Penta Bank: European Bank for SMEs and Businesses

Penta Bank is a German fintech firm offering business account with a German IBAN and corporate debit cards in partnership with Solarisbank AG. The account comes with Penta bank BIC and SEPAfor international payments. Penta business banking is designed for startups, freelancers, SMEs, AG, GmbH, GbR, KG and UG.

The primary motive of Pentabank is to help SMEs to grow since the process of opening a bank account for small businesses is usually cumbersome, while the SMEs remain underserved by traditional banks.

Benefits of Opening Penta Business Account

• You will get Visa business debit card
• Fee-free Stripe processing of the first transaction volume up to €40,000
• Startups get up to €5,000 discount on Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Deposit guarantee scheme with a cap of 100,000 euros
• Integration of accounting tools such as DATEV, Lexoffice, Debitoor and Billomat
• Able to maintain an online presence on multiple platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, etc) with a single click via Sellwerk

How Pentabank Works

Penta customers can access its services through Penta bank website or Penta app. The bank has several apps that are key to business operations. Penta apps are available for Android and iOS.

To sign up for Penta business account, you need to enter in data about your business and then verify your identity (ID or passport) and your business with the help of IDnow VideoIdent. You can open unlimited number of business accounts but each account must be opened individually and go through the registration process separately. It is currently not possible to open multiple accounts for the same company or to use the same email address for multiple accounts.

If you register for a Penta business account as a sole proprietor, freelancer or Freiberufler, your residential address must be in Germany. For all other legal forms your personal residence may be outside of Germany.

Penta Services and Products

Penta has a wide array of products and services for its customers. Apart from business account with IBAN, you will get accounting services and tools for managing expenses. Besides, you can also apply for a Penta loan to expand your business.

Accounting tools integrated into Penta business account are DATEV Enterprise Online, DATEV document imaging service (only for users of the Premium Plan), Lexoffice, Debitoor, Paperwork, Billomat, Accounting butler, sevDesk, Candis, and FastBill.

With Penta, you will get Visa cards for your employees so that you do not have to share a single card. Your team can prepare payments so that you can then approve where you can authorize many payments with only one TAN (transaction authentication number).

Penta bank offers consultancy for opening a UG or GmbH in Germany as quick as 7 days. You will get advice on how to form your company from a lawyer, notary and tax advisor. In addition, you get a contract templates for employees (full time, part-time, freelancer), managing directors as well as advice on drafting your website terms and condition.

Penta Business Account

Penta Bank is only available for startups, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises based in Germany and Italy. The account is also available for common legal forms such as AG, GmbH, GbR, KG or UG. When you open a business account with Penta, the account is linked to a business Visa card, which you can use to make cash withdrawals anywhere in the world.

Penta Sub Accounts

Penta Sub-Accounts are additional accounts to your already existing Penta account. Each sub account has its own IBAN that you can use to receive and send funds. Sub Accounts can be used to put aside tax reserves, manage teams or save for investments. The account administrator can allow your employees or accountant to view some or all Sub Accounts.

Penta Fees

Countries Where Penta is Available

At the moment, Penta supported countries are Germany and Italy. Previously, the bank was only available for German businesses. However, the bank has plans to expand its operations to other European countries. For some types of companies, you can open an account even if you are abroad as long as the business is registered in Germany or Italy.

Languages Supported by Penta Bank and its Customer Support

Penta banking services and customer support services are available in English, Italian and German. You can contact the bank through a phone call, social media and via email. The bank has a Slack Community if you wish to talk to the Penta team.

Is Penta Bank Safe?

Penta provides its banking services via Solarisbank AG, which is a fully licensed bank under the supervision of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the European Central Bank. Your deposits are protected up to €100,000 through the European Security Fund. Penta uses multiple layers of security and 2-factor authentication to PSD2 standard to protect your data. For each bank transfer, a code is sent to your smartphone via smsTAN. The entry of this code is required to confirm an outgoing transaction. The code is only sent to the device that is linked to your Penta account.

Penta Bank Customer Reviews

Penta Bank has 670 reviews (September 2021) on Penta TrustPilot page. The bank has a user experience rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars. Out of the reviews, 77% represent customers who rated their banking experience as “excellent,” 7% as “great,” and 15% as “bad.” Many of the users commended the bank for its quick customer support and for continually improving its services. However, some users expressed dissatisfaction with the bank no approving their business accounts despite their banks being registered in Germany.

Penta Alternatives

There are other banks that offer more or less similar services in Germany and Italy. Other online banks in Germany you can explore to make a better choice include:

• bunq
• N26
• Revolut
• Fyrst
• Kontist