Case Study: SWAP achieves rapid PCI‑compliant payment rollout and 4x customer growth with Thales payShield HSM‑as‑a‑Service

HSM-as-a-Service Reduces Time-to-Market and Costs for the Growing Fintech Market

SWAP, a venture capital–backed Brazilian startup that helps fintechs adopt internal payment capabilities, faced a critical roadblock: it had to meet PCI DSS requirements to expand but couldn’t build the secure infrastructure (including a secure room and HSMs) in time—compounded by the COVID‑19 pandemic. To solve this quickly, SWAP turned to a solution involving Thales technology, specifically the Thales payShield 10K delivered as HSM-as-a-service (HSM off Premises) via First Tech.

By deploying Thales payShield 10K through the HSM off Premises service, SWAP gained a certified secure environment, key management, professional support and scalability without heavy upfront investment. The result: a four‑fold increase in its customer portfolio within two months, thousands of cards issued, recognition as the fastest card‑issuance project in 15 years by the card brand, and an expected 30–40% annual growth — outcomes enabled by Thales.

SWAP

Bruno Napolitano Jr

Founding Team & Security/Risk/Fraud