Sage plans to build business accounts, debit cards, payments, and reconciliation into its accounting software, with Mastercard and Adyen as partners. The company announced the plan on November 10, 2026, at Sage Future for Partners Amsterdam. France comes first.
Adyen will handle the Banking-as-a-Service infrastructure and onboarding for that opening rollout. Banking-as-a-Service lets a software company offer accounts and cards by building on a provider’s banking infrastructure. Mastercard will act as Sage’s card network partner for the debit cards.
Derk Bleeker, Sage’s Chief Commercial Officer, described France as “the first implementation of our broader European Banking-as-a-Service strategy” and called it “an important step in helping customers manage more of their financial activity through Sage.”
Accounts and Cards Within Sage Software
The planned service will cover payments, company spending on debit cards, and banking activity linked to the accounting records. It will sit alongside existing bank accounts, so a business does not need to replace one. Sage expects transactions to post to the accounting records automatically, giving businesses a current view of cash instead of a day-old one.
Sage’s aim is to cut the switching between systems, the re-keying of data, and the separate reconciliation of transactions that small businesses face today. The first rollout is planned for Sage 50, Sage 100, and Sage Active in France. Sage anticipates different provider arrangements in other markets, and Adyen’s role is tied to the French launch.
Nicole Olbe, President, EMEA at Adyen, stated the partner’s view of embedding finance in business software: “Financial services belong within the platforms businesses already use.” Olbe added, “The future of finance is embedded.” Mastercard’s Mark Barnett, its Global Head of Small and Medium Enterprises, looked past Europe: “Starting in Europe, we see an opportunity to bring this more connected approach to small businesses around the world.”
Small Business Demand for Embedded Finance
The number of tools small businesses use to run their finances keeps growing, and Sage treats accounting software as one piece of that wider set. Mastercard research cited by Sage puts the European average at five digital business tools, and 70% describe integrated tools as critical to their business. New e-invoicing and digital reporting rules are arriving market by market, which means more for these businesses to manage.
Embedded finance means financial services offered inside software a business already uses. Oliver Wyman research cited by Sage found that 53% of small and mid-sized businesses surveyed in France, Germany, and the Netherlands favored accounting or ERP software as the route to those products. A further 64% planned to start or expand their use of embedded finance products from their software provider during the next year.
Sage describes the service as strengthening the offer its partners take to small business customers, giving those customers more financial capability.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
Banking sits closer to the books in Sage’s plan. Sage places account and card activity in the same software that holds the company’s books. Businesses that now use separate systems for that work would handle more of it in one place.
Adyen and Mastercard carry the banking side. Adyen supplies the infrastructure and Mastercard the card network, and Sage expects provider arrangements to differ by market. The French setup is one country’s arrangement, and what customers get elsewhere follows the providers Sage selects there.
Sage partners become a route to customers. Sage announced the plan at a partner event and says the service strengthens what its partners can offer small business customers. Partners can bring banking features to customers alongside the software those customers already use.
