When bank systems go down, guess who gets blamed?

This week, more client calls got booked. Some from LinkedIn. Some from referrals. And for once, everything feels like a smooth sail.

But that didn’t happen overnight. I’ve been tweaking my content, experimenting with DMs, and listening closely to what founders are actually struggling with.

And as I’ve been digging deeper into the fintech space - especially while speaking with new founders - I’ve noticed a recurring pattern:

No one wants the blame. But no one’s prepared to shield themselves from it either. Let me explain why that’s dangerous.

When Banks' Systems Go Down, Guess Who Gets Blamed?

A fintech platform goes live. It looks clean. It works smoothly. Until one day - it doesn’t. The bank integration breaks. UPI stops responding. The KYC layer throws errors.

You check your logs - everything looks stable on your end. You ping your partner: “Hey, something’s broken.”

They reply: “We’re aware. We’re fixing it.” But by then? A client has already tweeted a screenshot tagging your brand:

“Is this how your product works?”

Now your support team is scrambling. Your inbox is full of refund requests. And your name? Right in the spotlight.

Because your clients never saw the API logs. They saw your dashboard. Your logo. Your promise.

This Is Where Most Founders Slip Up

They forget that the moment you put your brand on top of someone else’s infrastructure... You inherit their failures.

Unless your paperwork says otherwise.

So if you’re in fintech, this is your wake-up call to draw the line clearly - before someone else draws it for you.

What to Add to Your Contracts (Before It’s Too Late)

Here’s what I recommend to every fintech founder I work with:

1) Exclude Third-Party APIs From Your Uptime Commitments

Be direct:

“Our 99.9% uptime SLA applies to core platform features only and excludes third-party integrations such as banking APIs, KYC services, and payment gateways.”

Don’t assume clients will know what’s “core” and what’s “external.”

Spell it out.

2) Add Force Majeure for Systems Outside Your Control

Even a 20-line clause helps. Because in fintech, the fires are digital.

“Service disruptions due to third-party tools, partner banks, or regulatory actions are outside our scope of liability.”

Force majeure isn’t just about floods and earthquakes anymore.

In fintech, it’s about APIs that silently fail.

3) Cap Your Liability for Third-Party Outages

You must limit exposure upfront or risk leaving your margins wide open. Try something like:

“Our total liability for third-party integration failures is limited to the fees received from the Client in the last 30 days.”

Caps save companies. Always.

TL;DR - If It’s Not Your Failure, Don’t Let It Become Your Cost

• Exclude third-party systems from your SLAs

• Add force majeure for outages beyond your control

• Cap liability for integration failures

Because when you become the “face” of the product, you also become the face of the problem.

The Line You Need to Write Into Every Fintech Contract

Clients aren’t malicious. But if your dashboard breaks - even because of someone else’s API - your brand is what they remember.

And if your contract doesn’t say: “Here’s what we’re responsible for. Here’s what we’re not.”

Then legally, you might be responsible anyway. The only thing more frustrating than being blamed for something you didn’t cause…

...is realizing your own paperwork makes that blame valid. Draw the line. In writing.

Because if you don’t, someone else will. And they won’t draw it in your favor.