A nationally chartered U.S. bank built as a software company, offering fintech developers direct API access to ACH, FedWire, real-time payments and other payment rails.
Column Software is a nationally chartered bank in the United States constructed as a software company rather than as a traditional financial institution. Its purpose is to provide modern banking infrastructure and direct API access to payment rails for fintech developers and builders. The technical premise is unusual in the sector: core banking systems built from scratch, with no middleware, no legacy software and no complex vendor relationships between the APIs and the underlying financial infrastructure.
Through those APIs, developers gain direct access to ACH, FedWire, international wires, card programs and real-time payments. The scale of the resulting platform is considerable: Column processes over $2 trillion in annual transaction volume and is the largest originator of real-time payments in the United States. Its customers include Brex, Mercury, Ramp and Bilt Rewards.
The company is 100% founder and employee owned and profitable. It was founded by William Hockey, co-founder of Plaid, and is built around developers and builders as its core customer focus. Technical work spans banking infrastructure, payments APIs, real-time payments, financial software engineering and core banking systems written in-house - work that sits directly on the payment rails rather than above them.
