German banking group Deutsche Bank and Mastercard have formed an alliance to advance open banking in Europe, focusing on enhancing payment experiences for merchants and consumers.
This collaboration aims to strengthen Deutsche Bank’s Merchant Solutions division, particularly its Request to Pay (R2P) service, by incorporating account-to-account payments through Mastercard’s open banking network.
Deutsche Bank Merchant Solutions global head Killian Thalhammer said: “This partnership with Mastercard marks a pivotal moment in the growth of open banking.
“Together, we are delivering innovative merchant solutions that reflect the needs of a digital-first economy—secure, instant, and built for scale.”
The alliance facilitates merchants in adopting R2P as a preferred payment method, enabling consumers to authorise payments directly from their bank accounts with real-time processing. This integration of Mastercard’s open banking technology into Deutsche Bank’s platform will enhance settlement speed, reconciliation processes, and payment transparency.
As the demand for faster, cost-effective, and secure payment methods grows among European consumers and merchants, this partnership seeks to establish new standards in the industry. By doing so, it not only bolsters Deutsche Bank’s position in the payments sector but also highlights R2P as a viable alternative to traditional card payments.
The announcement of this partnership was made at Money 20/20 in Amsterdam 2025. Customers currently using Deutsche Bank’s RTP are expected to transition seamlessly to the new platform.
Mastercard open banking Europe head Valerie Nowak said: “Our long-standing collaboration with Deutsche Bank showcases the power of partnerships in transforming how people and businesses interact with money.
“With the further expansion of our partnership, we combine our open banking payments technology with Deutsche Bank’s payments expertise and big merchant base across Europe, and together we’re shaping a future where account-based payments are becoming the new norm.”
In a separate initiative, Deutsche Bank has partnered with finaXai, an artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Singapore. This collaboration is set to extend Project DAMA 2 aimed at transforming asset management processes through tokenisation.
FinaXai is part of the Fincubator programme at the Asian Institute of Digital Finance, working towards incorporating machine learning and large language models into asset servicing workflows.
