Fintech in Munich
Allianz and Munich Re have their headquarters in Munich, and their money and data shape the city's insurtech scene. Wealthtech firms such as Scalable Capital grew out of Werk1. Below are the rules a Munich fintech follows and where people in the field meet. Dated events are in the calendar.
Munich as a fintech and insurtech city
Munich's fintech scene grew out of insurance, not banking: Allianz and Munich Re are headquartered in the city, next to Generali Deutschland and the German operations of Swiss Re, and Munich leads the world in reinsurance. That concentration of insurers gave the city its own accelerator, InsurTech Hub Munich, launched in 2017 as part of the German government's Digital Hub Initiative and backed by Allianz, Generali and Munich Re, which works with startups on fraud detection, claims automation and new insurance products.
Wealthtech is the city's second pillar. Scalable Capital, a robo-advisor and broker, started at Werk1, a startup space near Ostbahnhof where young companies get office space and access to the local investor network.
Rules that apply to a Munich fintech
A Munich fintech follows the same national and EU rules as one in Berlin or Frankfurt. BaFin licenses and supervises banks, payment institutions, investment firms and insurers from Bonn and Frankfurt; Munich has no regulator of its own. Insurtechs that carry underwriting risk need an insurance license and follow Solvency II, while a wealthtech such as a robo-advisor works under MiFID II, the EU's investor protection directive.
A crypto company in Munich needs an authorization under MiCA, and any fintech selling software to a bank or insurer has to reckon with DORA, the EU law that makes a financial firm's IT suppliers part of its own risk management.
Upcoming fintech events in Munich
Finance Loop and fintech in Munich
Finance Loop launched its Munich chapter with a dedicated event in the city, headed at the time by Ilja Geier of Coinbase, and holds events there alongside Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg. Finance Loop connects the finance, IT and AI communities and is a network partner of W3MUC, Munich's web3 hub, for events on blockchain and digital assets in the city.
Related pages: fintech in Germany, fintech in Frankfurt, fintech in Berlin and TUM Blockchain Club.
Investment & Digital Assets
Payments & Digital Money
Risk & Compliance
Why is Munich strong in insurtech?
Munich is strong in insurtech because Allianz, Munich Re and Generali Deutschland are headquartered there, alongside Swiss Re's German operations, so the city leads the world in reinsurance capacity. These insurers back InsurTech Hub Munich, which gives startups working on claims, fraud and underwriting software direct access to insurance customers and data.
Fintech in Munich and Finance Loop
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, and Risk & Compliance.
It connects the finance, IT and AI communities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. If you work on fintech in Munich, you meet people from the same field at Finance Loop events.