Defacto Goes Live on Mambu Payments to Scale Embedded SME Financing in France

By Lauren Towner · 12 August 2026

In brief: Defacto has integrated Mambu Payments to automate SEPA payment flows for its B2B lending platform, enabling the company to scale its €1.5 billion SME financing program through a single REST API.

Key facts
Total SME Financing	€1.5 billion+
SMEs Served	25,000+
Implementation Timeline	July 2025 to January 2026
Connectivity Type	SEPA via REST API

Press Release: Defacto Goes Live on Mambu Payments to Scale Embedded SME Financing in France | Featured Image by FF News

Quick Summary

Defacto has integrated Mambu Payments to automate SEPA payment flows for its B2B lending platform. This partnership allows Defacto to scale embedded SME financing by connecting directly to institutional banking partners via a single API, bypassing the need for complex, manual bank integrations or rigid BaaS models.

How Does Mambu Payments Scale SME Lending?

Mambu Payments provides a modern REST API that enables real-time visibility across all payment flows, including disbursements and repayments. By utilizing this infrastructure, Defacto has successfully automated its receivables financing programme, allowing the fintech to focus on customer value rather than technical debt. Key benefits include:

Automated SEPA connectivity for seamless cross-border transactions.
Direct account operation on top of existing tier-1 banking relationships.
Reusable architecture that facilitates rapid expansion to new institutional partners.

The implementation marks a shift away from traditional Banking-as-a-Service models, offering a more flexible approach for regulated fintechs to manage their own infrastructure while maintaining compliance.

What Results Has Defacto Delivered with Mambu?

Since its inception in 2021, Defacto has achieved significant scale, financing over €1.5 billion for more than 25,000 SMEs. The collaboration with Mambu followed a rapid deployment timeline, moving from initial scoping in July 2025 to full production by January 2026. This six-month rollout underscores the efficiency of composable banking infrastructure in highly regulated markets like France. By removing the technical burden of bespoke integrations, Defacto can now deploy lending programs directly into the infrastructure of major financial institutions with enhanced operational security.

FF NEWS TAKE:

This move by Defacto and Mambu Payments definitely moves the needle for embedded SME financing. By decoupling the payment operations layer from the underlying bank account, Mambu is solving a major friction point for fintechs who want to scale without being locked into a single custodian bank. This "bring your own bank" approach to API-first infrastructure is the future of regulated fintech, offering the agility of a startup with the stability of a tier-1 institution.

Frequently asked questions

How does Defacto use Mambu Payments for SME lending?

Defacto uses Mambu Payments to automate payment disbursements and repayments for its receivables financing product. By integrating via a single REST API, Defacto gains real-time visibility across SEPA payment flows without needing to build complex, bespoke bank integrations for each institutional partner.

What are the benefits of Mambu Payments over traditional BaaS?

Unlike traditional Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) models that require fintechs to open new accounts with a provider's custodian bank, Mambu Payments allows Defacto to operate directly on top of its existing tier-1 banking relationships. This provides a more flexible and scalable foundation for institutional partnerships.

How much financing has Defacto provided to SMEs?

Since its launch in 2021, Defacto has financed more than €1.5 billion for over 25,000 SMEs across five European markets. The integration with Mambu Payments is designed to support the continued scaling of these lending programs.