Financial institutions collaborate predominantly with fintech companies in areas such as transactions and lending.
In the ever-evolving world of finance, Germany is at the forefront of a transformation in the payment and credit sectors. Over the past four years, numerous strategic partnerships between German banks and fintech companies have been established, with a total of 82 partnerships as shown in an infographic.
Three Austrian fintechs - Bitpanda, Credi2, and 21Bitcoin - three from the US - Fiserv, Symphony, and Flowcast - and various partners from the Netherlands, Estonia, Great Britain, Ireland, and Sweden have joined forces with German banks. Notably, 37 of the 51 fintechs partnered with German banks between 2020 and 2024 are based in Germany.
The cooperative financial group of Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken has the most cooperations, with 29 genobanks accounting for 37 partnerships with 14 different fintech. The United Volksbank Raiffeisenbank (VVRB) from the Odenwald has the most partnerships, working with Billie, Creditshelf (now Teylor), Monkee, Nelly, Payone, Pliant, Smava, and Pagopace between 2021 and 2024. If Iwoca (UK and Germany) and Creditshelf (now part of Swiss Teylor) are included, there are 39 German fintechs in the partnerships.
Key highlights include Deutsche Bank and Sparkasse, unique among German traditional banks in offering their own mobile payment solutions. Meanwhile, other banks like Commerzbank partner with big tech (e.g., Google Pay) to provide mobile payments alongside independent peer-to-peer payment services.
In the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market, fintech firms such as Ratepay, Klarna, and PayPal Pay Later are major players partnering widely with retailers to offer flexible credit solutions. This sector is evolving beyond e-commerce into physical retail, healthcare, and sustainable financing, supported by partnerships between BNPL providers, retail chains, and financial institutions.
Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank) has agreed to acquire the fintech lemomarkets, which offers a brokerage-as-a-service platform. This acquisition aims to expand dwpbank’s full-custody solution and strengthen its fintech integration, with lemomarkets operating as an independent subsidiary.
The focus of these partnerships reflects broader industry trends emphasizing embedded finance and open banking, where banks and fintechs increasingly collaborate to integrate payments and credit services seamlessly into digital ecosystems, supported by evolving regulatory frameworks like PSD2 and strong customer authentication rules.
Recent partnerships by German banks and fintech companies include the VVRB integrating its offers with Smava's comparison platform in 2022, NRW Bank using interfaces with the municipal financiers Commnex (now FRC Digital) and Komuno to integrate its funding programs into their lending processes, and Varengold Bank being Fulfin's financing partner and acting as a fronting bank for Banxware.
Freelance journalist Sophie Deistler reports on topics from the financial world and has covered many of these partnerships in her work. As these collaborations continue to shape the payment landscape, it's exciting to consider the opportunities that the Payment Exchange 2025 will provide to meet these innovators and discuss how strategic partnerships are revolutionizing payments.
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