Cross River Redefines Real-Time Card Transaction Approvals with its Advanced Authorization Offering

September 18, 2025 at 08:45 AM EDT

New solution follows on the heels of milestone achievement with the Bank surpassing 1 billion payment transactions

Development signals the next phase of growth and product evolution

Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, has launched its new Advanced Authorization model that redefines how fintechs and enterprises manage real-time transaction approvals by including partners in authorization paths under pre-defined conditions.

The launch comes on the heels of a major milestone: Cross River has processed more than 1 billion payment transactions across its partners and platform, indicating the growing demand for flexible money movement across diverse fintech use cases. With a strong foundation in payments and a track record of innovation, Cross River is expanding its routing capabilities to support the evolving needs of modern fintech partners. Advanced Authorization allows partners to more actively participate in the transaction decision for card network authorizations in Cross River’s card issuing programs, empowering fintechs to implement customized transaction logic and rules within an approved framework, supported by Cross River’s banking rails and compliance infrastructure.

"As we cross 1 billion payment transactions, we're proud to have helped individuals around the world pay for essentials, support families, and invest in their futures. While being integral in so many transactions, we have seen the need for faster transaction processing and quick detection of transactions that need additional review,” said Adam Goller, Head of Fintech Banking at Cross River. “Advanced Authorization is our response to these needs. This internal workflow within our payment offerings can leverage these insights, and route approvals and authorizations more efficiently, giving our partners the speed and control they need over the transaction flow without compromising regulatory integrity."

With Advanced Authorization, funds maintained for the customer at Cross River are available for card spend without separate wallet funding and withdrawals, allowing operators to avoid paying for ACH or RTP in and out of customer accounts. This marks a significant evolution in embedded finance, enabling dynamic transaction experiences and providing fintechs with authorization control following the Bank’s screening.

Advanced Authorization is designed for use cases that demand quick decisions, flexible wallet structures, and multi-balance architectures—including gaming platforms, travel, loyalty and rewards programs, and businesses needing real-time control over multiple balance types. The solution aims to decrease improper transaction declines and eliminate the friction of manual wallet fund transfers, supporting faster innovation cycles for fintech partners.

For consumers, Advanced Authorization results in a more intuitive and seamless experience, whether they’re redeeming loyalty points, using reward credits, or combining various balances for a single transaction. It helps avoid repeated funding and withdraw cycles, unlocking greater flexibility in how funds are accessed and applied across contexts.

“Advanced Authorization is a foundational shift in how fintech partners can interact with our infrastructure,” added Andrew Lambert, Cross River’s VP of Product, BaaS and Cards. “By giving our partners real-time control while keeping them inside our banking framework’s high compliance standards, we’re unlocking entirely new possibilities.”

The solution further strengthens Cross River’s position at the forefront of real-time payments innovation. Cross River also recently launched Request for Payment (RfP), and is one of the few banks to have enabled the capability. With Advanced Authorization now live, RfP in market, and over 1 billion payments processed, Cross River continues to expand its modern financial infrastructure—accelerating the evolution of embedded finance and powering the next generation of fintech experiences.

For more information on Advanced Authorization, please visit Advanced Authorization: Giving Fintechs the Control They Deserve.

About Cross River

Cross River provides technology infrastructure powering the future of financial services. Leveraging its proprietary real-time banking core, Cross River delivers innovative and scalable embedded payments, cards, lending, and crypto solutions to millions of consumers and businesses. Cross River is backed by leading investors and serves the world’s most essential fintech and technology companies. Leading the industry, Cross River is reshaping global finance and financial inclusion. Member FDIC. Find out more at www.crossriver.com.