Payments Berlin
Payments in Berlin includes companies that build account-based services and the software used to process card payments. Their systems connect customer-facing apps and merchant checkouts with financial institutions handling the money. The work concerns how a payment is initiated and confirmed, as well as the operational processes needed when a transfer fails or a customer requests a refund.
A payment platform may supply technology itself or work with a regulated institution that provides the financial service. Supervision by BaFin and authorization requirements depend on the activities each provider performs. Distinguishing those roles helps explain why operating an app, processing instructions and holding customer funds do not all carry the same responsibilities.
The BaFin license behind a Berlin payment company
A payment company in Berlin answers to the same license as one in Frankfurt or Munich. Section 10 of the Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz requires written BaFin authorization before a firm offers payment services from Germany, and BaFin has no branch office in Berlin: applications and supervision run out of Bonn and Frankfurt. A banking-as-a-service platform such as Solaris holds a full banking license, not the lighter payment institution license, since it issues accounts and cards for its business clients directly. Since January 2025, payment and e-money institutions also carry direct duties under the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act for their IT risk management, a requirement that applies to a Berlin startup the same way it applies to a Frankfurt bank.
Instant transfers and Wero in the Berlin market
Since Regulation (EU) 2024/886 took effect, a German payment provider that offers SEPA credit transfers must also offer an instant version, credited within ten seconds. Wero, the wallet built by the bank-owned European Payments Initiative, runs on this instant rail and already counts more than 43 million registered users across Belgium, France and Germany. Berlin's neobanks and payment apps compete for the same checkout moment Wero targets, which puts pressure on a Berlin fintech to support instant transfers and wallet-based payment next to card schemes, not card payment alone.
Card and e-commerce payments in Berlin
Berlin's e-commerce roots show up in its payment infrastructure companies as much as in its banks. A merchant processing card payments in Berlin typically works with an acquirer or a payment orchestration layer that routes transactions across several providers to cut cost and failure rates, a model several Berlin startups built their business around after gaining experience in online retail in the city. Cross-border payment companies based in Berlin serve merchants who sell into other EU markets from a single German entity, relying on the same SEPA and instant-payment rails available to any bank in the country. A payment orchestration platform also runs fraud screening on every transaction it routes, and BaFin expects the same anti-money-laundering controls from a Berlin startup that it expects from a bank. See payments in Germany for how the license and rulebook behind these services work nationwide.
Upcoming payments events in Berlin
Finance Loop and payments in Berlin
Finance Loop started in Frankfurt and holds events in Berlin as well, where it is the meeting place for people who build and supervise payments: engineers and compliance staff from the city's banking-as-a-service platforms and neobanks, alongside bankers and IT people from the wider finance sector. Finance Loop connects the finance, IT and AI communities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Finance Loop is a partner of the Digital Euro Association, the Frankfurt think tank behind the Digital Euro Conference, where speakers from banks, central banks and payment fintechs cover instant payments and the digital euro. Related pages: payments in Germany, payments in Frankfurt, fintech in Berlin and payments in Europe.
Does a Berlin payment company need a BaFin license?
Yes, section 10 of the Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz requires BaFin authorization before any firm offers payment services from Germany, and Berlin has no separate rule or exemption. A company that issues its own accounts and cards, such as Solaris, needs a full banking license, not the lighter payment institution license.
Payments in Berlin and Finance Loop
Finance Loop membership starts with the free Network Member plan on the membership page, and the Berlin dates are on networking events in Berlin. Partners can reach people in payments by sponsoring a meetup or a webinar, or through the partner program; fintech marketing compares the formats.
Finance Loop is a professional network supporting the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, digital payments, cloud and blockchain solutions. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.
Finance Loop connects the finance, IT and AI communities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. If you work on payments in Berlin, you meet people from the same field at Finance Loop events.