DRB Announces Enhanced Product Portfolio, Spotlights 8x Loan Origination Growth in Sponsor Banking Business

DRB further consolidates its position as a leading sponsor bank and now supports new functionality across cards, payments and real-time payment rails.

DARIEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DRB announced today that loan originations in its sponsor banking business have grown 8x over the last two years, and that it has enhanced its product portfolio, cementing it as a leading choice for fintechs looking to get innovative new offerings live and in market. DRB now supports best-in-class issuing and acquiring capabilities, as well as real-time payment rails. Record loan origination volumes have been driven by new partnerships as well as significant growth among existing partners. This expansion has delivered a year-to-date return on equity (ROE) of 30% and balance sheet growth of more than 40% year-over-year.

DRB was originally founded as Darien Rowayton Bank in Connecticut and launched its fintech sponsor banking business five years ago. Having already spun out Laurel Road, its own digital student lending startup, and sold it to KeyBank in 2019, DRB quickly established partnerships with companies like JG Wentworth and Upstart, two of the most established and respected names in fintech lending. Through its history with Laurel Road, DRB is one of the most financially sophisticated sponsor banks, with experienced leadership and direct experience building a securitization platform. It offers accretive financing and loan purchase or placement through its own balance sheet, which gives fintechs a strong scaling lever. Its recent product enhancements allow it to support the most modern credit and debit card programs, innovative BNPL programs, and real-time payments, including RTP and FedNow. DRB’s product momentum in these new areas is demonstrated by its recent partnerships with rapidly scaling fintechs like Taekus, ClarityPay and VIVA Finance.

“We’ve built DRB to be a top-tier sponsor bank that combines capital markets experience with a deep focus on compliance and tech-forward investments. Since our launch five years ago, we’ve made focused and deliberate investments to realize this vision,” said Jason Hardgrave, CEO at DRB. “The growth of our business over this time, the new partners we’re bringing onto the platform and our expanded product functionality put us in a strong position to scale up our impact in the market dramatically.”

DRB’s sponsor banking program was built with a focus on regulatory compliance by closely studying what has and hasn’t worked across the industry. This has allowed it to build a best-in-class compliance program, engineered around known risks from day one. The bank has taken a disciplined and focused approach to scaling, adding a handful of carefully selected new partnerships each year with mature operators that have genuine product-market fit. DRB has positioned itself for further growth in 2027 by growing its headcount in areas such as technology, finance, compliance and operations.

The bank maintains a flat and lean organizational model designed to be fundamentally different from rivals. Leadership is brought into new business conversations early, domain leaders are empowered to move within their own areas of expertise, and governance is distributed throughout the process. The result is a level of responsiveness that most banks structurally cannot match.

“From day one of working together, DRB has been an incredibly trusted banking partner to ClarityPay. They were able to help mobilize when ClarityPay was just an idea and help get us to market in record time. We’ve now been able to see tremendous growth and market penetration with their support. They’re a partner we can throw ideas over the fence to, and know that they’ll roll their sleeves up and help us work out how we can get it done. They’ve been in our seats before, and are a true collaborator,” said Houman Motaharian, CEO of ClarityPay.

About DRB

DRB is a leading sponsor bank helping fintechs across America build and launch innovative new financial products. Founded in 2006 as Darien Rowayton Bank, DRB has a decades-long track record of innovation, having launched digital lender Laurel Road in 2013 and sold it to KeyBank in 2019. In addition to its fintech banking programs, DRB offers commercial and small-business lending, cash management, and digital personal banking tools. DRB is a trade name of DR Bank, an FDIC-insured bank. For more information, visit drbank.com or follow DRB on LinkedIn.