What CCG Catalyst does

CCG Catalyst is a US-based management consulting firm specializing in the financial services sector, serving banks (community, regional, and global), credit unions, and fintech companies. Founded by Paul Schaus in 1998 with formal establishment in 2005, the firm operates from four global offices — Phoenix (headquarters), New York, London, and Singapore — with consultants collectively traveling over one million miles per year to deliver engagements across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The firm reports over 600 lifetime clients and over 1,000 projects delivered.

The company's service portfolio spans strategic advisory (core modernization, digital transformation, fintech partnership strategy, de novo bank advisory, payments transformation), structured technology evaluations of core, digital, payments, and lending systems, contract negotiations (over 2,000 fintech contracts negotiated), bank M&A due diligence and integration, and fintech market-entry advisory. Central to delivery is the trademarked CCG Catalyst 4D™ Methodology, a four-phase approach (Discover, Define, Diverge, Deliver/Define Strategy) emphasizing discovery before prescription and collaborative refinement before strategy lock-in. The firm also developed the CCG Catalyst Evaluator, an electronic RFP scoring platform, and operates the Bankers Fintech Council — a membership-driven community connecting US banks with fintechs seeking US market entry.

CCG Catalyst generates revenue on a fixed-fee or monthly retainer basis (rather than percentage-of-savings), and reports multiple simultaneous engagements with the same client across strategy, evaluation, negotiation, and conversion phases. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise sales by senior consultants, the Bankers Fintech Council as a referral engine, and a heavy thought-leadership apparatus (research reports, webinars, podcasts, keynotes at Sibos, Money20/20, and Financial Brand Forum). The firm is privately held, founder-owned, and bootstrapped, with no disclosed external funding or institutional investors.

Name

CCG Catalyst

Legal name

CCG Catalyst

Website

https://ccgcatalyst.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CCG Catalyst is a US-based financial services management consulting firm serving banks, credit unions, and fintechs globally with strategic advisory, technology evaluations, contract negotiations, and fintech market-entry services across four offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Phoenix

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Strategic Advisory and Consulting Services: CCG Catalyst provides strategic advice, management planning, and advisory services across the banking value chain. Engagements include strategic planning, technology assessments, vendor evaluations, and project management. The firm operates on a fixed fee or monthly retainer model (as opposed to percentage-of-savings models), and it is common for them to have multiple simultaneous engagements with the same client, expanding from strategic planning to technology planning to evaluations to conversions. The team approach means one client may have multiple consultants working on concurrent projects.
2. Contract Negotiations: The firm negotiates core and ancillary technology contracts on behalf of financial institutions. They help clients achieve pricing concessions through multiple rounds of negotiation and level the playing field with vendor business terms. The engagement often includes post-execution contract review, invoice verification, and ongoing vendor adherence monitoring. The firm has negotiated over 2,000 fintech contracts.
3. Core and Digital Evaluations: Evaluations of core banking, digital banking, payments, and lending technology solutions. The evaluation process includes information gathering, gap analysis, business requirements documentation, vendor scoring, reference calls, site visits, and down-select support. The firm has conducted a large number of core, digital, loan, and payment evaluations for clients.
4. Market Research and Commissioned Reports: The firm produces research reports, research snapshots, commentaries, and thought leadership content on topics including AI in banking, fintech trends, BaaS, core modernization, and open banking. Research is published publicly on their website and through CCG Insights subscription.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

CCG Catalyst provides strategic advisory services to banks, credit unions, and fintechs across core modernization, digital transformation, payments, migration, and transformation. Core deliverables include vendor evaluations (core, digital, payments, lending), contract negotiations, project management, and bank merger due diligence and integration. The firm also operates the Bankers Fintech Council, a membership-driven program that facilitates introductions between US banks and fintech companies seeking market entry.

Product overview

CCG Catalyst is a bank consulting and research advisory firm offering a portfolio of professional services designed to help banks, credit unions, and fintechs navigate the financial services landscape. The firm's service offerings include strategic advisory (core modernization, digital transformation, Bank FinTech Fusion), technology evaluations (core, digital, payments, lending systems), contract negotiations, merger due diligence and integration, and fintech advisory services. The company operates a Bankers Fintech Council membership program that facilitates introductions between banks and fintechs. Central to their approach is the proprietary CCG Catalyst 4D Methodology (Discovery, Definition, Development/Diverge, Delivery/Define). The firm also produces thought leadership content including research reports, webinars, podcasts, and webcasts on banking technology trends. The company does not offer a unified software product but rather delivers consulting engagements, evaluations, and advisory services tailored to each client's needs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CCG Catalyst 4d™: Proprietary methodology framework for delivering consulting engagements, built across many years of success and challenges

Products and services

• Bank & Credit Union Advisory Services Strategic advisory services for banks and credit unions covering core modernization, digital transformation, Bank FinTech Fusion, strategy and business planning, management planning, and de novo banking. Targeted at financial institution executives evaluating transformation roadmaps.
• Core and Digital Technology Evaluations Comprehensive evaluations of core banking systems, digital platforms, payments, and lending solutions to help financial institutions select optimal technology partners. Includes information gathering, gap analysis, business requirements documentation, vendor scoring, reference calls, site visits, and down-select support.
• Contract Negotiations Expert negotiation services for core and ancillary technology contracts on behalf of financial institutions. Multiple rounds of negotiation secure pricing concessions and balanced business terms, with post-execution review, invoice verification, and ongoing vendor adherence monitoring.
• Bank Merger Due Diligence and Integration Advisory services for M&A transactions including target identification, due diligence, risk modeling, and post-merger integration planning for banking institutions.
• Fintech Advisory Services Advisory services for fintech companies including capability analysis, business case development, feasibility studies, product usefulness evaluation, roadmap creation, and achievement tracking for US market expansion.
• Bankers Fintech Council A membership-driven council that connects banks and fintechs for introductions, new technology validation, education on industry trends, and networking opportunities among financial institutions. Described as the only dedicated US-based council of banks that evaluate, partner with, consult, support, and potentially invest in fintech companies seeking US market expansion.
• Technology Assessment and Planning Assessment and strategic planning for technology infrastructure, including conversion, implementation, and project management services for banking technology initiatives.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 600 satisfied clients served
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered key and minor.

• Arizona Bankers AssociationkeyGTM or Marketing PartnerPolicy partner supporting the Bankers Fintech Council. Facilitates industry advocacy and networking at the state level for CCG Catalyst's council activities.
• Arizona Commerce AuthorityminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPolicy partner supporting the Bankers Fintech Council. Connects CCG Catalyst with Arizona's economic development ecosystem.
• Arizona Technology CouncilminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPolicy partner supporting the Bankers Fintech Council. Links the fintech and banking advisory community with Arizona's technology sector.
• Greater Phoenix Economic CouncilminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPolicy partner supporting the Bankers Fintech Council. Connects CCG Catalyst with regional economic development initiatives.
• Spencer FanekeyStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpencer Fane is a co-presenter of events and webinars with CCG Catalyst, including the AI-Powered M&A webinar series. Spencer Fane provides legal and regulatory expertise that complements CCG Catalyst's consulting services for financial institutions.
• Sun Corridor IncminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPolicy partner supporting the Bankers Fintech Council. Regional economic development partner in Arizona.
• Wisconsin Bankers AssociationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPolicy partner supporting the Bankers Fintech Council. Expands the council's reach into the Wisconsin banking market.
• ASU (Arizona State University)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerPolicy partner supporting the Bankers Fintech Council. Connects CCG Catalyst with academic and research resources through Arizona State University.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Capco: Capco is a global consulting and technology firm exclusively focused on financial services including banking, fintech, and payments transformation, overlapping directly with CCG Catalyst's service portfolio.
• Oliver Wyman: Oliver Wyman is a global financial services consultancy advising banks, insurers, and fintechs on risk, digital, and payments strategy - a broad incumbent that overlaps CCG Catalyst's bank transformation and fintech advisory work.
• Strategy& (PwC): Strategy& is the strategy consulting arm of PwC with a dedicated financial services practice advising global banks on transformation, core modernization and M&A - an established incumbent operating at far larger scale in adjacent work.
• McKinsey & Company (Financial Services Practice): McKinsey's Banking & Securities practice serves global banks on digital transformation, core modernization, and fintech strategy; competes for the same enterprise-level mandates at the high end of the market where CCG Catalyst also operates.
• Accenture (Banking): Accenture's Banking practice delivers large-scale core, digital, and payments consulting and implementation work to global banks, competing for the same transformation mandates that CCG Catalyst pursues.

Direct peers

• Novantas: Novantas provides strategic advisory, pricing, and channel analytics specifically for banks and credit unions, sharing CCG Catalyst's deep specialization in retail banking strategy and competitive benchmarking.
• Cornerstone Advisors: Cornerstone Advisors is a bank-focused management consulting firm serving community and mid-sized banks and credit unions on strategy, core/technology evaluations, and fintech engagement - the closest comparability to CCG Catalyst by customer segment and service mix.

Others

• Finastra: Finastra is a large core banking, digital, and lending software vendor whose products are routinely evaluated in RFPs that CCG Catalyst manages; it is an adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a direct competitor for advisory services.

Emerging players

• Infosys Finacle / EdgeVerve: Infosys and its Finacle/EdgeVerve subsidiary provide both core banking software and advisory/implementation services to banks, increasingly overlapping with the core modernization evaluations that CCG Catalyst runs on behalf of clients.

Regional players

• Bankers Consulting Group: Bankers Consulting Group provides consulting and core conversion services primarily to community banks in the United States, representing a regional US-focused peer with comparable banking advisory specialism.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/238709
• Xx.com/ccgcatalyst

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CCG Catalyst