Fintech startup Lemon.markets merges with DWPBank Group financially.
In August 2025, Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank) announced the acquisition of Berlin-based fintech lemon.markets. This strategic move aims to modernize and accelerate dwpbank's digital securities services by integrating lemon.markets' scalable brokerage-as-a-service platform into its infrastructure.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval by BaFin and is expected to finalize by autumn 2025. This deal reflects an industry trend where traditional financial institutions acquire fintechs to enhance digital agility and competitiveness.
With this integration, dwpbank will expand its full-custody services and enhance its cloud-based technology stack by adding digital brokerage and custody infrastructure alongside existing platforms like WP3 and wpNex for digital assets.
Lemon.markets will continue operating as a separate entity within dwpbank while collaborating on platform development and maintaining its brand identity. The deal will enable dwpbank to combine traditional securities infrastructure with fintech innovation, improving trade execution efficiency, real-time processing, and digital workflow management of ETFs, stocks, and funds.
Financially, lemon.markets’ API-based platform offers features such as fractional trading and seamless integration for banks, fintechs, and asset managers, broadening market access and enabling flexible, modular solutions for clients. Strategically, the acquisition strengthens dwpbank’s market position as Germany's leading securities service provider supporting around three-quarters of the country's banks.
Future synergies may also extend to digital assets and tokenized securities, enabling dwpbank to better serve evolving capital market needs. Kristina Lindenbaum, Board Member for Client and Digital Transformation, stated that the acquisition will enable partners to capture growth opportunities in a securities market increasingly shaped by neo- and online brokers.
The combined platforms will offer a competitive portfolio of services, ranging from full custody to digital Brokerage-as-a-Service offerings, which can be dynamically combined within customer bases. The dwpbank lemon.markets acquisition enhances the group's securities ecosystem, combining tradition and innovation to better serve financial institutions and fintechs.
Max Linden, founder and CEO of lemon.markets, states that the cooperation aims to make investing in capital markets more accessible and increase competitiveness for financial service providers. The infrastructure supports modern features such as fractional trading, real-time processing, and fully digitized processes for ETFs, stocks, and funds.
The BaFin-licensed securities institution lemon.markets has customers including leading Fintechs such as Tomorrow, Optio, and Holvi. The transaction is expected to be completed by autumn 2025. The dwpbank Group will operate under a two-brand strategy, with both companies remaining visible as independent brands.
The focus of the two companies is on the joint further development of their platforms, short innovation cycles, and a service portfolio that enables quick and distinct responses to market changes. Through their ecosystem for securities services, they are demonstrating how customer focus, technological openness, and regulatory expertise can interact to set new standards in the securities business.
In summary, this acquisition accelerates dwpbank’s digital transformation, fosters innovation in securities processing, and helps establish new industry standards by combining dwpbank’s established expertise with lemon.markets’ fintech capabilities. The cooperation between dwpbank and lemon.markets is helping to shape the dynamic securities market.
- The acquisition of lemon.markets by Deutsche WertpapierService Bank (dwpbank) from ffnews.com is an industry trend, as traditional finance institutions are merging with fintechs to bolster digital agility and competitiveness in the business and finance sector.
- This deal, set to finalize by autumn 2025, will see dwpbank expand its digital assets and cloud-based technology stack by incorporating lemon.markets' fintech platform, offering features such as fractional trading and seamless integration for banks, fintechs, and asset managers, thereby broadening market access and enabling flexible, modular solutions for clients.
