In addition to covering the entire European Economic Area (EEA) via passporting, this step now provides Solarisbank’s partners uninhibited access to the local financial ecosystems of Europe’s four largest markets.

In just six months, Solarisbank has managed to set up local operations in the three new markets and build up a first-class team of international professionals around three highly experienced general managers.

Jean-Francois Guillaumin, who previously worked for trade finance platform Incomlend Europe, neobanks Nickel and Anytime as well as Western Union, joined Solarisbank earlier this year as General Manager France alongside Francisco Jaramillo, who is in charge of the Spanish market. Before joining Solarisbank, Jaramillo was responsible for the European expansion of the card platform Marqeta in the Banking and Financial Institutions Sector and previously held multiple senior leadership roles for the card schemes Visa and American Express. The group is completed by Michael Koehler, who will lead Solarisbank’s presence in Italy after spending most of his career in banking, factoring and leasing, including 14 years for the German listed Grenke Group.

With the activation of local IBANs in France, Italy and Spain, Solarisbank has become a true pan-European platform. Hereby we cater to the ambitious growth plans of our existing partners, but also boost our competitive edge. With the possibility to combine the right financial services tailored to individual needs, Solarisbank offers unparalleled flexibility for companies with European ambitions.

Solarisbank drives the emerging trend of embedded finance by enabling global brands like Samsung as well as fast-growing fintechs like Vivid Money to offer state-of-the-art financial services in the European market. According to research conducted by Solarisbank in cooperation with the Handelsblatt Research Institute in April this year, the potential for embedded finance and thus Banking-as-a-Service is immense. In Europe alone, nearly 500 million bank accounts are up for grabs in the next few years. Lightyear Capital estimates that the global market for embedded finance will grow from around EUR 22.5 billion at present to around EUR 230 billion by 2025.