Tink acquires German fintech as it deepens involvement in the country

As the race for dominance in the open banking market continues to heat up in Europe, Tink has made another acquisition in a bid to achieve dominance in the increasingly competitive area of fintech.

The open banking platform has bought German open banking infrastructure fintech FinTecSystems as it looks to solidify its position as a leader in the open banking space.

FinTecSystems powers more than 150 banks and fintechs across Germany, Austria and Switzerland and will help fuel Tink’s expansion in the DACH region.

“Germany is a key market for Tink, and we are excited to have acquired an innovative leader with a strong reputation for the quality of its bank connectivity and payments services,” Daniel Kjellén, co-founder and CEO, Tink, said. 

“We have followed FinTecSystems for many years and are impressed by what they have achieved. Through this acquisition, we are taking a big step into the DACH region, and we look forward to supporting the FinTecSystems’ team to further accelerate their growth.”

FinTecSystems, which Tink acquired for an undisclosed amount, was founded in 2014 and connects to over 99 per cent of banks in the region, meaning that three in every four online credit decision in Germany involve the fintech.

“We are proud to have built the leading open banking platform in DACH, serving some of the biggest and most innovative financial institutions and fintechs in the region,” Stefan Krautkrämer, co-founder and managing director of FinTecSystems added.

“Now we are equally proud that FinTecSystems will become part of Europe’s leading open banking platform. By joining forces with Tink, there is a unique opportunity to further strengthen FinTecSystems’ position as the open banking leader in the region, and better support our clients to expand across Europe.”

All of FinTecSystems 67 employees will be transferred over to Tink’s operations, joining the fintech’s existing 400 employees.

Tink has been on a mission of European domination of late, with the fintech completing three acquisitions in 2020 and this latest purchase being the fintech’s first in 2021. 

The fintech acquired the account aggregation platform of UK-based fintech OpenWrks as well as entering into a strategic partnership which would see Tink onboard several prominent fintechs such as accounting software platform Xero, alternative lender Liberis Finance and financial management app Snoop.

In July 2020, the open banking giant acquired fellow Swedish fintech Instantor, a credit decisioning firm that makes over 5m credit decisions annually, further expanding Tink’s product offering.  

Just over a year ago, Tink bought Spanish account aggregator Eurobits Technologies, which processed over 50m transactions across Europe and South America and allowed Tink to expand into four new markets.  

All three acquisitions were made using a slice of Tink’s$90m funding round that it closed in January 2020, in which PayPal strategically invested an undisclosed amount.