The Berlin neobank is completing its internal restructuring for the time being – and strengthening the local locations. In return, four previous business units will be abolished.
Solaris Bank in Berlin
Solarisbank expands its management team.
Frankfurt Solarisbank is expanding its management team: Jens Lütcke will take over the newly created position of head of Germany for the first time in May. This was announced by the Berlin Neobank on Wednesday.
Lütcke has been active in the fintech industry for more than 15 years. In 2005 he co-founded the online payment service “Sofort”, which was later bought up by the payment service provider Klarna. Lütcke then managed the DACH region at Klarna. Most recently, he was employed by Fintech Blue Code, which enables contactless payment via smartphone.
In his new function, Lütcke wants to further expand Solarisbank's position as the market leader in the area of banking-as-a-service, he said in an interview with the Handelsblatt. "I see the market potential not only for fintechs, but also in the entire banking sector. We also want to develop other products for this in the future,” he said.
Jens Lütcke
Future head of Germany at Solarisbank.
However, the former Klarna manager also sees a need for improvement – especially in the internal processes: "If you grow quickly, you also have to catch up with the processes. Together we want to take Solarisbank to the next level of professionalism,” said Lütcke. That will always be one of the defining issues, he said.
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That should also be necessary: The rapid growth of Solarisbank also occupies the German financial regulator. At the end of January, Bafin sent a special auditor to the Berlin Neobank. One supervisor reported that Solarisbank has been causing "stomach ache" for a long time: "The bank has grown extremely quickly. The internal structures haven't always kept pace, that's a problem.” According to the bank, it opened a million new online accounts in the past year alone.
Solarisbank enables its customers to offer banking services such as loans and installment payments. The fintech with a banking license thus acts as a service provider and handles the processes in the background.
Internal restructuring completed for the time being
With the new personnel, the Berlin neobank has also announced a comprehensive restructuring. The previous business units consisting of Digital Banking, Lending, Identity and Digital Asset will be dissolved in April. In the future, commercial marketing will be the responsibility of the country heads, and sales will also be coordinated in the countries.
This gives the four country heads, consisting of Jean-Francois Guillaumin (France), Michael Köhler (Italy) and Francisco Jamarillo (Spain) as well as Lütcke, more influence in the direction of the organization. In future you will report directly to the Management Board.
In return, the Berlin neobank is creating a central product platform, which will be managed by the previous product manager Jörg Howein – and will be responsible for all product and technology topics from Berlin. The new head of product will be the former head of the identity unit, Delia König, who will report directly to Howein.
“With this set-up, we are creating the basis for our next growth phase. Direct access to the local markets and rapid product customization are crucial to the success of our international expansion,” says Solarisbank CEO Roland Folz.
At the same time, the central production platform ensures that the core processes remain efficient and highly scalable. "With the new organizational structure, we remain agile and at the same time can do justice to the growth plans of our innovative partners and the dynamics of the financial industry," says Folz.
More on the subject: Bafin orders additional equity from Solarisbank
