Solaris, a Berlin-based fintech bank, is not interested in participating in the development of a Swiss super bank for back-office duties. CEO Roland Folz prefers to take his Lego-bank approach to Asia as he told finews.com in an interview.

Dissatisfaction with the performance of traditional banks was the driving force behind the launch of Solaris Bank in Berlin in early 2016. The company is a direct answer to what the fintech community demands from a banking institute.

The financial-services company, which doesn’t really want to be one, has seen meteoric growth since. As a «tech firm with a banking license», Solaris is one of the first financial companies to translate the idea of the open bank into practice. Third parties, which in practice mainly means fintechs, can get what they need to develop their own digital business model.

A Financial-Services Supermarket

«It is not a myth that Solaris Bank was founded because there wasn’t anything similar available in the world of banking,» said Solaris CEO Roland Folz in an interview with finews.com. Folz, who used to work at Deutsche Bank, describes his bank as sort of a supermarket. Each participant buys exactly what he needs.

«Legobanking» is the expression that has been coined for this concept, and it is an idea that the Swiss fintech industry is keen to learn more about. Hardly a meeting goes by without a mentioning of the Solaris business model being prominently discussed.

Financing Secured

Many Swiss startups yearn to be where Solaris is already – the bank has secured 26.3 million euros in additional financing in March, with Germany’s Bertelsmann and the Japanese company SBI as two of the participants.

Having started with a staff of 30, Solaris today has some 100 employees and 30 partner firms. One is Autoscout24, the online second-hand car market, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Ringier. Solaris offers fully digital online banking, loans, peer-to-peer-payments and card services.

Expansion in Sight

The bankers from Berlin Mitte have already set their sights beyond Europe. Solaris is helping trading companies from Asia to organize the transaction procedures and billing systems in Europe. «Expanding to Asia is the logical step,» Folz said.

Solaris hopes to take the step to Asia through a joint-venture with SBI, its Japanese partner. SBI has branches in a number of Asian markets. «We are currently in the evaluation process, the market entry is set for 2018,» Folz said.

Solaris may yet develop its own platform for Asia, helping to bring the services the company provides for Asian traders to Europe.

No Standing Still

The banker from Berlin doesn’t know the concept of standing still. «Only if you grow quickly and across borders will you be able to make it in this business. As a first mover, we have an advantage.» Folz is determined to keep that advantage on his side.

Moving into Switzerland by contrast isn’t on the cards even though he has been approached about such a move. Joining the development of a Swiss super bank for back-office services isn’t what the smart Berlin banker has he wants for his startup: «We aren’t interested in providing a settlement bank, supplying the back-office services for the industry,» Folz said. The idea behind the super bank is to make existing business cheaper: «That’s not what we have in mind in terms of innovation for the banking industry.»

Folz and his crew are in the great situation of being able to choose from an array of expansion ideas – a luxury he much appreciates.