SOC 2 for Fintech

It depends on who is asking. SOC 1 answers auditors: if your platform processes payments, services loans, keeps ledgers, or otherwise feeds your clients' financial statements, their auditors need a SOC 1 for their internal-control-over-financial-reporting work. SOC 2 answers security diligence from partner banks and enterprise customers.

Most fintechs that move money end up needing both, and the two can share one engagement calendar. And frankly, not every fintech needs a report on day one: if no bank or enterprise partner is asking yet, questionnaires may carry you while you weigh the report's ROI against your team's time and your growth plans.

Sponsor-bank third-party risk programs typically request a current SOC 2 report, bridge letters covering the gap between your report period and their review date, your handling of the complementary user entity controls in the report, and supporting artifacts like penetration test results and business continuity plans.

A well-scoped SOC 2 report is the backbone of that package, and it renews annually so the diligence file stays current.

Yes, and it is usually the efficient choice. Both are attestation examinations, so the same independent CPA firm can issue both opinions, walk the same systems once, and reuse overlapping evidence such as access reviews and change management.

What one firm cannot do is combine attest work with internal audit services for the same organization, because independence rules separate those roles.

No. PCI DSS is a card-network requirement scoped to the cardholder data environment and assessed under its own program. SOC 2 is an attestation framework covering your service's security controls broadly.

If you store, process, or transmit cardholder data, you will likely maintain both, and they reinforce each other: the same controls often serve both scopes, but neither substitutes for the other.

A SOC 2 Type I runs 1 to 2 months from kickoff to issued report, and a Type II observation window typically covers 6 to 12 months, with the final report within 5 to 7 weeks of period end. SOC 1 engagements follow a similar arc, and run together the two share walkthroughs and one fieldwork calendar.

The step-by-step timeline is on our SOC 2 reporting page.

SOC 2 engagements are quoted as one fixed fee before work begins; our pricing calculator gives you an estimate in a few minutes.

SOC 1 pricing moves with custom control objectives and user-auditor coordination, so we quote it per engagement, also as a fixed fee before work begins.