Solarisbank AG and Contis Group have announced that they have successfully brought their previously disclosed partnership to completion.
Six months after the signing of the agreement the partnership was cleared from all respective regulators including the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Bank of Lithuania and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). With a valuation of EUR 1.4 billion Solarisbank and Contis expand their leadership in the European Banking-as-a-Service market.
Going forward, Solarisbank and Contis aim to achieve sustainable revenue growth in the range of 40 to 60 percent. Moreover, Solarisbank is preparing to be IPO-ready from the third quarter of 2022 onwards. This includes key measures such as updating the organizational and management structure, changing to IFRS accounting standards, implementing new ESG standards and, above all, process optimization and investment in compliance and regulatory matters.
We are delighted to announce that Contis and Solarisbank will now operate as a joint entity, bringing an unrivalled Banking-as-a-Service offer to the European market. With our complementary product sets and geographical coverage, we’re proud to become a complete end-to-end one-stop-shop for fintechs, banks and corporates embedding finance in their offer. Together our services cover fiat and crypto assets, lending as well as payments, and card issuing and processing across every EEA geography. Both companies are passionate about innovation, which will continue to be a guiding principle as we plan our expansion beyond Europe.
Lee Johnstone, Managing Director of Contis
2021 was an exceptional year for Solarisbank and Contis. We have seen accelerated growth in all areas and are proud to have become the largest Banking-as-a-Service platform in Europe; operating more than five million end customer accounts. With local branches in all major European markets, we offer unparalleled market coverage and a unique product offering. This is particularly evident in the satisfaction of end customers with our partners, who achieve top scores on various rating platforms. In order to sustain this high quality while growing at a fast pace, we will continue to invest significantly in our platform.
Thom Rasser, CFO of Solarisbank
It is our declared goal to become Europe’s core bank and the backbone for all customer-centric ecosystems that want to embed financial services seamlessly into their offerings. To provide our partners with a highly scalable and secure platform, we must achieve operational excellence at all levels. Which is why we constantly monitor, adapt and improve our processes and structures. We look forward to entering the next phase of our exciting growth story and are grateful for the trust placed in us by our customers, partners, employees and shareholders.
Roland Folz, CEO of Solarisbank
