FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about how Finlane works. If something here is unclear or missing, book a call and ask us directly.
About Finlane
- What is Finlane?
- Finlane is a structured RFP marketplace for fintech infrastructure. A buyer describes what they need once, in a guided template; vetted providers in the matching category respond on standardised terms; the buyer compares like for like instead of reading ten differently-shaped sales decks.
- Who is Finlane for?
- Three groups: companies buying banking, cards, payments or compliance infrastructure; the providers who sell it; and consultants who run procurement on a client's behalf. Buyers are usually fintechs, platforms embedding financial products, or established businesses replacing an incumbent provider.
- How is this different from a comparison site or a directory?
- A directory lists providers and leaves you to make contact. Finlane runs the actual procurement: one structured brief, responses in a fixed shape, a coverage matrix per requirement, and a message thread per RFP. You are not browsing profiles, you are collecting comparable offers.
- Is Finlane a broker? Do you sell leads?
- No. Buyers publish an RFP and matching providers respond through the platform. We do not sell buyer contact details, and a provider cannot buy their way into a match.
For buyers
- What does it cost a buyer?
- Nothing. Finlane is free for buyers — publishing an RFP and receiving responses carries no fee.
- How long does it take to publish an RFP?
- Most of the work is describing your use case. You can either fill in the guided template yourself or talk it through with the AI builder, which asks about your markets, volumes and architecture and then drafts the template for you to edit. Either way you review everything before it is submitted.
- Do I have to know exactly what I need before I start?
- No. The AI builder is designed for buyers who know their product but not the infrastructure vocabulary — it walks through the architecture options, names the tradeoffs, and marks anything you're unsure about as 'not sure' rather than asserting a requirement you never agreed to.
- Who can see my RFP?
- Only approved providers in the categories you selected, and only after the RFP is reviewed and published. You can also block specific providers — an incumbent, for example — from ever seeing it.
- Is my company identity visible to providers?
- Not until you accept them. A provider sees the requirements, not who wrote them. Your company name and contact details are released to a provider only once you accept their engagement on that RFP.
- Can I invite a consultant or a colleague to run an RFP with me?
- Yes. From Settings › Consultants you can invite a consultant by email at three levels: your whole organisation, a single project, or a single RFP. They work inside your account at that scope, and you can revoke access at any time.
- What happens after providers respond?
- Each response arrives in the same structure, with a coverage matrix showing how the provider answered each of your requirements. You can message a provider in a private thread per RFP, export responses to PDF, and accept the one you want to take forward.
- Am I obliged to pick anyone?
- No. Running an RFP on Finlane creates no obligation to accept any response.
For providers
- How do I become a listed provider?
- Sign up as a provider, complete your company profile and capability questionnaire, and submit for review. An admin checks the profile before it goes live and assigns the categories you will be matched in.
- What does it cost a provider?
- [TO CONFIRM: provider pricing — publish the exact model and figures here before launch.]
- Which RFPs will I see?
- Published RFPs in the categories an admin has assigned to you, minus any where the buyer has blocked you. You will not see RFPs outside your categories.
- What is the capability profile for?
- It is the structured record of what you support, partially support, or don't. It drives category matching and the match score on each RFP, and it can pre-fill your responses — so keeping it accurate is the highest-leverage thing you can do on the platform.
- Can AI write my response for me?
- It can draft one from your confirmed capability profile — mapping the buyer's requirements onto capabilities you have already stated. It never invents a claim, never fills a field you left ambiguous, and nothing is submitted until you have reviewed it. Capability claims are commercially binding, so a human always signs them off.
- When do I learn who the buyer is?
- When the buyer accepts you on that RFP. Before that you see the requirements and nothing that identifies the company behind them.
Vetting and quality
- How are providers vetted?
- Every provider profile is reviewed by a Finlane admin before it is approved, and categories are assigned by that admin rather than self-declared. That means a provider cannot appear in a category simply by ticking a box.
- Does a listing mean Finlane recommends that provider?
- No. Review checks that a provider is a real, relevant company presenting accurate information. It is not a due-diligence report, a licence check, or an endorsement — your own diligence still applies.
- What is the match score?
- A comparison of an RFP's requirements against a provider's confirmed capability rows: must-have requirements weigh more than nice-to-haves, supported counts fully, partial counts half, and a capability with no record counts as nothing. It is a shortlist aid, not a verdict.
- What if a provider's claims turn out to be wrong?
- Tell us. Capability claims are recorded with provenance — including whether a field was AI-proposed and whether a human edited it — so a disputed claim can be traced and corrected, and repeated inaccuracy is grounds for removal.
Data, confidentiality and security
- Who can read my messages with a provider?
- Only the two participants in that thread. Message threads are isolated per RFP and per provider, and Finlane admins have no access to them by design.
- What happens to documents I upload?
- Attachments are stored privately and are downloadable only by parties with access to that RFP. A provider cannot reach an attachment on an RFP they have not engaged with.
- Do you use my data to train AI models?
- No. Content is sent to the model provider to generate a reply in your own session; we do not contribute your RFPs, documents or responses to model training.
- Where is data hosted?
- [TO CONFIRM: hosting region and sub-processor list — confirm before publishing.]
- Can I delete my account and data?
- Yes. Contact us and we will remove your account and associated data, subject to records we are legally required to retain.
AI on Finlane
- Where is AI used?
- In four places: helping a buyer turn a product idea into a structured RFP, reading a buyer's requirements document for factual context, proposing a provider's capability profile from their own documentation, and drafting a provider's response from confirmed capabilities.
- Does AI decide who I get matched with?
- No. Matching is category-based and rule-based, and the match score is computed from stated capabilities. No model chooses who sees your RFP.
- Is anything sent or saved without me seeing it?
- No. Every AI output is a draft you review and edit. Nothing is submitted, published or saved as a binding claim without an explicit human confirmation.
Getting started
- How do I start as a buyer?
- Create an account, choose the buyer workspace and start an RFP — either from the guided template or by talking to the AI builder. You can save a draft and come back to it.
- Can I talk to someone first?
- Yes — book a call from the 'Talk to us' link in the header and we will walk you through it.
Still deciding?
Publishing an RFP is free for buyers, creates no obligation to accept anyone, and keeps you anonymous until you choose a provider.