“Can a wholesale cash-and-carry giant build a sustainable financial-services layer for its HoReCa customer base — or is payments acceptance the realistic ceiling?”
METRO is a German B2B cash-and-carry wholesaler serving 17M+ HoReCa customers across 30+ countries. Under its 'Wholesale 360' strategy it built an embedded-finance arm — METRO Financial Services — culminating in a Vodeno-powered decoupled debit card and partnerships with auxmoney/iwoca for SME lending. In March 2025 METRO shut down Metro FS after reaching only 25,000 customers, conceding that retailer-led embedded banking struggles to create compelling value. Embedded finance has now been refocused on payments acceptance under the MPay brand and DISH Pay for hospitality merchants.
Metro AG discloses Vodeno as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Metro AG does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Vodeno.
Metro AG processes payments through MPay (self-operated), DISH Pay (self-operated) and DISH Pay Now (self-operated).
Metro AG's cards are issued through Vodeno.
Metro AG's lending and capital products are provided by auxmoney, iwoca.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 4 layers in Metro AG's stack: Payments / PSP (MPay (self-operated), DISH Pay (self-operated) and DISH Pay Now (self-operated)); Banking / BaaS (Vodeno); Card issuing (Vodeno); Lending (auxmoney, iwoca and GastroFinanz — short-term loans up to €100,000 for restaurateurs).
Metro AG is founded in 1964 and headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Metro AG and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.