Carsten Höltkemeyer stepped down as CEO of the German embedded finance firm Solaris at the end of 2025. He has been succeeded by Steffen Jentsch.
This change in leadership comes less than a year after Solaris sold a majority stake in its business to Japan’s SBI Group in February 2025. This sale was part of a €140 million Series G funding round that also included Börse Stuttgart.
Höltkemeyer has led Solaris since November 2022, when he took over from Roland Folz. Solaris credits him with putting the company on a path to profitable growth during his time as CEO. He will remain available to provide guidance for a smooth transition.
Jentsch joins Solaris from retail brokerage platform flatexDEGIRO, where he served as chief information and process officer since 2017. He has also worked at consultancy firm BearingPoint and at Atruvia, a banking and IT services provider formed from the 2015 merger of Fudicia IT AG and GAD eG.
In announcing Höltkemeyer’s departure, Solaris confirmed that Ansgar Finken, the company’s chief risk officer for the past three years, is also leaving the management board. He will remain available to offer advice.
Finken led the finance and technology area within the bank. He will hand over the chief risk officer role to Matthias Heinrich, who previously held the same position at flatexDEGIRO Bank. Heinrich’s career includes senior leadership roles at Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark, Santander Consumer Bank, and Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank.
In the coming months, the new management team will finalize Solaris’ strategic direction, focusing on scalable and compliant growth across Europe. The company also plans to strengthen its management team soon.
