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APIs · head to head

Solaris vs Treasury Prime

Solaris logo

Solaris

APIs

German banking as a service with a full banking licence and a live regulatory problem

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Treasury Prime logo

Treasury Prime

APIs

Banking as a service platform sold to sponsor banks rather than to fintechs

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Solaris baFin appointed a special representative in 2022 and extended the mandate in July 2024, so a partner is joining a bank under active supervisory monitoring, with slower approvals and heavier compliance demands as a direct consequence.; Treasury Prime a fintech cannot buy Treasury Prime directly since the 2024 pivot, so the sales process starts with finding a sponsor bank willing to take your programme, which adds months and removes most of your negotiating leverage on fees.
  • They diverge on capability: Solaris covers German banking licence, Treasury Prime covers BankOS.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Solaris and Treasury Prime actually diverge.

Attributes where Solaris and Treasury Prime differ
AttributeSolarisTreasury Prime
PlatformsWeb, APIAPI, Web

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Solaris

  • German banking licence
  • IBAN accounts
  • Lending as a service
  • Digital assets and custody
  • SEPA payments
  • KYC and onboarding
  • Deposit protection

Only in Treasury Prime

  • BankOS
  • OneKey Banking
  • Deposit accounts
  • Payments
  • Bank oversight tooling
  • Ledger and reconciliation
  • Programme onboarding

Both cover

  • Card issuing

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Solaris

  • A retailer or platform launching a German current account or card product without applying for its own licencenot Treasury Prime
  • A fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot providenot Treasury Prime
  • A European business needing German IBANs because customers reject foreign IBANs for salary and direct debitnot Treasury Prime
  • A company requiring German statutory deposit protection on customer balances as a product claimnot Treasury Prime

Treasury Prime

  • A community or regional bank that wants to run an embedded finance line with examiner-acceptable oversight of its fintech programmesnot Solaris
  • A fintech that has already chosen its sponsor bank and needs API access to that bank rather than to a middleware layernot Solaris
  • A company that wants deposits spread across several banks for FDIC coverage beyond a single institution limitnot Solaris
  • A bank replacing a fragile middleware arrangement with a structure where it holds the customer contract and the oversight obligationnot Solaris

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Solaris

  • BaFin appointed a special representative in 2022 and extended the mandate in July 2024, so a partner is joining a bank under active supervisory monitoring, with slower approvals and heavier compliance demands as a direct consequence.
  • BaFin fined Solaris EUR 6.5 million in March 2024 for systematically late suspicious activity reports and EUR 500,000 for breaching large exposure limits between January 2022 and March 2024, which is a track record a partner inherits reputationally.
  • Solaris has previously needed BaFin approval before onboarding new corporate clients, which can turn a commercial decision to launch into a regulatory timetable outside your control.
  • The 2024 restructuring involved job cuts and the closure of parts of a business unit, so product lines a partner depends on may not have the engineering behind them that the sales process implies.
  • SBI Holdings acquired majority control in 2025, so strategic direction now sits with a Japanese financial group whose priorities for the European business may differ from the roadmap you were sold.

Treasury Prime

  • A fintech cannot buy Treasury Prime directly since the 2024 pivot, so the sales process starts with finding a sponsor bank willing to take your programme, which adds months and removes most of your negotiating leverage on fees.
  • Commercial terms including minimum deposit balances, reserve requirements and per transaction pricing are set by the bank rather than the platform, so two fintechs on the same software can face materially different economics with no public benchmark.
  • The company cut roughly half its staff in the 2024 pivot, which reduced the teams that supported fintech customers directly and left fintechs relying on their bank for support rather than on the vendor who wrote the software.
  • Bank risk appetite is now the binding constraint, and after the Synapse failure sponsor banks decline programmes in higher risk categories that a middleware provider would once have onboarded, so some business models simply cannot get placed.
  • If your sponsor bank exits the programme or is told by its regulator to reduce fintech exposure, you are migrating your entire deposit base to another institution, and the software being the same at both ends does not make that a small project.

Pricing, plan by plan

Solaris

On request
  • Solaris banking as a service$undefined/year
    • Quoted per partner, typically setup fee plus monthly platform fee
    • Per account, per card and per transaction charges on top
    • Interchange sharing arrangements negotiated per programme

Treasury Prime

On request
  • BankOS$undefined/year
    • Sold to sponsor banks, not directly to fintechs
    • Fintech commercial terms are set by the sponsor bank
    • Minimum deposits, reserves and per transaction fees vary by bank

Which should you pick?

Choose Solaris if

  • You need german banking licence.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want iban accounts.
Solaris review

Choose Treasury Prime if

  • You need bankos.
  • You work on API, Web.
  • You also want onekey banking.
Treasury Prime review

Questions people ask

Is Solaris or Treasury Prime better?
Neither clearly leads. Solaris starts at On request and Treasury Prime at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Solaris or Treasury Prime?
Solaris starts at On request and Treasury Prime at On request.
Does Solaris or Treasury Prime run on more platforms?
Solaris runs on Web, API. Treasury Prime runs on API, Web.
What is Solaris best used for?
Solaris is most often used for a retailer or platform launching a german current account or card product without applying for its own licence, a fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot provide, a european business needing german ibans because customers reject foreign ibans for salary and direct debit, a company requiring german statutory deposit protection on customer balances as a product claim. Of those, a retailer or platform launching a german current account or card product without applying for its own licence and a fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot provide are not what Treasury Prime is typically brought in for.
What can Solaris do that Treasury Prime cannot?
Solaris covers German banking licence, IBAN accounts, Lending as a service, Digital assets and custody. Treasury Prime covers BankOS, OneKey Banking, Deposit accounts, Payments. Both handle Card issuing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Solaris: Does Solaris have a real banking licence?

Yes. Solaris SE is a German credit institution, which is why it can offer deposits and lending, unlike e-money based competitors.

Treasury Prime: Can a fintech buy Treasury Prime directly?

No. Since the 2024 pivot it sells to banks. A fintech contracts with a sponsor bank running BankOS, and the bank sets the terms.

Solaris: Is the BaFin action still live?

The special representative appointed in 2022 had the mandate extended in July 2024, and fines were issued in March 2024. Treat supervisory oversight as an active condition in your diligence.

Treasury Prime: Why did it change model?

Regulatory pressure on the tri-party middleware structure, sharpened by the Synapse failure. Examiners want the bank holding the customer contract and the oversight obligation, which is what bank-direct means.

Solaris: Who owns Solaris now?

SBI Holdings of Japan agreed in December 2024 and January 2025 to take a majority stake of over seventy per cent for around EUR 100 million.

Treasury Prime: What is OneKey Banking?

A way of spreading deposits across several banks in the network, used for FDIC coverage above a single institution limit and for resilience if one bank exits.

Treasury Prime: Is pricing published?

No, at neither the bank nor the fintech level. Fintech economics are set by the sponsor bank, so expect wide variation.

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