Deutsche Bank Partners with Bolt for European Card Acquiring
Deutsche Bank has launched card acquiring services for Bolt, the European mobility provider, across Europe and the United Kingdom.
The implementation uses Silverflow's payment infrastructure following the strategic partnership between Deutsche Bank and Silverflow announced in June.
The arrangement sees Deutsche Bank function as the card acquirer for Bolt, providing the regulatory framework to process card transactions through Visa and Mastercard networks. Bolt uses Deutsche Bank's scheme membership to route payments via Silverflow's platform.
Under the structure, card schemes settle transaction funds with Deutsche Bank, which then executes payouts to Bolt. The service went live in April 2025 across European markets and the UK.
Payment infrastructure modernisation
The collaboration represents Deutsche Bank's strategy to provide payment solutions for platform businesses across Europe.
The bank positions itself as a provider in the European payments sector through partnerships that modernise card processing infrastructure.
"This partnership marks another milestone in our strategy to deliver modern, scalable, and regulatory-resilient payment solutions for platform businesses across Europe," says Kilian Thalhammer, Head of Merchant Solutions at Deutsche Bank.
The technical implementation combines Deutsche Bank's regulatory compliance capabilities with Silverflow's cloud-based payment processing technology.
This approach allows Bolt to access card scheme infrastructure while maintaining operational flexibility through modern payment architecture.
Bolt operations integration
For Bolt, the partnership addresses payment processing requirements across multiple European jurisdictions.
The company operates ride-hailing, food delivery and micro-mobility services across more than 45 countries, requiring payment infrastructure that can handle transaction volumes at scale.
The Deutsche Bank solution provides Bolt with direct access to Visa and Mastercard processing capabilities without requiring separate acquiring relationships in each market. This consolidates Bolt's payment operations under a single regulatory framework whilst maintaining local market access.
Bolt's commerce operations benefit from the standardised processing approach across European markets.
The company can process payments through a unified technical integration rather than managing multiple acquiring relationships across different jurisdictions.
Market positioning
Deutsche Bank's merchant solutions division uses partnerships with technology providers to compete with specialist payment processors in the European market.
The bank combines its regulatory status and scheme relationships with third-party technology to serve platform businesses.
This approach allows Deutsche Bank to offer competitive payment processing services without developing proprietary technology platforms.
The partnership model enables the bank to serve clients requiring modern payment infrastructure whilst leveraging existing regulatory frameworks and scheme relationships.
"Working with Deutsche Bank and Silverflow has allowed us to significantly streamline our payment operations across Europe and the UK," says Jüri Laur, Director of Product, Commerce at Bolt.
"We now benefit from a stable, scalable infrastructure that aligns perfectly with our growth ambitions and delivers a smoother payment experience for our customers."
