So, I set up bank accounts at various banking institutions offering their services in Germany. I will write about my experiences with them in a series of posts and test them out. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or anything else I should test or write about.

I will start with the following banks and services, in no particular order:

  • Ing-Diba
  • C24
  • Klarna
  • DKB
  • Revolut
  • Bank Norweigen
  • Local VR Banks
  • Trade Republic
  • Curve
  • Wise
  • VimPay
  • XPCard

Further, I am also interested in testing out the following banks, but have not yet setup accounts with them:

  • N26
  • Comdirect
  • Consorsbank
  • Santander
  • Targo Bank
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Sparkasse
  • Amex

Previously, I had an account with Vivid Money, but I closed it because I was not happy with their service.

Regarding features, I am interested in investigating and reviewing the following:

  • Online and Mobile Banking
  • SEPA (instant) transfers
  • Mastercard/Visa payments
  • Apple Pay/Google Pay
  • Fee structure
  • Money Withdrawals at ATMs
  • Girocard
  • Cashback

The banks all employ a core banking system. This is a software stack used for common banking tasks, such as opening accounts, processing deposits, withdrawals, and payments, and generating statements. There are not so many vendors in this space, and the software is usually not developed in-house.

Ing-Diba

Banking Card

They offer a free physical Visa debit card, which has a weird cutout. Apple and Google Pay are supported.

Mobile App

App has good features and is established.

Web App

Web app is very good and has all the needed features.

Core Banking

They use Kordoba as their core banking system.

C24

Account Opening

Account opening was easy, did not require a video call. I could log in and use the account.

General

They also offer free SEPA instant transfers. C24 is the best way to find out if a SEPA transfer is instant, as there is a toggle in the interface.

Banking Card

They offer a free physical Mastercard as well as a free Girocard, without cobranding. Their cards look and feel cheap, but they allow you to select which name gets printed on them (first and last name, last name only or initial of the first name and last name). Apple and Google Pay are supported for the Mastercard, up to 8 free virtual cards can be created.

Mobile App

App is OK, and developing fast.

Web App

Their web app is also OK, not as good as the mobile app and missing some features that are only available in the mobile app.

Core Banking

They use Mambu as their core banking system.

Klarna

Account Opening

Account opening was easy, did not require a video call. I could log in and use the account.

General

Their killer feature is the integration of shopping, their payment system and buy-now-pay-later. They don’t offer sending SEPA instant transfers, but they accept them. The account can be topped up for free two times a month, and then they charge a fee; the minimum top up is 10 €.

Banking Card

They offer a free Visa credit card, which is the best-looking card I have seen so far. They also offer a free virtual debit card. Apple and Google Pay are supported.

Mobile App

App is international-fintech-grade.

Web App

The web app is lacking features, you can only see your transactions, account details, balance, and do some account management.

Core Banking

Klarnas core banking system is built in-house.

DKB

Account Opening

Account opening was easy, but not as fast as others.

General

They offer a free Visa debit card. Their bank account is a bit more traditional.

Banking Card

They offer a free Visa debit card, which is above average quality-wise. Apple and Google Pay are supported.

Mobile App

Their new app is missing features. They don’t offer sending SEPA instant transfers. Their app shows transfer details not shown by others (see Revolut).

Web App

Their web app has all the features of the mobile app. You can send transfers, change the PIN of your card, and do other account management. Sometimes you are sent to their old web app, which is not as good, sometimes even iframed into their new web app.

Core Banking

DKB uses core banking from Finanz Informatik/F-I-TS, which is part of Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.

Revolut

Account Opening

Revolut’s account-opening process is a bit cumbersome. They require a video call to verify your identity, which is a bit annoying. But after that, I could log in and use the account.

General

They really have cool features; for example, they allow free top-ups using credit cards, and they offer sending and receiving free SEPA instant transfers, which makes them useful to quickly pool up money from the different accounts. Revolut accepts SWIFT transfers as well. They have good exchange rates for foreign currencies.

Banking Card

They offer a virtual Mastercard only. Apple and Google Pay are supported. Further, virtual or single-use virtual cards can be created for free.

Mobile App

Revoluts mobile app is nice, better than Klarna. They also have a feature where you can send money to credit cards, even going as far as letting you scan cards with NFC and send money to them. Revolut sends your street name and number in a SEPA transfer, which is shown by DKB. Supports Passkey.

Web App

The web app is really lacking features, you can only see your transactions, account details and balance. Their web app is worse than Klarnas.

Integrations and API

API seems to offer ok features and data quality. Connecting to other services happens through their web portal.

Core Banking

Revolut built its core banking system in-house.

Bank Norweigen

Account Opening

Account opening was slow and required many details.

General

They offer a free Visa credit card and a Norwegian IBAN. Bank Norwegian is the only provider telling me I have to set an “online shopping password” for my credit card. What the hell is that? When I try to set it with a secure password, it tells me it has to not contain Ä, Ö or Ü, which it does not contain. Only 15 characters are allowed, which I think is too short. They don’t support SEPA instant transfers.

Banking Card

Their Visa is golden and has a pretty design. Apple and Google Pay are supported.

Mobile App

The app sucks, it’s a webview of their web app.

Web App

Web app login requires date of birth in addition to the phone number. The first time I logged in, it asked me to accept a new TOS, based on a decision of the BGH from 2021. I opened the account in 2024, why do I have to accept a TOS change linking to 2021?

Core Banking

They use Banqsoft as their core banking system.

Local VR Banks

App sucks, free Girocard with maestro or vpay cobranding. They have virtual giro cards, but the app really sucks compared to Google Pay. I can’t imagine that the developers from Atruvia (also the provider of the core banking) use the app themselves, and it shows. These are the only banks requiring the use of a TAN generator, which I think is a bad user experience.

Trade Republic

They don’t offer a regular giro account, but a depot account. They offer a free Visa debit card, and a call money account, matching the ECBs key interest rate. Not sure about their core banking. They don’t support SEPA instant transfers. While they have a pretty-looking user interface, technology-wise they are lacking. They are only realy good at executing a saving plan, and storing money, besides they are not really useful. They don’t accept incoming SEPA instant transfers, which is a big downside.

Curve

Curve is pretty fun, it’s basically a proxy on the credit card network. You can use it like Google Wallet with extra steps. They offer a free Mastercard, and you can link your other cards to it. You can get cashback on purchases, and you can change retroactivly which card gets charged. You can also use “if this then that” rules to set the card that gets charged.

Wise

Wise is honestly not that interesting.

VimPay

VimPay is a little fun, as it shows much information about the transaction. When adding the card to Google Pay, it showed two transactions from Google, St. Louis, USA over 0.00 €. They offer a free Mastercard.

XPCard

XPCard is a “gaming card”. They offer a free Mastercard from Advanzia Bank. They offer cashback for gaming related retailers, like Douglas, Sephora and Jeans Welt.

Conclusion

I think at the moment the best stack is Revolut for the wild features, C24 as a salary account and maybe Klarna. Join my Matrix room if you want to discuss this further.