Solaris SE, formerly known as Solarisbank AG, is a Berlin-headquartered banking-as-a-service company that holds a full German credit-institution licence from BaFin and provides regulated banking infrastructure to fintechs, neobanks, marketplaces and brand-led financial products across Europe.
The company was founded in 2016 by Marko Wenthin and Andreas Bittner as a Finleap Group spinout, and was the first European fintech to combine a regulated banking licence with a developer-friendly API platform.
Solaris offers white-label accounts, debit and credit cards, lending, identity verification through its Solaris Identity unit, and trading and crypto-custody capabilities to more than 100 partner clients including Trade Republic, Tomorrow, Vivid, Samsung Pay and ADAC.
The company has raised more than 700 million euros across multiple rounds from investors including SBI Group, BBVA, ABN AMRO Ventures, HV Capital, Yabeo and Lakestar, with a most-recent valuation in the 1.6 billion euro range.
In 2024 the company rebranded from Solarisbank AG to Solaris SE, completing the conversion from a German Aktiengesellschaft to a Societas Europaea to reflect its expanding European footprint and to position the parent for cross-border subsidiary mergers without dissolution.
Solaris is the most regulator-shaped corporate-structure case in Berlin tech because it operates under a full German banking licence and therefore sits squarely under the supervision of the Bundesanstalt fur Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht and the European Central Bank.
The company began as Solarisbank AG, a German Aktiengesellschaft incorporated under the Aktiengesetz with the minimum 50,000 euros share capital that AG status requires; this AG form was chosen rather than a GmbH because BaFin licensing requirements for a Kreditinstitut are far more straightforward to evidence under AG governance, with its mandatory two-tier Vorstand and Aufsichtsrat structure, formal supervisory-board composition rules and codified disclosure obligations.
BaFin licensing under the Kreditwesengesetz required Solarisbank to demonstrate fit-and-proper management, robust internal-controls and risk-management frameworks under the MaRisk circular, segregated client-money mechanics, anti-money-laundering systems under the Geldwaschegesetz, and ongoing capital adequacy under CRR and CRD.
In 2024 Solarisbank converted from AG to SE and rebranded as Solaris SE, using the Umwandlungsgesetz form-changing conversion route to preserve the existing banking licence, contracts and employee relationships while moving to the European corporate form.
The SE form provides three concrete benefits for a regulated bank with European clients: it enables cross-border mergers of EU subsidiaries into the parent without liquidation, it offers seat-relocation optionality within the EU, and it positions the company for ECB direct supervision under the Single Supervisory Mechanism if it grows beyond the significant-institution threshold.
Mittelstand governance norms are amplified rather than reduced under banking law, because BaFin imposes formal supervisory-board composition, fit-and-proper assessments, and ongoing remuneration controls under the Institutsverguetungsverordnung. The Handelsregister entry in Berlin tracks all of this, including the AG-to-SE conversion, the rebranded legal name and the share-capital level appropriate for an SE bank.
Solaris started as Solarisbank AG in 2016 because BaFin credit-institution licensing under the Kreditwesengesetz is most straightforwardly evidenced under AG governance with its mandatory two-tier Vorstand and Aufsichtsrat, formal supervisory-board composition rules and codified disclosure obligations.
In 2024 the company converted AG to SE under the Umwandlungsgesetz to reflect its expanding European footprint, enable cross-border subsidiary mergers without liquidation, and position the parent for ECB direct supervision if it grows beyond the significant-institution threshold under the Single Supervisory Mechanism.
Section 32 of the Kreditwesengesetz requires evidence of capital adequacy under the Capital Requirements Regulation, internal-controls and risk-management frameworks under the MaRisk circular, anti-money-laundering systems under the Geldwaschegesetz, fit-and-proper management assessments for both the Vorstand and the Aufsichtsrat, segregated client-money mechanics, ongoing reporting in line with Finrep and Corep frameworks, and remuneration governance under the Institutsverguetungsverordnung.
Application typically takes 12 to 24 months and requires extensive engagement with both BaFin and the Bundesbank as the operational supervisor.
Solaris acts as the regulated principal that holds customer accounts, issues cards, settles transactions and reports to BaFin, while partners such as Trade Republic provide the customer-facing brand, product experience and acquisition.
The contractual arrangement is a regulated outsourcing under the MaRisk AT 9 framework, supplemented by partner agreements that allocate AML responsibilities and customer-due-diligence obligations. This banking-as-a-service model lets fintech brands launch faster but concentrates regulatory liability on Solaris, which is why BaFin scrutinises its partner book closely.
No. Form-changing conversion under the Umwandlungsgesetz preserves the existing legal entity, its contracts, its employees and its regulatory licences, including the BaFin credit-institution authorization. Solarisbank AG and Solaris SE are the same legal entity at different stages of its corporate-form evolution.
BaFin was notified of the conversion and the SE form was reflected in the licence registry, but no fresh licence application was needed. This continuity is one of the main reasons growing German banks prefer the Umwandlungsgesetz route over alternative restructurings.
