Solaris

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

As of 1 September 2026, Solaris's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. Solaris SE holds a German banking licence, so partners get lending, deposits and cards without their own licence. Softwr lists it under APIs. Solaris is made by Solaris SE, available on Web, API.

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Overview

What Solaris does

Solaris SE is a Berlin credit institution offering banking as a service: partners embed accounts, IBANs, payments, card issuing, lending and deposit products under Solaris's German banking licence rather than obtaining their own. That is a genuinely different proposition from an e-money institution or an agent arrangement, because a full credit institution licence permits deposit taking and lending, and deposits are covered by German deposit protection. The fact that decides this purchase is regulatory. BaFin appointed a special representative to monitor Solaris in 2022 and extended that mandate in July 2024. In early 2023 Solaris required BaFin approval before onboarding new corporate clients. In March 2024 BaFin fined Solaris EUR 6.5 million for systematically submitting suspected money laundering reports late, and separately fined it EUR 500,000 for repeatedly exceeding large exposure limits under the Capital Requirements Regulation between January 2022 and March 2024. The company cut jobs and closed parts of a business unit during 2024, and in December 2024 and January 2025 agreed to sell a majority stake of over seventy per cent to Japan's SBI Holdings for around EUR 100 million. That history is not a reason to dismiss Solaris, but it changes the diligence. A prospective partner should assume onboarding takes longer, that the special representative's presence affects product approvals, and that compliance obligations passed down to partners are heavier than at an unencumbered competitor. Against that, SBI capital and a full banking licence are things most rivals do not have. Buyers are fintechs, retailers and platforms launching German or European banking products who cannot or will not obtain their own licence.

What people use it 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

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Solaris

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Solarisvs
Unit
Unit: If you are launching in the United States and want a banking as a service platform with sponsor bank relationships
Solarisvs
Qonto
Qonto: If you want a finished European business banking product rather than infrastructure to build on
Solarisvs
Toqio
Toqio: If you want to build an embedded finance product and choose your own regulated provider underneath

Pricing

What Solaris costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Solaris banking as a service

On request

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
Minimum volume commitments common on card and account programmes
Partner compliance obligations are contractual and enforced by Solaris

Capabilities

Features

German banking licence
Accounts, deposits and lending under a full credit institution licence
IBAN accounts
German and European IBANs issued to partner end customers
Card issuing
Debit and credit card programmes on Visa and Mastercard
Lending as a service
Consumer and point of sale lending originated on the Solaris balance sheet
Digital assets and custody
Regulated crypto custody capabilities under German rules
SEPA payments
SEPA credit transfers, direct debits and instant payments
KYC and onboarding
Regulated identification and onboarding processes for partner customers
Deposit protection
Customer deposits covered by German statutory deposit protection

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

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.

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.

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.

Keep looking

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Solaris, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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