← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Synovus

“Can a 138-year-old Southeast regional bank build a real embedded finance franchise (Maast) before being consolidated into a larger competitor?”

Founded1888
HQColumbus, Georgia, USA
IndustryBank / National
The story

Founded in 1888 as Columbus Bank and Trust, Synovus grew into a regional Southeast US commercial and retail bank with ~$62B in assets. Beginning 2022, Synovus pushed into embedded finance by acquiring a majority stake in payments processor Qualpay and launching Maast, a money-as-a-service platform combining payments, banking, and lending for ISVs. Subsequent partnerships (Fintainium, Koxa) extended the embedded banking reach into ERPs and AP/AR. Synovus was acquired by Pinnacle Financial Partners on January 2, 2026 and no longer operates as an independent company.

Last 12 months
2025-10
2026-01
Product timeline
1888
Founded as Columbus Bank and Trust Company in Columbus, Georgia.· banking
2010
Rebranded from Columbus Bank and Trust to Synovus.· pivot
2022
Acquired 60% ownership of Qualpay to power Maast, Synovus's money-as-a-service embedded finance offering.· acquisition
2023
Maast partnered with Fintainium to extend embedded finance into AR/AP for ERP providers.· banking
2025
Launched Gateway ERP powered by Koxa, embedding banking workflows into ERP systems.· banking
2026
Acquired by Pinnacle Financial Partners; ceased to exist as an independent corporation on January 2, 2026.· acquisition
Acquisitions
Qualpay2022
Cloud-based payment gateway and merchant processing platform; Synovus took 60% ownership to power its Maast embedded finance offering.
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Synovus
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
7 layers disclosed in Synovus’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Qualpay (subsidiary)Synovus Merchant Services (self-operated)Synovus Commerce Suite (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Investing
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
14 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.