essential for Fintech publishers to educate their audiences and create compliant, transparent content that builds confidence and trust.
2. Strict Compliance and Regulatory Oversight 🔍
Affiliate marketing in Fintech is governed by regulatory bodies such as the FCA (UK), FTC, and SEC (USA). Promotions must follow strict guidelines to protect consumers from misleading claims. Both brands and publishers are responsible for staying compliant, making legal knowledge and internal review processes critical to success.
3. Longer Conversion Funnels ⏳
Fintech user journeys are often made up of multiple stages - think credit checks, identity verification, and product qualification. This means conversions take longer, and commission structures must reflect deeper user engagement rather than one-click transactions.
4. Higher Payouts, Higher Stakes 💸
Customer lifetime value (LTV) in Fintech is typically much higher than in other industries, which allows for more generous commissions. But with greater rewards comes more competition, brands must offer tiered commission structures to attract and retain high quality publishers.
Key Challenges (and How to Overcome Them)
1. Regulatory & Compliance Risks
❗️ The challenge: Non-compliant promotions can lead to fines or reputational damage. At the same time, lengthy approval processes can delay partner activation.
💡 The solution:
- Create a clear compliance guide to with strict “Do’s and Don’ts” to share with publishers
- Set expectations around approval timelines and required content standards
- Use tools like AdClear to streamline compliance workflows
2. High Competition
❗️ The challenge: Many Fintech brands offer similar products and offers, so standing out can be tricky.
💡 The solution:
- Highlight your unique selling points (USPs) - shout about them!
- Offer competitive, tiered commission structures to incentivise publishers
- Stay agile - update offers regularly, especially during seasonal peaks
3. Low-Quality Traffic
❗️ The challenge: Some publishers might drive low-intent or fraudulent traffic, which leads to poor conversion rates and low LTV.
💡 The solution:
- Avoid incentive-based publishers - users are likely to have low LTV, and drop off after receiving their reward.
- Regularly monitor performance metrics and LTV per publisher
- Familiarise yourself with fraud detection tools available on your affiliate network - impact.com has some great tools you can put to use.
4. Complex Attribution & Tracking
❗️ The challenge: Multi-step customer journeys can make it difficult to attribute conversions accurately.
💡 The solution:
- Define multiple conversion milestones (e.g. qualified lead, verified user, or funded account)
- Align incentives with high-value user actions, not just clicks or sign-ups
- Test and optimise the full user journey before launching a new event
5. Finding the Right Partners
❗️ The challenge: Generic publishers often lack the relevance and credibility required to promote financial products.
💡 The solution:
- Prioritise niche, trusted creators: YouTubers, finance influencers, comparison sites, media authority sites etc.
- Provide education and support to ensure they represent your brand accurately
Our Top Tips for Launching and Scaling a Fintech Affiliate Program
Launching:
- Build a strong compliance process from day one
- Start with a curated, high-quality publisher network with an aligned audience
- Provide partners with assets like product demos, FAQs, and USPs
- Choose affiliate software with robust tracking and reporting capabilities
- Make onboarding quick and easy with ready-made creatives and clear step-by-step guides
Scaling:
- Double down on top-performing partners with exclusive deals or higher commission
- Explore niche segments like crypto, students, or freelancers depending on your product fit
- Benchmark against your competitors and be reactive by adjusting commission accordingly
- Test new content formats, e.g. sponsored calculators (mortgage, tax, salary etc.) or collaborate on education-led content
- Optimise landing pages for conversion, post-click experience matters just as much as the traffic source
Real Results: What This Looks Like in Practice
We’ve been working with the savings and investment app Plum for almost five years, and we’ve transformed their affiliate program into a core growth channel. Over the last year we have:
- Achieved an incredible 84% YoY increase in overall conversions
- Drove a 176% increase in Cash ISA openings and 46% YoY growth in registrations during ISA season
- Partnered with trusted creators like Nischa, Budgeting Mum, and Chidera Peters to promote Plum’s savings challenge
- Secured placements on Moneysupermarket, Money.co.uk, Which, Moneyfacts, and GoCompare for their Cash ISA
- Featured in Money Saving Expert newsletters and autosaving content
- Built trust and credibility by securing coverage in The Times Money Mentor
- Scaled volume for key products with trusted cashback partners like TopCashback, Oh My Dosh, and Quidco
Across our entire Fintech client portfolio, we’ve driven an average 150% YoY growth - and counting. You can find out more about our long standing partnership with Plum in this blog post.
Fintech Brands Need a Smarter Affiliate Strategy
Affiliate marketing for Fintech brands isn’t just about clicks and conversions, it’s about education, trust, and regulatory compliance. Publishers must deliver clear, accurate, and compliant content, and marketers must support them with the right tools, training, and transparent processes.
Challenges such as regulatory risks, high competition, low-quality traffic, tracking complexity, and finding credible publishers are common, but solvable. With the right compliance-first strategy and high quality partners, affiliate marketing can be a powerful way to drive scalable growth for Fintech brands.
Ready to Scale Your Fintech Affiliate Program?
Whether you're launching your affiliate program from scratch or looking to optimise your existing strategy, we can help. Explore our service plans or request a free affiliate program audit through our contact form today.
