Solaris goes live on ACI Connetic for SEPA Instant

Solaris has gone live on ACI Worldwide's ACI Connetic for SEPA Instant payments, completing the first phase of its payments modernisation programme.

The Berlin-based company, which holds a full German banking licence, has moved its SEPA Instant payments infrastructure onto ACI's cloud-based platform to support the next stage of its broader payments overhaul.

The move comes as instant euro payments become a standard requirement across the region. Under the EU Instant Payments Regulation, payment service providers in the eurozone must be able to receive instant credit transfers, send them at no higher cost than a standard transfer, and check the payee's name against the account before authorising a transfer.

That regulatory shift has increased pressure on banks and payment providers to run services continuously, settle transactions within seconds and complete fraud checks within the same timeframe. For providers such as Solaris, which supplies financial services infrastructure to other businesses, instant payments are now a core part of the service offered to partners.

Solaris provides accounts, cards, lending and payments to fintechs, digital brands and multinational groups that embed financial products into their own customer offerings. Those clients rely on Solaris to move money on their behalf, making the reliability and scale of its payment systems central to its business model.

According to ACI, ACI Connetic combines payments processing, orchestration, fraud prevention and payments intelligence in a single system. Solaris selected the platform as the foundation of its payments modernisation strategy.

The deal also aligns with a broader strategic push at Solaris. Together with majority shareholder SBI Group, it plans to develop its platform into pan-European financial infrastructure.

Regulatory pressure

The European payments market has been moving towards always-on processing for several years, but the latest rules have turned instant transfers from a specialist service into a mainstream expectation. That shift has implications for technology architecture, particularly for licensed banks and Banking-as-a-Service providers that process transactions for a network of clients.

For Solaris, consolidating its instant payments infrastructure onto a single platform may simplify the management of transaction flows as volumes rise. It also reflects a wider industry trend, with banks replacing fragmented payment systems with integrated platforms designed to handle compliance, fraud controls and processing in one environment.

Thomas Warsop, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACI Worldwide, said the shift in Europe's payments market is forcing institutions to make broader infrastructure decisions.

"Banks across Europe are rebuilding their payments around instant, and the ones moving fastest are making it a platform decision," Warsop said.

"Solaris runs payments for an entire ecosystem of partners, so it needs infrastructure that grows with them. Bringing SEPA Instant onto ACI Connetic gives Solaris that foundation for its next phase of growth," he added.

Platform strategy

Solaris said the launch on ACI Connetic marks an operational milestone as it reshapes its underlying platform. The company has been positioning itself as a Financial-Platform-as-a-Service provider, serving businesses that want to offer regulated financial products without building a bank themselves.

That model has placed Banking-as-a-Service groups under closer scrutiny in Europe, where regulators and partners expect stronger controls, resilient systems and compliance with evolving payments rules. As a result, infrastructure choices carry significance beyond simple transaction processing.

Steffen Jentsch, Chief Executive Officer of Solaris, linked the go-live to the company's broader platform transition.

"Going live on ACI Connetic is an important milestone in evolving our platform infrastructure," Jentsch said.

"As Solaris matures into a Financial-Platform-as-a-Service provider, ACI Connetic gives us the scalable, robust foundation we need to deploy AI-driven, highly resilient payment processes that meet the highest European regulatory standards our partners and their customers expect," he added.

Founded in 2016, Solaris has built its business around licensed banking infrastructure for third parties. Its focus on embedded finance has made payments a central part of its offering, particularly as partners seek to integrate accounts, cards and transfers directly into digital products.

The completion of this first phase suggests Solaris plans further migration work as part of the long-term transformation of its payments infrastructure. It intends to expand its use of ACI Connetic as that strategy continues.