Apply Financial
Apply Financial, part of LexisNexis Risk Solutions (RELX), provides Bankers Almanac Validate — an API and web platform that validates bank account details against a proprietary database of 65,000+ financial institutions across 200+ countries, serving SMB, mid-market, and enterprise customers with bolt-ons for sanctions screening and payment-fraud prevention.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Apply Financial does
Apply Financial is a London-based fintech data company founded in 2010 that operates as part of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a division of RELX. Its flagship product, Bankers Almanac Validate, is a cloud-based payment validation platform that verifies bank account details — including IBAN, BIC, ABA Numbers, and National Clearing Codes — against a proprietary global database of 65,000+ financial institutions, 1,450,000+ branch locations, 1,370,000+ clearing codes, and 390,000+ standard settlement instructions across 200+ clearing systems and 235+ countries, with 100% Swift/BIC coverage. The database is maintained by 100+ data professionals collecting from 300+ data points with 24-hour continuous updates, and the API delivers a 3-millisecond response time on AWS-hosted infrastructure in the UK and Ireland region.
The platform is offered in three tiers — Lite (self-serve web portal for SMBs), Plus (API for mid-market automation), and Enterprise (configurable API with dedicated onboarding) — plus two bolt-on modules: a Sanctions Data feed updated daily from HM Treasury, UN, OFAC, Global Watch List, and EU Consolidated sources, and a Safe Payment Verification service that confirms end-recipient routing to reduce Authorized Push Payment Fraud. Pricing is hybrid: subscription/credit bundles at $0.35 per validation at the entry tiers and custom multi-year contracts for enterprise customers, with an ERP integration product (Bankers Almanac Global Payments File-ERP) extending reach into corporate back-office systems.
Customer segmentation is horizontal, spanning small businesses needing on-demand checks, mid-market firms automating payment workflows, and large enterprises requiring sanctions screening and fraud mitigation. Distribution is dual-motion: a product-led growth funnel through the self-serve portal alongside enterprise direct sales supported by the global LexisNexis Risk Solutions marketing and localization footprint across the US, UK, Brazil, and Japan.
Apply Financial firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Apply Financial
- Legal name
- Apply Financial
- Website
- https://applyfinancial.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Apply Financial, part of LexisNexis Risk Solutions (RELX), provides Bankers Almanac Validate — an API and web platform that validates bank account details against a proprietary database of 65,000+ financial institutions across 200+ countries, serving SMB, mid-market, and enterprise customers with bolt-ons for sanctions screening and payment-fraud prevention.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Apply Financial industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Validation Software
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Multi-Currency Accounts, Wallets & IBAN Services (FSAMAIAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Account Verification & Ownership (AVS/AOV, micro-deposits, auth) (FSAGACAB), Digital Identity, eKYC & Borrower Verification (Lending-Focused) (FSAGAHAF)
Keywords
Where Apply Financial is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Apply Financial business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Bankers Almanac Validate - Lite: Tiered subscription/credit model with prepaid validation bundles; 100 validations for $35 or 500 for $175; $0.35 per validation after credits consumed; suitable for small businesses with non-technical users
- Bankers Almanac Validate - Plus: API-based usage model with volume pricing tiers; 500 validations for $175 or 1000 for $350; automation and integration capabilities for growing businesses
- Bankers Almanac Validate - Enterprise: Custom enterprise pricing for 1000+ validations; includes full portal access, configurable API, analytics, bolt-ons for sanctions data and safe payment verification; dedicated support and onboarding
- Bolt-on: Sanctions Data: Daily updated sanctions screening data from HM Treasury, UN, OFAC, Global Watch List, EU Consolidated; embedded into customer and internal payment channels for real-time decision-making
- Bolt-on: Safe Payment Verification: Account routing verification to confirm intended end recipient; reduces Authorized Push Payment Fraud; includes account open/closed status visibility
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Lite - 100 or 500 validations for small businesses via web portal |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Plus - 500 or 1000 validations with API integration for growing businesses |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise - 1000+ validations with full features and bolt-ons for large businesses |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Apply Financial product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Apply Financial, through its Bankers Almanac product suite, provides cloud-based payment validation and bank data verification services. The core Bankers Almanac Validate platform validates vendor, supplier and staff bank account details (IBAN, BIC, ABA, National Clearing Codes) against a proprietary database of 65,000+ financial institutions across 235+ countries and 200 clearing systems, with a 3-millisecond API response time.
Product overview
Apply Financial, through its Bankers Almanac product suite, offers a unified platform of payment validation and bank data verification products. The core offering is Bankers Almanac® Validate™, available in three tiers: Lite (web portal for manual checks), Plus (API for workflow automation), and Enterprise (full-featured with sanctions screening and safe payment verification). Additional bolt-ons include Sanctions Data and Safe Payment Verification. The product suite also includes Bankers Almanac Global Payments File-ERP for ERP integration and Bankers Almanac IBAN Complete for cross-border validation. The platform validates payment details across 200+ countries using data from 65,000+ financial institutions, 1,450,000+ branch locations, and 390,000+ standard settlement instructions, with 24-hour continuously updated data collected by 100+ professionals from over 300 data points.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Bankers Almanac Validate: Payment validation product that verifies vendor, supplier and staff bank account details against a database of over 65,000 financial institutions across 200 clearing systems
- Bankers Almanac Validate Lite
- Bankers Almanac Validate Plus
- Bankers Almanac Validate Enterprise
Products and services
- Bankers Almanac Validate A payment validation platform that verifies vendor, supplier and staff bank account details against a database of 65,000+ financial institutions across 200 clearing systems and 235+ countries. Validates IBAN, BIC, ABA Numbers and National Clearing Codes in real time with 3-millisecond API response. Available in three tiers: Lite (web portal, 100-500 validations), Plus (API, 500-1000 validations), and Enterprise (1000+ validations with configurable API, sanctions data, safe payment verification, analytics, and dedicated support).
- Bankers Almanac Validate - Sanctions Data Bolt-on An add-on module that introduces sanctioned bank warnings into payment channels with real-time decision-making before payment initiation. Data is updated daily from HM Treasury Sanctions List, UN Sanctions List, OFAC Sanctions List, Global Watch List, and EU Consolidated List of Sanctions.
- Bankers Almanac Validate - Safe Payment Verification Bolt-on An add-on module that verifies account details are routed to the true intended end recipient and reduces the risk of fraudulent or inaccurate transactions, including verifying whether an account is open or closed.
- Bankers Almanac Global Payments File-ERP Automated, accurate bank master data solution that improves payment accuracy, efficiency and compliance across ERP systems by providing validated bank details for ERP payment workflows.
- Bankers Almanac IBAN Complete IBAN validation and verification solution for cross-border payment validation across global clearing networks.
Quantifiable outcome
- Stop costly failed payments before they happen
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Apply Financial
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Apply Financial technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature6 records
Apply Financial partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Amazon Web ServicesinfrastructureBankers Almanac Validate is hosted on Amazon Web Services, based in UK&I region. AWS provides the cloud infrastructure for the payment validation platform, ensuring scalability, reliability, and performance for API services with 3-millisecond response times.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Apply Financial competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- SWIFT: SWIFT maintains the authoritative BIC/IBAN registry and message standards used by every major bank; Bankers Almanac Validate competes directly on SWIFT/BIC coverage for payment validation and routing verification, serving the same treasury and corporate treasury buyers with overlapping use cases.
- Refinitiv World-Check (LSEG): Refinitiv's World-Check delivers sanctions, PEP and adverse-media screening alongside payment-validating banking data; it competes head-to-head with Apply Financial's Sanctions Data bolt-on and Safe Payment Verification for the same regulated customer base.
- Bureau van Dijk (Moody's): Moody's Bureau van Dijk provides global entity reference data for KYC, payments and counterparty due diligence; its databases and Orbis/Catfis solutions overlap directly with Bankers Almanac's bank reference and payment-validation offering for large enterprise compliance teams.
- Dow Jones Risk & Compliance: Dow Jones provides sanctions lists, adverse media and beneficial-ownership data used by financial institutions and corporates; it is a direct competitor to Apply Financial's daily-updated sanctions screening within Bankers Almanac Validate.
- Wolters Kluwer (Banking Compliance): Wolters Kluwer's OneSumX and TEAMs offerings bundle KYC, payment-screening and bank-data validation for corporates and banks; they compete directly with Bankers Almanac Validate on integrated payment and sanctions compliance for large enterprises.
Emerging players
- Plaid: Plaid verifies bank account ownership and routing via direct bank API connections, serving fintechs and lenders; it offers an alternative mechanism to Apply Financial's reference-database approach for account-verification use cases.
- Encompass Corporation: Encompass automates KYC and corporate data verification including bank account validation for regulated institutions; it overlaps with Apply Financial on digital verification of bank details but emphasizes automation over static reference data.
- Tink: Tink (Visa-owned) provides open-banking account verification (AIS/PIS) across European banks; as PSD2/PSR mature, Tink directly competes with Apply Financial on verifying account ownership and routing before payment initiation.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Apply Financial social profiles
Digital presenceApply Financial financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Apply Financial leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Apply Financial funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Apply Financial M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Apply Financial
What does Apply Financial do?
Apply Financial, through its Bankers Almanac product suite, provides cloud-based payment validation and bank data verification services. The core Bankers Almanac Validate platform validates vendor, supplier and staff bank account details (IBAN, BIC, ABA, National Clearing Codes) against a proprietary database of 65,000+ financial institutions across 235+ countries and 200 clearing systems, with a 3-millisecond API response time.
Is Apply Financial a public or private company?
Apply Financial is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Apply Financial founded?
Apply Financial was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Apply Financial based?
Apply Financial is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Apply Financial make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Bankers Almanac Validate - Lite is the primary driver. The others are bankers Almanac Validate - Plus, bankers Almanac Validate - Enterprise, bolt-on: Sanctions Data and bolt-on: Safe Payment Verification.
Who are Apply Financial's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are SWIFT, Refinitiv World-Check (LSEG), Bureau van Dijk (Moody's), Dow Jones Risk & Compliance and Wolters Kluwer (Banking Compliance). Emerging players are Plaid, Encompass Corporation and Tink.
Does Apply Financial have an API?
Yes. Bankers Almanac® Validate™ API enables automated bank account verification and payment validation. The API provides 3-millisecond response time for real-time validation, supports integration into payment workflows, and allows embedding checks into internal and customer-facing platforms. Customers can create proof-of-concept integrations in as little as an afternoon using online API documentation with instructions and examples. The API is configurable without requiring code, enabling users to block payments and auto-alert stakeholders. Developer documentation is at documents.applyfinancial.co.uk/faq-introduction/coverage.
What industry is Apply Financial in?
Apply Financial's product category is Payment Validation Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMAIAG, Multi-Currency Accounts, Wallets & IBAN Services, with a secondary code of FSAGACAB, Account Verification & Ownership (AVS/AOV, micro-deposits, auth). Its NAICS code is 522320.