How sponsorship can build trust, habit and credibility for the Fintech sector
Fintech is vast and complex. The industry spans everything from neobanks with sleek consumer apps to embedded finance platforms processing billions in global payments every day. Marketing these brands means proving expertise and earning trust, all while persuading people to hand over their savings or outsource their financial infrastructure for promises of efficiency and security. That challenge is intensified by banking’s natural stickiness. The sector averages an 82% customer retention rate, rising to 88% for digital-only banks (Coinlaw). Once people choose a provider, they rarely move.
Fintech marketing has both a consumer and business audience that require very different strategies to reach and convert. Consumer-facing neobanks lean heavily into performance channels: app install campaigns, targeted social ads, SEO around “best savings account”, and influencer-led moments tied to Buy-now-pay-later or crypto trends. Their tone mirrors their users - fast, casual, digital-first - with push notifications for spending insights, gamified savings tools, and frictionless payments. B2B platforms, such as cross-border payment providers, take a more traditional enterprise route. LinkedIn thought leadership, FX efficiency webinars, trade shows like Money20/20, and case studies promising “60% cheaper global payouts” dominate the mix, supported by whitepapers showcasing API integrations.
Both approaches are effective at converting existing demand. Consumer tactics drive downloads and first deposits, while B2B strategies close enterprise RFPs.
Where they fall short is brand-building. Performance marketing excels at the bottom of the funnel but struggles to create lasting familiarity. Consumers become numb to “switch and save” ads, while executives tune out generic webinars. In a sector where loyalty is hard-won and easily disrupted by the next best offer, fintech needs channels that build emotional connection for users and credibility for decision-makers.
That’s where sponsorship comes in.
Sponsorship allows fintech brands to operate across the full funnel - reaching audiences at scale, in relevant contexts, and through shared emotional moments that digital ads can’t replicate. Over time, repeated exposure in stadiums, broadcasts, and cultural moments builds familiarity and trust.
For fintech, it’s the shift from functional trust - “this app works” - to something deeper: “this brand is for people like me.”
How Sponsorship Can Solve Fintech Marketing Challenges
- Creating Emotional Connection: Avant x Major League Soccer
Most marketing channels struggle to create real relationships with potential customers. They can deliver impressions and clicks, but not the sense of identity or belonging that keeps people coming back. However, sport gives brands a chance to show up in moments people genuinely care about.
The partnership between Major League Soccer (MLS) and Avant, the Chicago-based personal loan and credit card company, is a strong example of how this can work for fintech. Avant has built itself into the fan journey by launching team branded credit cards across the league, so supporters can literally carry their club with them every day.
The mechanics are simple but powerful. Fans sign up for an Avant card branded in their team’s colours, unlocking benefits tied directly to their passion, including early ticket access, merchandise discounts, and loyalty points on everyday spending (especially on MLS purchases). Those points can then be redeemed for tickets or merch, neatly closing the loop between watching, spending, and supporting.
For a fintech brand, the return from a well-designed sponsorship goes far beyond a short-term spike in card sign-ups. Every tap of that card is a touchpoint: at the stadium, at the pub for away days, or in everyday life. Rather than asking fans to remember another banking offer, they embed themselves into something they already care deeply about: their club. Over time, that repeated, emotionally charged usage can:
- Build habit and preference, making this the default card for everyday spending.
- Deepen loyalty, as rewards feel like a direct investment back into their team.
- Improve brand metrics, shifting perceptions from “just another lender” to “part of my team’s ecosystem”.
The lesson for fintech marketers is this: When sponsorship is built around genuine value, not just logo exposure, it can turn a functional product into a symbol of identity, embedding the brand into fans’ financial lives for the long term.
- Reaching Decision-Makers: Nuvei x Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Global sports properties have become established meeting grounds for enterprise brands and the fintechs that power their payments. With 65% of Premier League clubs now partnered with cross-border payment providers, the trend reflects finance's rapid digitisation (SponsorUnited). Clubs and teams need efficient, global infrastructure for everything from player transfers to merchandise sales across continents.
Formula 1 is a clear example of this shift. Teams operate like multinational businesses, managing supplier payments, hospitality revenue and fan spending across multiple currencies. Nuvei’s partnership with Mercedes-AMG shows how a B2B fintech can turn sponsorship into real operational value. By powering the team’s payment infrastructure, Nuvei streamlines vendor pay-outs and hospitality transactions, delivering faster cross-border payments and lower FX costs in the process.
Hospitality suites act as networking hubs where Nuvei, amid the weekend buzz and live case study of their expertise, can meet finance executives from e-commerce platforms or global retailers. Trackside branding and interview backdrops reach C-suite decision-makers in tech and finance, who recognise F1's global footprint as a mirror for their own international flows. Other teams follow suit: McLaren with Airwallex, and Haas with MoneyGram.
For rights owners, these deals solve real pain points. They gain reliable payment infrastructure that cuts costs and delays. Sponsorship evolves from logo placement to partnership, where fintech's implement solutions that enhance the property's own operations. For B2B fintech brands, it's business development at scale: credibility through association, conversations in premium settings, and case studies that win RFPs.
- Educating Fans: PensionBee x Brentford F.C.
Education sits at the heart of fintech marketing and topics like financial literacy, security or investing offer great activation opportunities. Sponsorship provides a platform to reach key audience segments, while tapping into club talent or narratives makes the content far more engaging than standard explainers.
PensionBee’s partnership with Brentford FC captures this perfectly. As the Bees’ shirt sponsor, they delivered bite-sized pension tips via stadium screens, halftime talks, and club app content. One standout framed compound interest through Brentford’s comeback story, turning a dry financial concept into a relatable underdog tale. Fans absorbed the message without feeling lectured.
This model worked because it met fans at key financial moments. Many supporters in their 20s and 30s are making first decisions around pensions, savings and investing. Gen Z and millennials, the fastest-growing digital finance users, respond best to relevant, non-salesy education.
By teaching rather than selling, PensionBee built trust through stories tied to club identity, positioning itself around empowerment, not paperwork. Brentford gained purpose-led engagement, while PensionBee earnt credibility, goodwill and future customers in one move.
The Data Behind the Decisions
At The Value Xchange, data guides every stage of our sponsorship lifecycle. One of our core tools is Luscid, an audience intelligence platform that aggregates data from sources including GWI and Meltwater. Using Luscid, we analysed how different groups engage with sport, culture, and live events. Looking at reach, participation rates, digital consumption, and broadcast viewing to understand where attention lives.
For B2C fintech audiences - neobank customers, Gen Z, and millennials - constant, casual engagement is key. Football dominates on both scale and participation, with over 80% following domestic leagues weekly and 63% engaging digitally through apps and social highlights. Gaming and esports see the highest daily participation, particularly among 18–24s, while music festivals and live events drive the strongest in-person engagement.
These audiences treat finance the same way they engage with their passions: frequent, app-based and low-friction. They check balances instantly, split bills in seconds and save in micro-pots. Sponsorship works when it mirrors this rhythm - rewards in fantasy leagues, cashback at stadium concessions, or co-branded cards that gamify team loyalty.
B2B fintech audiences look very different. Finance directors, CTOs and operations leaders gravitate towards premium, event-led properties. Formula 1, tennis, golf and rugby union lead attendance and broadcast consumption, with over 70% engaging with F1 monthly, often linked to travel and hospitality. Cultural spaces such as theatre, museums and fashion also perform strongly, where trusted environments matter more than digital reach.
This group values credibility and access. Sponsorship delivers hospitality for relationship-building, high-impact visibility during C-suite moments, and content that positions brands as industry leaders.
The takeaway is simple: B2C fintech should focus on everyday integrations that build habit, while B2B fintech needs premium platforms that open doors and shape influence.
The TVX Perspective
From our view, effective fintech sponsorship starts with clarity on its role within the wider marketing mix.
For consumer fintech, success comes from embedding into everyday behaviour, integrating with digital platforms, rewards and experiences that drive habitual use. Avant’s MLS cards are a strong example, with fans adopting the product because it enhances fandom rather than interrupting it.
B2B fintech should approach sponsorship as business development. Premium hospitality, access to senior decision-makers and authentic thought leadership matter most, with brands visibly powering team operations and sparking deal-driving conversations.
Too many brands chase scale instead of tuning into audience behaviour. The strongest partnerships are long-term platforms built to reach, engage and build trust. Sponsorship doesn’t replace digital or PR, but delivers emotional familiarity and credibility at a scale other channels can’t match alone.
Looking Ahead: What's Next for Fintech Sponsorship
Fintech sponsorship will continue to evolve as quickly as the sector itself. Rights owners will increasingly seek partners that add operational value through infrastructure and hospitality-led relationships, while consumer fintechs will keep chasing properties that connect them with younger, tech-savvy early adopters.
But the crypto sponsorship boom of 2022 showed the risks of chasing scale without substance. Mercedes lost millions when FTX collapsed, and so did Chelsea FC when WhaleFin disappeared. These rights owners bare a responsibility to their audiences - the trust placed in them by their fans shouldn’t be exploited.
At The Value Xchange, we see sponsorship not as a standalone channel, but as a platform that strengthens the entire marketing mix. For fintech's navigating an increasingly crowded digital landscape, it offers a way to cut through noise, build credibility, and create real impact with consumers and fans alike.
The TVX Role
If sponsorship is on your radar, now is a good time to be deliberate about it.
At TVX, our free Discover Lite audit offers an introductory assessment of how sponsorship could support your growth, based on audience fit, market context, and commercial value.
Get in touch if you’d like a clear starting point.
