Nordic Fintech Magazine Sept22 by Nordic Fintech Magazine

A Breed?Different The Nordic region has the highest number of unicorns per capita in Europe, and the last two years have seen Nordic fintechs raising record-high investment rounds. So, what is their secret sauce? anticipatedisruptionEmbracingtocustomer’spaymentsneeds p.12 Crypto is taking a foothold in the Nordics p.24 In the anyoneoffutureWeb3,canbecomeaninvestor p.40 SEPTEMBER 2022 p.28

Financial services everywhere! The ability to embed financial services across all industries is unleashing an avalanche of innovation benefiting businesses and financial institutions and customers. In this track we will cover the latest trends in embedding payments, lending, insurance, and wealth in unlikely places and we will hear from some of the foremost proponents oof this exciting trend.

Ethical Finance

Embedded Finance

The collective consciousness of Nordic investors has reached a tipping point whereby healthy returns are no longer enough. As investors seek to do good with their money, the demand for transparency and tightening regulation presents a new opportunity for Fintech to take centre stage and address aa new set of social, environmental and governance concerns. The greatest Fintech event in the Nordics Join Nordic Fintech Week 2022 and take part in unlocking the future of ﬁnance. LARS CHRISTENSENSEIER CHARIMAN CONCORDIUMOFFOUNDATION PHILIP KONOPIK REGIONAL ANDDIRECTORMANAGINGNORDICSBALTICSATVISA LEDA GLYPTIS CHIEF OFFICERCLIENTAT10XBANKING NATASHA DE TERÁN CO-AUTHOR OF THE BOOK: THE PAY OFF HOW CHANGING THE WAY WE PAY CHANGES EVERYTHING. September 27th and 28th, TAP.1 Copenhagen. nfweek.com SANDRA RO CEO OF THE GLOBAL BLOCKCHAINCOUNCILBUSINESS

1.200 Attendees | +125 Speakers

CHRISTOFFERMALMER HEAD OF SEBX LARS BONDE CHIEFOFFICEROPERATIONSATTRYG MARTIN SOKK CEO & CO-FOUNDER AT LIGHTYEAR MONIKA LIIKAMAA CO-CEO & CO-FOUNDER AT ENFUCE SKÚLASONHAUKUR CEO & CO-FOUNDER AT INDÓ Brought to you by &

+150 Startups | +50 Banks & FI’s

The Future of Finance

Democratization of Finance

It’s hard to keep up with the extraordinary explosion of innovation which is why in this track we bring you the latest in payments, insurance, regulation , decentralized ﬁnance, cryptocurrecies, and metaverse economies. This is a must for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate how the developments of today will impact our lives tomorrow.

Technology is bringing services, previously available only to a small minority of customers, closer to the mass market than ever before. In this track we will explore how wealth management, investment, venture capital and private equity services are being democratized through technology, making it easier than ever before for customers to get on the wealth management ladder.

Editor in Chief: Chris Crespo Journalists: R. Paulo Delgado, Jakob Frier, Simone Okkels & Marria Qibtia Sikandar Nagra Layout: Vratislav Pecka

We care about the big trends reshaping finance and people’s lives. Are you after thought leadership on web3.0, embedded finance, sustainability, incumbent reinvention, wealth democratization, impact and the future of finance?

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We grow your understanding of financial service innovation, without the jargon that separates the industry from its customers.

Thank you to all fintech heroes contributing to this magazine!

YES! This magazine is for you.

Published by Nordic Fintech Magazine Contact: Stian Faber, Head of Partnerships stian@nordicfintechmagazine.com

Frontpage: Jeppe Rindom, co-founder & CEO at Pleo, David Sandström, CMO at Klarna & Clara Nobre, Head of Business Product at Wise

What we do

What we talk about

Nordic Fintech Magazine

We are a team of media and fintech devotees, who bring you the boldest ideas from visionary fintech entrepreneurs and financial services innovators, straight from the Nordics.

5 Content 06 Eight markets, one region 08 ...But is bigger better? 10 The Mind of the CEO 12 Embracing disruption to anticipate customer’s payments needs 14 Sobriety over hype: Levelling the curve of Inflated Expectations on Embedded Finance 16 Zimpler: Guaranteeing Simplified and Seamless Payment Solutions 18 Redefining “stringent” for an inclusive and collaborative crypto regulatory system 19 Transforming lending through cloud-based services 20 Sileon helps fintechs and banks capture the growing Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) market 21 The ingenious strategy that keeps FIS ahead of its competitors 22 3rd-Eyes Analytics: Empowering Financial Institutions to Deliver Goal-based Investing 23 Powering Fintech in Malta 24 Crypto is taking a foothold in the Nordics 26 My Carbon Action: Helping financial institutions encourage sustainably responsible consumption 28 A Different Breed? 32 We can’t avoid uncertainty but we can change how we navigate uncertain times 33 How BNPL providers can future-proof their technology platforms 34 Partnerships are Key in solving our climate crisis and ESG challenges 36 Democratization of Financial Services 38 Copenhagen Can Become a Top Priority for Tech Talents 39 Empowering a New Generation of Fintechs 40 In the future of Web3, anyone can become an investor 42 A Danish startup is changing the game of protecting privacy 43 Improve customer experience with electronic signatures and eIDs 44 The Future of Finance: Bringing humanity back to insurance through Insurtech 46 “We can’t afford to halt the momentum in Danish Fintech.” 48 Impact: The Complexity is an Opportunity for Fintechs 50 Ethical Finance: Is complete transparency possible under existing regulatory conditions? 52 Smart Pay: Delivering an Integrated Accounting & Payment Process 53 Better Financial Experiences 54 Salv’s remarkable origin story: From Skype to Wise to global crime-fighting platform 56 How Monto helps SME lenders make smarter credit decisions 57 From digital transformation to digital evolution: How Tuum ensures your tech and processes never become “legacy” again 58 Democratizing Wealth: Levelling Society’s Financial Playing Field

A few minutes into our conversation with Monika and we are already shak en by the boldness and conviction of her vision. Monika holds an unfettered belief that the future of payments can be significantly better, faster, and more transparent. Grounded in profound expertise, understanding of technology and commitment to sustainability, she is truly a force to be reckoned with and we pity anyone who dares stand on her way.

We left Estonia with the sense that we’d just witnessed something special as we headed to Iceland, the smallest nation amongst the Nordic Countries.

“corporate nests” after reaching unicorn status. We learn that after the fall of the Soviet Union, Estonia had the opportuni ty to rebuild their state from scratch, and with strategic acuteness and pragma tism, chose to do so, on the digital plat form of the future. This cultural embrace ment of technology has produced a pool of talent that is not only technically savvy, but extremely committed to develop their nation’s industry across all sectors.

Bang in the middle of the Atlantic, this sparsely populated nation is the midpoint between Europe and the US, and it doesn’t take long for us to realize the astounding level of self-sufficiency required to thrive in this conditions. No neighboring countries, no next-door trading partners, cold winters and miles and miles of inclement water in every direction. And yet, this tiny country

An approach that has worked fabulously, as seen in the almost inconceivable ratio of 1 unicorn for every 130,000 inhabitants for a total of 10. Amongst which can be counted Skype, Wise, Veriff, and Bolt; companies that have taken the task of building amazing new services while reinvesting and transferring know-how to a new generation of Estonian entrepre neurs. We meet, amongst many remark able companies, fintechs like Vespia, whose CEO & founder Julia Ront aims to become the first female founder of an Estonian unicorn, Fairown whose gentle mannered founder Hendrik Roosna is reimagining the way we consume by en abling a circular economy, or Single.Earth an outstandingly innovative company tokenizing nature to pay land owners for preserving their land.

6 Editorial

here is something exceptional about Nordic Fintech. Over the past 9 months we have met with over 70 fintech’s to uncov er what’s behind the regional phenom enon bringing about revolutionary new ways of doing payments, smooth and simple solutions for investing, robust and secure tools for fighting financial crime and outstanding new ways to make financial services available and accessible to more and more people. We set out on a quest to find out what it is about Nordic fintech that has mus tered such a stronghold on the global future of financial services.

It’s 5:40 in the morning, and part of the Nordic Fintech Magazine team is struggling with a problem; how to fit 32.6 kg. of video equipment including, lights, tripods, and cameras, into 3 carry-on bags. Given the recent chaos with lug gage handling at airports across Europe we cannot risk having our bags lost or delayed. Our team is on an early flight to Helsinki, where a very much anticipated conversation with Monika Liikamaa, coCEO and co-Founder of Enfuce, is sched uled to take place. Enfuce is one of the hundreds of Nordic fintechs that in recent years has made waves in the news with their distinctly superior cloud-based pay ment solutions and attracted over €60 Million in funding in the process.

Chris Crespo Head of Content, Nordic Fintech Magazine

Eight markets, one region

Our trip continues onto what we like to call a “unicorn safari”. This time we are tra versing the Gulf of Finland on a ferry that will bring us across to Tallinn the beautiful Estonian capital where we are scheduled to meet a lineup of entrepreneurs build ing a new financial system, with global reach, out of this small but remarkable nation. We are struck by the refreshing ideas oozing from these young and cou rageous visionaries, many of whom are second and third generation investors of successful companies who exited their

Our initial Nordic quest has given us but a tiny glimpse of what this region has to offer and has left us with a deep sense of wonder and desire to find out more. We are hooked.

with its equally sized market has it all, industry, innovative services, a delicious thriving food scene and nature of un speakable beauty. Through an intense couple of days of back-to-back inter views with some of the most interesting Icelandic fintechs, we learn that the country’s fascination with heroism, com bined with its strong Nordic values and a go-getter attitude has deeply shaped its startup scene. We meet Haukur Skúlason and Tryggvi Davidsson the funding team of indó, a challenger bank with a radical proposition, “we don’t want our customers just to trust us, we also want them to like us!” or Georg Ludviksson, founder of Meniga, a com pany powering banks serving over 100

With pieces of a puzzle that start to come together in our heads, we head to our last stop, at least for now, the Norwe gian capital of Oslo. We arrive on a beau tiful sunny day, which sets out the tone for our short but impacting visit. We learn that unlike other smaller markets where entrepreneurs are forced to start with

global ambitions, Norwegian startups are cautious; meticulous in ensuring their solutions have the right market fit, and resolute in testing their innovation locally before exporting it to other markets. We are quickly able to identify a devotion for solving hard problems which is a consistent theme in our conversations with the various fintech proponents in Norway. We meet Thuc Hoang, founder, and CEO of Firi, the largest crypotex change in the Nordics. Thuc is a young family man whose passion for coding and solving hard problems mirrors his thinking that you only have one life, so you might as well invest it into doing something difficult. We are blown away by the decisiveness as well as by the ingenuity of companies like Tillit, whose founder Erik Skaar, dissatisfied with the inefficiency and poor customer service in insurance, set out to build an insur ance challenger that uses amazing imaging technology to reduce insur ance fraud and enable self-service.

Or by FundingPartner an investment company that uses technology for the prime purpose of automating areas that customers don’t see, freeing up more time for their employees to build relationships with customers. Absolute ly revolutionary in an age obsessed with digital-human disintermediation.

As the summer months draw near to an end and we head back to our base in Copenhagen, we try to make sense of everything that we’ve witnessed first-hand in our eye-opening crusade across the Nordics. 78 conversations with Nordic visionaries and entrepreneurs confirm a strong hunch we’ve held on to for a while. With their cultural and historic differences, multiple languages, and individual traits; the Nordics, eight distinct and unique markets, share a common set of mod ern values and deep held convictions reflected in their booming startup scene. It is with humility, a profound sense of duty and responsibility, resourcefulness, inven tiveness, unmeasurable courage, and dis regard for the barriers along the way, that entrepreneurs in this outstanding region are tackling the most pressing problems in financial services. It’s these Nordic modern-day heroes who are reimagining a future of finance that sidesteps the failures of the past, setting in motion something better, something new.

million banking customers with cutting edge digital banking tech and Guðmun dur Kristjánsson, the CEO & Founder of Lucinty, aiming to equip financial crime fighting professionals with state-of-theart AI tools. We cannot help thinking that because of their geographical position, no-one bothered to tell these Icelandic heroes: “that cannot be done” and so they are doing it.

Nordic E-EstoniainterviewsMagazineFintechattheir

beautifull briefing center in Tallinn.

Despite the fact, that Nordic countries and Nordic founders have continuously produced some of the most valuable (financial) technology companies and continues to punch well above their weight, the question keeps popping up. How come bigger is better? If at all?

but it only matters if it scales to im pact the global society at large. If not, who benefits beyond the very few? Impact. The keywords of fintech are democratization (low cost and avail ability), transparency and inclusion. What is not to like if that is scaled?

Well, ‘it depends’ would be my answer. Maybe an obvious and easy answer but let me elaborate a bit more on why ‘it depends’.

Yes and no!

• Attracting talent to the region. With more fast growing (fin)tech compa nies, we see amazing global talent seeking opportunities in the Nordic region thus making it a more attrac tive place to settle.

Many startups – in fintech and tech in general – are quite depended on big international/global corporates that they can partner with/sell to. Startups offer new technology and business models, and the corpo rates offer scale and a potential future investment or acquisition. The likelihood of that happening increases when more global cor porates start setting up an office or innovation lab in the region to scout for relevant solutions. That again creates growth and new jobs.

has been working for the last five years to position the Nordic region as not only an import er of (financial) technology, but also an exporter. Not only of technology, but also of solutions built on values that are aligned with our tradition of equality, democracy, transparency, and fairness. We are not a region of people that appreciates authority and hiero cracy. We like flat structures and that everyone gets a say. Also, to the point when it sometimes slows us down – but maybe that is a good thing? Sometimes we need to slow down to then go fast.

...But better?biggeris

I have written about the strength of the Danish and Nordic fintech ecosys tem. Obviously, my argument would be, that bigger is not always better. The Nordic region being a region of approx. 27 million people – small region, small countries, and small markets – that is a fact. Not much we can do about that.

• More fast-growing startups are attracting foreign venture capital investments enabling the founders to scale their solutions beyond the Nordics. This is how the flywheel gets started.

But I acknowledge that there is also another side of the story. Our restless pursuit of growth and scale is not always better. Technology makes it so much easier to reach millions. ‘Bigger’ is only good when it also translates into ‘better’. We have an enormous responsibility as ecosystem builders, founders, investors, and employees. The most important question you can ask yourself is: “am I fundamentally making the world a better place by launching (or scaling?) this solution”? Does the ecosystem accelerate more responsible digital solutions or the opposite? Do I as an investor back the most impactful solutions that solves important problems for society? Does my money create growth and value for society? AND at the same time also a great return? As an employee am I contributing to building products that makes the world a better place?

That is also why we – Copenhagen Fintech – are proud to have facilitated

Thomas Krogh Jensen CEO, Copenhagen Fintech

ThomasJensenKrogh CEO, Copenhagen Fintech

• Sustainable (not only green, but a much broader definition of sustain ability) innovation is at the core of Nordic fintech solutions. Great news,

Not trying to put the Nordics on a pedestal, but values matter, and I think we have something to offer to the

To really make a difference, Danish and Nordic fintech founders and investors financing their journey really need to think about scale and global impact from the beginning.”

Seize matters in terms of… Jobs created in fintech startups. In Denmark alone, fintech have creat ed more than 4.000 jobs during the last five years. Obviously, that comes with a lot of societal benefits. The biggest being the growth in GDP*

n my previous articles in the Nordic Fintech Magazine (and before that the Copenhagen Fintech Magazine)

Copenhagenworld.Fintech

So, seize (and profit) is not always good and relentless pursuit of scale (and profit) is never good unless your product or service makes a positive difference for those impacted by it. To really make a difference, Danish and Nordic fintech founders and investors financing their journey really need to think about scale and global impact from the beginning. We need to build an international mindset right from the start. We need to be ambitious on our own behalf and on the planet – both need it badly.

Another example of scale and impact going hand in hand is Singlife and Matter. Singlife with Aviva, a Singapor ean insurance firm and valued Copen hagen Fintech partner, joined forces with Matter back in April 2022. Despite already being an established and major player in the Singaporean market, Singlife was just starting out their ESG

journey and therefore facing increasing pressure from regulators and clients in terms of a more sustainable investment product policy.

This is where Matter stepped in. Through the partnership, Singlife gets help with initial portfolio analysis, whilst the Matter platform is also available to its employees so that they can make more informed investment decisions, and over time report more information to their clients.

The conclusion?

The conclusion to the initial question? Not sure. It’s difficult and it depends. What do you think? Would love to hear yourForreflection.mypart,I believe that working on societal impact from the early stages is the most rewarding. Sic Parvis Magna - “greatness, from small beginnings”. The Nordics are – in my humble opinion – combining the best of two worlds. Small great nations with huge impact!

one of the first dedicated specialized fintech venture funds in the Nordics.

Sometimes I also get the question if the venture model doesn’t work count er to creating impact and making the world a better place. I don’t think so. If done right. Venture puts yours and my money to work in a quite a risky envi ronment. Startups. We all know they fail, but we also know that some – the very few – grow and becomes highly valu able – in many different aspects. Yes, it sometimes becomes too much when we talk about unicorns, valuations, and enormous exits. Making very few even more rich. But it also has the potential to change the world. Just like (as one of several examples) Chainalysis is doing it.

Strong institutional investors (that care about societal impact and sustainabili ty) have backed the venture and the first investments have already been made. The aim is clear – both profit and positive impact. We are convinced that both can be achieved. So, if you are an early-stage Nordic fintech founder, please reach out. We are ready to learn from what you are doing.

When asked how Copenhagen Fintech played a role in Chainalysis’ success, CEO and co-founder Michael Gronager says: “Copenhagen Fintech has a special place in Chainalysis’ histo ry since they provided us with access to a network where technology was able to thrive. We value Copenhagen Fin tech’s specific environment that felt like an incubator where valuable introduc tions were made, and strong relation ships blossomed. For example, Copen hagen Fintech made introductions that are now the cornerstone of Chainalysis’ customer base”.

Thomas Krogh Jensen CEO, Copenhagen Fintech

But does it really matter?

Chainalysis was built on a ‘global-first’ mentality, initially located not only in its first real hub Copenhagen, but also in San Francisco and London. Chainaly sis have achieved scale and impact in record time. This is done through the provision of data and services to law enforcement agencies, regulators, and businesses in over 70 countries, pow ering investigation, compliance, and risk management tools that have been used to solve some of the world’s most high-profile cyber-criminal cases.

At the same time, end users naturally place high demands on the exchange of data, both in terms of security, safety and usability. NewBanking believes in integration of platforms to exceed those expectations, ensuring high conversion, and low operating/development costs.

Christian Visti Larsen, CEO & Co-Founder at NewBanking (Denmark)

By doing this, the end users get what they need, and the companies succeed in their KYC processes.

ost industries will be affected by the future financial regulation and the boundaries between the financial sector and other industries will be challenged. It is not a surprise that most financial services are digital today - but the increasing digitalization and legal requirements, force compa nies to map all data that travels with the financial services. This puts high pressure on companies, who then need

I believe that’s not true. Enter pur pose-driven fintech! The key premise behind the concept is that publicly list ed, large corporations hold one of the strongest levers for improving on key

With broad dissatisfaction with existing financial services in the 70s% as reported by various surveys, we wanted to find out what the CEOs of some of the companies that are reshaping finance are doing to challenge their domains in favour of simpler, better and more adequate customer offerings.

sustainability issues at a global scale: their own business practices. What purpose-driven investors can now do through fintechs like Grünfin is to make sure their personal values and priorities are put into action in the business prac tices of their portfolio companies. So there’s an opportunity here to actively do good while still profiting from the above-average returns that sustainable companies yield in long term.

to ask more from their customers.

Karin Nemec, CEO & Co-founder of Grünfin (Estonia)

The Mind of the CEO

The deconstruction of value chains in finance is happening across all regions, where fintechs are either challenging the status quo of their industry or lowering the barriers to entry for players in other industries to bring their capabilities to bear. This trend is resulting in exciting “mashups” that are opening new service opportunities for customer and rebalancing the competitive landscape.

here’s a very common mis conception of the boundaries between business and the ever more urgent need for doing good. Most people think it’s either you do good for the planet or you make a good profit.

intech has the power to be an enormous force for good. Nim ble internet startups can fill the gaps in consumer demand left behind by traditional banks. Customers from underserved minority groups have been largely ignored by big financial institutions, whereas fintech startups have proved capable of serving them. For example, SumUp, a global fintech headquartered in London, believes in the power of entrepreneurs to create massive value and focuses specifically on empowering the micro and nano segment with their service. At Katalista

manifests when two industries col lide. That’s why we combine products with financial services to create value that cannot be unseen for consumers, banks, brands, and retailers alike. We enable consumers to use products as services for monthly subscription and renew these at predetermined times. We take back old products, and make sure they don’t end up in landfills, but are refurbished and reused or recycled. Consumers will never have to struggle with getting rid of old products, and businesses get new recurring income streams and loyal customers. That’s how we redefine traditional consumption and consumer financing by fuelling a new industry - products as a service.

Haukur Skúlason, CEO & Co-founder of indó (Iceland)

It might not sound like much, but in reality, when you approach a new com pany with complete freedom from how incumbents are doing things (which usually is a result of IT legacy problems, political infighting and limited view of how the whole venture ties together),

amazing things happen. One of the key problems in banking, I think, is the inherent tendency for bankers to ele vate their own importance and they are somehow more important or better than others. The truth is banking is not com plicated nor anything special. Banks exist for the customer and they are sup posed to listen to their customers and adapt to their wishes and needs, not the other way around. With this simple view in mind, we have created indó, which is intended to be the least powerful bank in the world, but with the most powerful customers.”

When coming up with the idea to create a new bank, the biggest challenge (and the most fun) was to approach every challenge and decision with a simple mindset; “Since we are doing this from scratch, how can we radically rethink the products, services and infrastructure?”

Greta Monstavice, CEO & Co-founder of Katalista Ventures (Lithuania)

he Greatest Value Is Created When Two Industries Collide. Today, success comes down to innovation that runs through a company’s DNA. As industry borders are vaguer than ever, the key is connecting the dots in a new way.

When we think of the biggest con sumer-oriented innovations, we think of Amazon or Spotify. Amazon combined retail with the internet and created a new standard for shopping - an e-com merce marketplace. Spotify turned the industry around by making music available online. CDs will never become mainstream again, and most consumers won’t go back to the way it was.

Ventures, we continue to support and nurture fintech startups because of their capability to solve the world’s grand challenges.Whilemany fintech startups create a positive social impact, many forget that their carbon footprints are still hefty. At Katalista Ventures we take a holistic ap proach and focus on the Triple Top Line – creating a positive impact on People, Planet, and Profit. We work together with startups and encourage them to look for ways not only to reduce their negative impact but also to innovate and bring on a positive impact.

The same logic applies to Fairown. We believe that the greatest value

Hendrik Roosna , CEO & Founder of Fairown (Estonia)

Nikola Plecas Crypto Business Lead Europe, Visa Crypto Solutions

tral Bank Digital Currencies, and Non Fungible Tokens or NFTs that represent unique digital goods.

By Chris Crespo

We have seen tremendous interest from our clients to actively talk about what this means for them and what strategy they should be pursuing. Visa founded its crypto advisory service to help clients answer questions like: “how should I enable crypto rewards as a bank?”, “how should I be looking at stablecoin settlement as an acquirer?”, and many others. This will only accelerate over the coming years with

Acompany that was early to jump into action, spotting an opportunity to better serve its customers with deep techni cal expertise and unmatched under standing of the fast-developing world of blockchains and digital currencies was Visa. Its swift response to market changes has allowed it to position itself as bridge between customers, mer chants, and the fascinating technology that is transforming how we store and exchange value.

Crypto, perceived as a fringe movement in financial services only a few short years ago, has gained what previously would have seemed an unthinkable amount of traction. Starting from way beyond the outskirts of financial services, it has slowly attracted the attention of initially reluctant financial institutions and users globally.

disruptionEmbracing to anticipate customer’s payments needs

Let’s unpack this a little bit. We saw some stablecoins crashing. But not all stablecoins are created equal. There are fundamental differences between a USD and a digital US dollar that can be unclear in the mind of general consum ers and businesses who see it as a one batch fit all. If anything, the recent crash has proven that some of the projects and ideas are very different. For example, we see that having a stablecoin that’s fully redeemable at par with fiat and that is recognized by the regulators is what is required to push the whole industry forward. Although in recent months we have witnessed moments of heightened volatility, these events have also served to move the debate forward, often sharp ening some positions, ideas, and under lying requirements of what is necessary to push stablecoins to be used for every kind of money transfer between consum ers and Havingbusinesses.theregulators involved and setting the ground rules is going to be very beneficial for the industry in the long term and stablecoins have the potential of becoming another way of settling ob ligations both domestically and interna tionally. Activities and use cases around crypto are already regulated to a great extent in Europe and other jurisdictions. With the incoming regulation we will have the right platform in Europe to help some of these companies, their capabilities, and use cases grow and expand, while fos tering innovation and cleaning out illicit activities. To the point where we will use crypto technology as just another way to effectively invest our money or perform other commercial activities without even knowing we are using crypto. I think we’ll see a merge between the traditional finance and crypto activities rather than the two going in separate directions.

On the business side there are very interesting use cases currently being explored in various parts of the world. Specifically, the use of stablecoins to stream salary payments or micro payments. Some of these can also be used for cross-border payments more efficiently than some of the services we have today.

At Visa we see crypto as a collection of emerging technologies and assets that are enabling new user experiences. We distinguish between cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, fiat backed digital curren cies including stablecoins and Cen

Depending on whether you’re looking at different aspects of the technology some of it may enable a way to invest or to save money, while others may enable new types of financial services. This is something that we have seen in the con sumer usage activity survey we did last year. In the Visa consumer and usage attitude survey we have done last year there was almost universal recognition of crypto at 94%. 42% of consumers see crypto as a way to save and invest funds, and right about the same amount see them as potential to create and deliver new type of financial services. These new technologies and capabilities can enable consumers to invest in a decen tralized finance protocol and find new ways to generate returns by investing in crypto assets.

Since the emergence of crypto, we’ve seen the financial system going through various stages of grief. First there was denial, then anger, bargaining and now we start to see more acceptance. In your view what has caused that change in attitude towards cryptocurrencies?

We had a chance to chat with Nikola Plecas, Visa’s Europe Crypto Business Lead to learn more about what cryp tocurrencies mean for payment com panies like Visa and how the payments giant is leveraging its capabilities, net work of networks and partners to adapt to the changing world of money.

Nikola Let’s start by defining why we need crypto currencies and what problem they’re solving in the market?

Does the recent crypto market crash vindicate the naysayers who advocate staying clear from crypto?

Today consumers have many options. They can invest in stocks but they can also invest in crypto. Over time, we will probably see more consumers unlocking new financial services built on the under lying blockchain infrastructure.

If I think about what makes a great pay ment network, firstly technology needs to be secure, scalable, and resilient. Then you need merchant acceptance, it’s no use having a network if nobody is using it. And finally, you need to have ways to add value for consumers so they can use these products. If you think about Crypto networks when it comes to technolo gy, you have some exciting innovations which have high throughput but are not very resilient. When it comes to universal merchant acceptance if you want to ac cept stablecoins that run on eight differ ent blockchains you need to have ways to accept eight different formats over eight different networks and your provider would need to facilitate that. It requires a lot of thinking of what blockchain will come out on top and nobody knows. There might be even new ones which will take over so there is very little adoption today and everybody is waiting.

Can you tell us what you expect the crypto space to look like by 2030?

that point we just decided to formalize it and channel our experience and thought leadership into a new and exciting crypto advisory service.

What does crypto mean for a payments company like Visa?

Visa sees itself as playing a critical role and being that bridge between existing financial services players in this exciting new world of crypto technology, innovations and NFTs.”

Do you see crypto becoming a payment mechanism in the future?

For consumers the question becomes: why would you switch? Will this add more friction to your day? Customers want a great experience, when they buy some thing online, they want to click yes and receive their goods and services. I would say we’re still some time away from any crypto products having those capabilities or even those hooks for consumers or merchants to switch over.

I think we’ll see several crypto primi tives crossing the proverbial bridge and becoming integrated into the mainstream of financial services today. Specifically, I could really see a world where stablecoins become just another way to settle your obligations. I could also see a world where institutional DeFi becomes a viable option and a world where NFTs can unlock new types of commerce for new players and new experiences.

Five or six years ago it was hard to open an account. Understanding what it means to own a digital asset, and how it all worked was difficult to grasp. Now you open an account with one of the ex changes and there is a full KYC process, you give all your details, passport photos... Some of these exchanges know more about me than my bank!

Nikola Plecas, Crypto Business Lead Europe, Visa Crypto Solutions

“I think mass adoption means that we will just think about crypto as another payment experience, consumption of financial services, or loyalty experience powered by a blockchain or crypto technology.”

On top of that we are actively working with the NFT community. We launched programs to engage with them to find out their pain points and understand how we can enable this exciting new area of com merce. We are also working with central banks, discussing central bank digital cur rencies, the principles behind them and how we see these products evolving. Fi nally, we have our crypto advisory service. We’ve had hundreds of inbound requests across all our regions for support and discussion of what crypto can mean and what a crypto strategy should look like. At

We see this as a big area of growth and opportunity. Today we have over 70 programs at various stages of imple mentation. Then we started thinking how we can enable digital currencies to run on our network. Today we can transact in over 160 currencies, settling in more than 25 and can move funds from Euros to Dollars, Dollars to Pounds, Pounds to

When we started in this space in 2018 our ambition was to become a bridge between our more than 15,000 existing financial institutions, over 80 million merchant endpoints and this exciting new set of technologies. We started off by focusing on providing experiences like using a Visa card to purchase crypto in one of the exchanges. We wanted to ensure a frictionless experience so customers could spend those assets anywhere they wanted through crypto exchanges that can effectively become issuers with us.

I think mass adoption means that we will just think about crypto as another payment experience, consumption of financial services, or loyalty experience powered by a blockchain or crypto technology. To get there we need collaboration between new technology and innovative players and existing institutions. Visa sees itself as playing a critical role and being that bridge be tween existing financial services players in this exciting new world of crypto technol ogy, innovations and NFTs.

13 the underlying regulatory framework.

Euros. Now we want to add the capabil ity to move seamlessly between toke nized versions of the same fiats such as digital dollar to regular dollar. This is where our crypto treasury infrastructure work comes into play. It is still in early stages, but we are excited to see where this will go.

This crew will excitedly deliberate over embedded finance’s growth and penetration rates, its revenue prospects and its game-changing possibilities.

In the meantime, I will continue to wonder whether some of the issues that make our instore and wider traditional financial experience an interrupted and imperfect one will actually persist long

If we haven’t already reached peak hype on embedded finance, it surely can’t be long before we’ll be hearing claims about how it will slice our bread, stem inflation, tackle world poverty, address food shortages and solve climate change.

By Natasha de Terán

Whether the timing for doing that is propitious or not, the embedded hypers tell us that payments are the least of the embedded promise. Those excited advocates relate that embedded fi nance has much, much more to offer us than humble payments. Extending and upending value chains, disrupting in cumbents, empowering consumers and liberating merchants; enhancing choice (and yet locking in loyalty); lowering

They will do so in loud LinkedIn dis cussions, on podcasts, at conferences, on webinars and in jargon-filled white papers. And yet end users will be deaf to the jargon. Without even knowing of the voguish term and all its possibilities, they will blindly adopt of a new way of doingEmbeddedthings. finance is happening and will continue to happen. But, and at the risk of sounding like a heretic, it seems to me that we’ve had embedded finance (even contextual finance!) in analogue form for a good while now. Is there that much difference between in-store lending offered by a bricksand-mortar merchant at the point of sale and lending at an online checkout? Aren’t they both “meeting customers where they are” and “offering customers a service when they need it”? Similarly, car finance and insurance offered by manufacturers in franchised show rooms? Yes, embedded finance will be cleverer, scalable, data-driven, auto mated, customized and so much more, but at the end of the day surely it’s (just) a technologically enhanced version of the former analogue solution? Cheer leaders for the movement can send me answers on a postcard.

costs to end users (even while driving billions in new revenue opportunities for suppliers); transforming customer acquisition; blurring industry lines and monetizing consumption. In all, there’s little embedded finance isn’t slated to do for us – or to us.

Sobriety over hype: Levelling the curve of Inflated Expectations on Embedded Finance

It’s at best somewhat perverse that the excitement about making it easier to spend should coincide with the most testing and precarious economic period in recent history. Across much (if not all) of the world, household finances are stretched; prices are climbing, interest rates are rising, energy costs are soar ing, credit is tightening and discretion ary spending is constrained. Budgeting (for most) is key. And yet, here’s an industry beside itself with excitement about divorcing the sense of spending from the act of doing so. Separating the pain of payment from paying.

In fact, in researching for this piece I really did hear one of those claims, but let’s get back to the real world. In the here and now embedded finance is all about selling. It’s about seamless shopping – frictionless spending with enhanced UX and uninterrupted check out journeys. Let customers build a basket, burn that cash or borrow it – all without the bother of a new window.

Maybe all (or at least some of that) that is true. But without the support of embedded payments, it’s tricky to imag ine how any other form of embedded finance could have true utility. Data-rich, integrated, seamless and tech-driven embedded finance might be – but surely without the transactional payment ele ment, it would just be marketing?

Talking about marketing – there isn’t a bank, consultancy, industry pundit or fintech that isn’t currently marketing a view on embedding things. And yet, much like open banking, embedded finance is and will likely (continue to) be one of those things that happens to users without their noticing. Industry geeks may well wax lyrical (and even write books) about it. So, doubtless, will industry laggards – desperately trying to cast themselves as “relevant” in this sexy new world. Everyone will be meeting customers “where they are” giving them financial services “when they need them”.

in our idyllic embedded future. Embed ded finance might be able to give us an utterly ‘delightful’ customer experience, but can it really magic away all the friction?

Then there’s choice and competition. A lot is made of unbundling and how this fuels competition and enhances consumer choice. Unbundling has –and that’s been great. But we aren’t in a steady state – everyone is moving and repositioning themselves and, guess what? Scale matters. It’s entirely possible that these shifting boundaries will create new giants with new walled gardens –giving large providers far greater power than their predecessors ever had.

Embedded finance is happening and will continue to happen.

After all, behind any sort of embed ded finance activity there will be a common or garden financial transac tion, however hidden it may be. And that transaction will have risk, terms and conditions and a host of disclosure obligations attached to it. There may be several degrees of separation between the provider of the financial service (maybe one of those dumb pipe banks?) and the platform or marketplace that embeds it, but ultimately someone has to assume responsibility for all the tire some stuff. For fraud, identity, KYC and AML checks; for disclosures, for making sure that customers read (or at least see) the T&C and understand what their actually doing. In short, all those pesky interruptive obligations that make finan cial transactions so, er, unseamless.

end customer? Who will be responsible for ensuring consumers understand the (invisible) financial act they are under taking – the platform, the merchant or the bank sitting behind it? How will that discovery process both fulfill its regu latory purpose and yet not disrupt the customer’s financial foray? If a financial transaction is effectively indivisible and undistinguishable from another act, is that even achievable?

tition and consumer choice? We can use Affirm here, Klarna, Afterpay some where else, but rarely (if ever?) have the choice of all three at the same time.

What for instance if large merchant or platforms were to bundle purchas ing with particular lending or insurance options (as some already do)? In doing that, haven’t they constrained compe

Sure, we can probably (still) borrow on our credit cards instead or buy our insurance separately, but by embedding (and promoting) this financial plan for us, the merchant or platform has already constrained our understanding of our choices, if not actually limited them.

Can all the existing obligations fall on the financial providers if they are to be unseeable at the point of transaction and have no direct relationship with the

None of this is to say that embedded finance is bad or won’t or shouldn’t happen. It’s overhyped at present, yes, but exciting even so. Nonetheless at some point even the true believers will have to grapple with those (albeit unwelcome) questions, exploring where and how those responsibilities will ultimately be fulfilled. Tomorrow’s problem, or food for thought today?

What if a merchant or platform prefers a particular payment method (perhaps its own) and bundles that with lending and insurance offers (again its own)? In such a case embedded finance will not have reconstructed the old walls but built higher ones with far deeper foundations.

But, and at the risk of sounding like a heretic, it seems to me that we’ve had embedded finance in analogue form for a good while now.”

Natasha de Terán, Author

Customer Identification is crucial as it gives you access to critical cus tomer information to determine if they are politically exposed persons (PEP), and to simplify anti-money laundry (AML) compliance and sanction screenings. In addition, integration with CI is simple and fast, as there are no detailed registration forms to fill out and it doesn’t collect unnecessary or intrusive information.

• Customer Identification

“We work very closely with our customers to identify problems

“Our mission is to streamline real-time payment transactions, which gives us an edge over other modes of payments. For example, we can move money faster with our instant payment feature, Pay-in, and Payouts. Our transactions are encrypted and processed through a secure system – where we save time and money by elim inating the need for costly wire transfers and processing fees. So, if you’re looking for a simpler, more efficient way to handle your finances, Zimpler is the way to go,” says Johan Strand, CEO of Zimpler.

Cohesive Product Suite

ith the hard work that comes with running a business, making seamless real-time – yet safe – trans actions should not be an added burden.

funds with Zimpler’s Payouts. You’ll notice happier customers who don’t have to wait for a refund.

Zimpler is expanding and strength ening its coverage with banks in the Nordics, the Baltics, and across the rest of Europe. Let’s say a customer has booked a vacation using Zimpler but has to cancel. With the Zimpler product, Payout, the refund can be instantly credited to their account, in real-time.

Zimpler, a leading Swedish fintech compa ny, understands the importance of safety and security when it comes to your financ es. Providing instant, dependable, and secure open banking payments, they’ve designed their system around you and your business needs. So you can focus on what’s important - running your business.

Zimpler offers a cohesive product suite to its customers aimed at providing simpler and more efficient ways to handle their finances.

Instead of waiting for a slow and unsecured card payment to come through, you can now receive instant

Johan Strand CEO, Zimpler

• Pay-ins (B2C)

Zimpler: PaymentSimplifiedGuaranteeingandSeamlessSolutions

How does it work?

Streamline transactions and cultivate stronger customer relationships by availing of fast, secure, and offeredpaymentcost-effectivesolutions,byZimpler.

If you’re looking to get paid immedi ately then Zimpler’s Pay-ins product is for you. Their integration process is quick and easy and is done within days. Once you’re up and running you can sell high-value goods or services (up to €15 000) directly from your website. Customers pay with funds available in their bank accounts. Zimpler is flexible and is always ready to adapt, making sure that everything works seamlessly and securely for you.

Our Customer Identification product is a crucial part of any business. It allows you to know who you are dealing with and helps flag any suspicious activity. Zimpler prod ucts come with built-in Customer Identification, but the product can be purchased separately.

• Payouts (B2C)

Zimpler will continue to expand its presence in the Nordics, focusing on segments such as travel, e-commerce and financial services, where instant and secure payments are crucial. The compa ny offers bank coverage in Norway where customers identify through BankID.

The”unknown unknowns” – things that we never knew we needed to know. This concept can be especially difficult when expanding into new segments or countries, but it’s an essential part of growth. Learning to deal with the unknown unknowns is something that happens quickly when you’re trying to grow as a business,”, says Strand.

Zimpler prides itself on providing an immaculate customer experience. Their payments team is constantly innovating to ensure their customers have the best possible experience.

Immaculate Customer Service

Zimpler recently unveiled a revamped visual brand identity, which includes a new logo, typography and fresh, expressive colours. The company has worked closely with Bold, a leading Nordic branding and design agency, to develop and shape the new brand concept. The focus of the rebrand is not only to sharpen the company’s purpose, personality and values but also to build brand loyalty and recognition among its end-users. This move challenges the conventional practice that says brands should only direct their communication toward businesses, ignoring end-users. The shift toward a social media-fo cused approach has required us to update our brand to better reflect our mission and connect with our custom ers. As a business-to-business-to-con sumer company, we understand that to build a better product for our mer chants we need first to understand the needs of their users. By doing so, we can continue providing an exceptional experience for all who use Zimpler products and services.

Compliant Posturing

they are experiencing and find solutions together. We see ourselves as partners, not suppliers, and our goal is to help our customers solve real-life problems,” remarks Strand.

Prioritizing Customer Security

“When we enter new markets, a heavy focus is placed on understanding the local regulations and compliance requirements. Our legal team works hard to ensure we are always up-todate with the latest changes, which has been a challenge at times, but it is also our strength” remarks Strand.

Innovative Outlook

Product quality, conversion rates and customer service are key factors customers should keep in mind when choosing a payments provider.

provider who is authorised and super vised by the Swedish financial supervi sory authority, we are committed to pro viding better products and services that our customers can trust. We encrypt all data that runs through our systems and use personal security credentials to ensure that only the right parties have access. It is at the top of our daily agenda to maintain a high standard of security and trust,” adds Strand.

“The world is moving too fast to have a one-size-fits-all payment solution. A part ner that understands this and can move quickly to stay on top is crucial. With a partner like Zimpler you can co-create and develop new ideas,“ states Strand.

Building a Leading Fintech Company in The Nordics with Global Ambitions

Zimpler’s proficient team also played a pivotal role in expanding its base

Innovation is at the heart of every thing we do at Zimpler. The payment landscape is changing rapidly, as five years from now, there will be products that could not be imagined today – as is the pace of the industry. That’s why it’s important to stay ahead of the curve and continue innovating,” says Strand.

while delivering frictionless payment solutions to its customers.

Zimpler’s account-to-account payment solution is also available in Norway, making it their eighth market. While Scandinavian Travel Group is the first merchant to go live with Zimpler in this market, the company is also previ

ously integrated with Vitec Travelize in Sweden and Finland.

While the European Union has made strides in simplifying legislation so that businesses can operate in multiple coun tries with ease, other regulatory require ments still differ depending on the nation.

For Zimpler its customer security is a top priority. Open banking offers several advantages over credit and debit cards. One is the ability to verify the customer’s identity – a clear difference between suc cess and failure. Zimpler has implement ed a state-of-the-art monitoring system which immediately flags any suspicious activity. As a customer, you don’t have to worry about transacting with someone who may be subject to sanctions, a polit ically exposed person, or is known to be involved in criminal activity.

“Trust within the payment landscape is fundamental. If users don’t trust a payment platform, they simply won’t use it. Merchants won’t work with you, banks won’t process your payments. Therefore, as we continue to grow as a company, we remain focused on tight ening security and regulatory compli ance. Over the last two years – and to maintain the trust of our partners – we have invested heavily in AML (anti-mon ey laundry) compliance. As a payment

“To be successful, you need to build a strong team which is willing to work hard and take risks. Uncertainty can be challenging, but it can also be mo tivating. You need to be curious and ambitious to find the answers you’re looking for. We are proud to have found the right talent in a highly competitive environment,” says Strand.

“As we continue expanding our product fleet and move into new markets, we’re committed to helping merchants with cross-border payments. With our innovative solutions, mer chants can streamline their payment processes and grow their business,” Strand concludes.

Top tier proponents of payments solutions convene to discuss the seamless future of payments.

“We have strong faith in our products and solutions and take great pride in offering the very best to our clients. We will always be there for them when and if they require our expertise,” says Strand.

Zimpler started in Sweden as a small company and today they are force to be reckoned with in the European pay ments landscape. Embarking on such a herculean mission is bound to come with difficult challenges, but Zimpler combats them all, one by one.

The crypto industry wants to distil the positive attributes of regulation. Any legitimate player would echo this senti ment and want to protect its customers. We want to make sure there are no illicit

The need for greater collaboration

To create regulation that works for the industry, crypto players need to be on the inside working with regulators. Stay ing on the outside and criticising regu lation is only going to create more rules that don’t work. Digital asset exchanges and their users know more about the dangers and opportunities of crypto than regulators’ highest paid risk analyst. They should feel empowered and know that their participation is valuable in the development of regulation.

The regulatory system has traditionally been built on trust, with third-party val idating agreements. Blockchain contin ues this legacy but has taken away the need for a human actor. So, transactions can be fact-checked and validated with out human bias influencing outcomes.

The crypto financial market is fundamen tally different from the traditional system in the nuanced blockchain-enabled tech nology it relies on. In the new financial market, stringent should come to mean automated. With automation, we will be able to police and block illicit transactions and better protect users who are still learning about cryptocurrencies.

In this sense, a “stringent” process will involve less regulators to create a better functioning regulatory system.

Respectful and collaborative regulation is the way to truly revamp finance to the benefit of customers, enabling exchang es to carry out their caretaking duties to the highest standard, without limiting op portunities for their customers or stifling innovation in the industry. If we evade it, we are not involved in it, which means the end result won’t be one that anyone likes - except for the traditional financial play ers who could eventually, in their minds, take over this market and take what they like and destroy what they don’t.

To date, this has limited the ability for most of the population to take advan tage of the opportunities that exist in the financial world.

The future of crypto regulation

The need to rethink crypto regulation

While this reality is not immediately around the corner, we must now kickstart this journey to reach a regulatory promised land sooner rather than later.

transactions and to stop fraud and theft. A blockchain-enabled system in which you can rely on the data would provide faster, more cohesive responses to threats. However, the sector also wants to re main free of traditional finance’s pitfalls, for instance those with bigger bank ac counts being seen as a better investor.

Redefining “stringent” for an inclusive and collaborative crypto regulatory system

Regulation is a necessary step towards better business. Companies are incentivised to behave more ethically and innovate when faced with binding legislation. We have seen this across a number of areas, from gender pay gap disclosures to carbon emission reporting. Today, stringent regulation has become a common practice in helping businesses achieve valuable goals.

The crypto financial market is fundamentally different from the traditional system in the nuanced blockchain-enabled technology it relies on.

Kevin Murcko CEO and founder of Coinmetro

Stringent needs to become ground ed in data and automation. This will improve efficiency and block bad actors from the system. In turn, this will create unbiased trust and allow closer collaboration between traditional and decentralised finance.

his is a bitter pill to swallow for the crypto industry, which is founded on the idea that self-determination and decen tralisation provides unique opportunities that traditional finance restricts access to. But even tight regulation should not be seen as limiting, it should be wel comed as a tool to usher in new possibil ities and improve efficiency.

The way crypto regulatory rules are created and enforced must be recon sidered. Much of the opposition from the crypto sector is born from the idea that mainstream finance is imposing its processes and priorities on our budding entrepreneurial space. Crypto drives a whole new way of thinking about curren cy, so its regulatory framework should similarly think outside the box and be independent of legacy methodology.

Today, more than 1,700 financial institu tions of all types and sizes globally are already partnered with nCino.

“At a time when banks are facing unprecedented competitive pressures, the cloud offers a means to respond forcefully,” concludes Mussche.

Tim Mussche Regional President,ViceNEMEA at nCino

Given the changing business and economic conditions, financial institutions need to adapt to improve operational performance and service quality for customers—and the only way to do that is through technology. Digital transfor mation on its own, however, is no longer a differentiator—it is how the technology is utilized that will help banks stand out.

Banks are understandably reluctant to discard systems and processes that still drive profitability in the short-term, and it’s difficult to take risks and make changes for an uncertain future.

Photo: nCino

By Marria Qibtia Sikandar

While banking is undergoing a radical transformation, the fundamentals remain steadfast: lend money to create value. How banks accomplish this productively and profitably, however, is changing quickly. Years ago, if a bank and wanted to do lending in the cloud, it would have needed to build bespoke in-house. Today, packaged offerings from best-in-class partners such as nCino help banks go to market with real solutions in months, not years.

Transforming lending through cloud-based services

Driving Efficiency through differentiation

Founded in 2011 by a group of bank ers and entrepreneurs dissatisfied with the commercial lending process, nCino was created as a cloud-based solution that helps drive increased transparency, efficiency, profitability, and regulatory compliance for financial institutions.

Cloud technology is helping banks rethink their business models and making core functionssuch as lending - more efficient. nCino is on a mission to help financial institutions optimize and accelerate their adoption of the cloud.

Mussche said, “We help financial institutions to embed end-to-end digital processes that break down silos and achieve automation at scale – result ing in reduced costs for the bank and

improved customer experiences. Our platform is called the nCino Bank Oper ating System® because it can become the single source of truth for banks to view and manage their operations, ” saysnCinoMussche.isexpertly designed by bankers to improve the way financial institutions operate and interact with customers. It also provides an agile foundation upon which a continuous digital transforma tion journey can be fostered so banks have the scale and flexibility to react to changing market demands and cus tomer expectations.

Helping financial institutions with risk management When it comes to financial services no two European markets are the same. Banks throughout the Nordics have nuanced, local challenges and complex regulatory frameworks.

“The nCino platform has been de

ployed in multi-language, multi-curren cy, cross-border environments, and we’re continuously optimising this foundation for the European market. We’ve also built a robust partner ecosystem to comple ment our solutions and keep banks in a single platform environment to help them adeptly manage risk levels and view all relationships and their exposure at multiple levels”, adds Mussche.

“In my experience, starting this way tends to snowball as the advantages of a single platform become clear to all and stakeholders and digital trans formation feels more like a meaning ful and manageable journey” states Mussche.

nCino has invested in teams with deep industry knowledge of the local markets within which they operate. This is enabling them to create market-rele vant products and services catering to the specific needs of Nordic banks.

Enabling digital transformation

“Done properly, digital transformation is a massive task, and given the current economic climate some banks may be wary of overhauling their entire infra structure in one go”, suggests Muss che. “My advice would be to use small but impactful ‘micro-transformations’ to get the journey started and realize ROI. In this approach, processes, ser vices, or products are transformed in a modular fashion”.

“The nCino platform connects the front, middle and back office through a single platform that gives clearer portfolio visibility across deal teams, automates repeatable tasks, and embeds regula tory compliance and procedures into the credit process”, says Tim Mussche, Regional Vice President, NEMEA at nCino.

Until digital transformation is applied to backend processes and operations, banks will continue to be held back by manual inefficiencies and technology that isn’t fit for purpose.

Perhaps even more telling is that the rate of buyers using BNPL in the USA rose a stunning 80% between 2020 and 2021.

Yet Sileon has built a platform that achieves precisely this, with both Hap py and Unhappy Flow users moving through its system seamlessly.

• 45% of BNPL users say BNPL is easier to make payments on

Sileon itself remains entirely behind the scenes, empowering its clients and helping them exceed their consumers’ BNPLSileonexpectations.isnowlisted on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market and reported strong growth in revenue for Q2 2022.

“But building an in-house BNPL solution can take years,” says Zand. “Using Sile on’s API-based platform, companies can implement an end-to-end BNPL solution under their own brand within weeks.”

“Complexity and aged infrastructure prevent many companies from easily building a BNPL solution,” Zand tells NFM. “Legacy systems don’t commu nicate well with each other, and im plementing a BNPL platform that lasts requires an enormous investment in tech and Instead,skills.”many companies choose

Konopik, Nordic Manager, Visa. “There fore, Visa is extremely pleased to expand our collaboration with this investment.

The launch of Sileon’s global SaaS plat form is on schedule for early 2023.

Sileon helps fintechs and banks capture the Buy-Now-Pay-Latergrowing BNPL ) market

By R. Paulo Delgado

Using Sileon’s API-based platform, companies can implement an end-to-end BNPL solution under their own brand within weeks.”

Bahareh Zand CPO Sileon

BNPL experiences massive growth:

Sileon has been built entirely agnosti cally and for a global market. The prod

The Unhappy Flow is when things go wrong, such as when payments are not made, credit cards suddenly don’t work, refunds occur, and dozens of other potential problems that could arise during the BNPL lifecycle.

• $680 billion estimated BNPL transaction volume by 2025, says Sileon CFO

Sileon is that company.

“Through the collaboration with Sile on, our customers can offer a compet itive product and take a position in a rapidly growing market.”

• BNPL payments grew 80% between 2020 and 2021 in the USA 40% of those BNPL purchases were done by Gen-Zers

The message is clear: Failure to pro vide a convenient BNPL payment option in a product will shut the door to a major consumer segment that is getting bigger by the day.

Why is BNPL challenging to develop?

“Sileon is one of the most exciting companies in this segment,” says Philip

Ownership of the customer dialogue and customer relationship remains entirely with the fintech, bank, or merchant that is using Sileon’s SaaS platform.

• In 2021, US-based Gen-Zers had a buying power of $360 billion, and growing

The Sileon team numbers more than 50 people, and the majority of those work in Product and Tech. “Product and Tech are the heart of the company,” Zand says. “We believe in innovation and in providing a simple solution to a complicated problem.”

ifty-six percent of users prefer to purchase through a BNPL option rather than a credit card. The main reasons for this are that BNPL solutions are easier to make pay ments on, offer more flexibility, and offer lower interest rates.

“The younger generation expects payment methods to be relevant, conve nient, and fast,” says Bahareh Zand, CPO at Sileon, a Swedish fintech company that provides SaaS BNPL functionality to banks, fintechs, and global merchants.

“The underlying technology in our platform might be advanced and sophisticated,” says Zand, “but the user interface was developed for easy navi gation and management.”

(

Through Sileon, BNPL is plugged into the company’s system via API calls, and it’s all done modularly.

“Building BNPL for one single credit product covering a Happy Flow is easy,” says Zand. “But building a platform that caters for flexibility to scale is compli cated. The combinations of modules, settings, restrictions, options, happy and unhappy flows are countless.”

An estimated $680 billion buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) transaction volume will be processed annually by 2025, says Sileon’s CPO. But building an agnostic and scalable BNPL solution can delay time-to-market by years. Sileon’s SaaS BNPL platform reduces this to weeks.

Bahareh Zand CPO Sileon

“We chose a modular approach for two reasons,” Zand says. “Firstly, it ensures that the platform can evolve over time so it always stays relevant and meets the changing market and con sumer demand. But it also gives compa nies the full flexibility to start small and then scale up, such as by adding addi tional credit products and\or markets.”

How is Sileon different?

Unlike conventional BNPL solutions, Sileon’s platform lets banks and fin techs offer BNPL under their own brand.

Indeed, 40% of BNPL users in the United States in 2020 were Gen-Zers — that cohort born between 1997 and 2012. It is also a cohort with a spending power of $360 billion — and a tendency to be thrifty. BNPL is the ideal solution for them.

uct can be easily configured through a polished and intuitive user interface.

to team up with a partner who has BNPL as its core business, as well as the experience in developing agnostic, modern platforms.

It recently partnered with Visa, and the credit card company has this to say about it:

• 56% of people prefer to pay through BNPL instead of credit cards

A BNPL platform that lasts In computer programming, a Happy Path or Happy Flow is when everything goes according to plan. In BNPL, that means the purchaser has a great credit score and they keep up their payments with no problem until the product is fully paid.

The company has invested heavily in new technology, especially AI, to en sure it matches every client need. And it additionally provides flexibility for clients through its open API architecture. “Gone are the days of forcing monolithic legacy solutions down clients’ throats,” says Rat nage. “Our solutions are entirely modular, so clients can integrate either part or all of what we offer within their existing systems.”

Internally, people on the ground — such as Ratnage — will regularly interact with clients to understand their difficulties and try to figure out how FIS’ technology can better help them.

The ingenious strategy that keeps FIS ahead of its competitors

Complementary technological products to match end-user needs

The aim is to help clients with their business problems through the use of technological solutions.

But many of the solutions we received just weren’t fit for purpose,” Ratnage tells NFM. “For example, I once received a proposed solution to handle new deals when seventy percent of my day was spent managing existing relationships. The proposals were simply out of touch with the realities of what was needed.”

David Ratnage Head of Commercial Lending Strategy Europe, FIS

By R. Paulo Delgado

“FIS has a deep understanding of the user experience,” says Omar Taleb, FIS’ European Vice President for Sales in the company’s Lending, Leasing, Risk and Treasury department. “And we have this understanding because we consistent ly hire professionals with past industry experience who can predict our clients’ common pain points.”

One such professional is FIS’ European Head of Commercial Lending Strategy and Growth, David Ratnage, who remem bers the difficulties of trying to get project approvals when he worked in the banking sector many years ago. “Banks were try ing to develop their own tech back then.

In many ways, FIS could be called the Apple, Inc. of the fintech sector, putting user experience so far above everything else that it engenders a level of loyalty in clients that makes it difficult for competitors to catch up.

David Ratnage, FIS Global

To fully understand what the end user needs, FIS regularly engages with clients both at a formal and informal level. Once a year, it holds its Emerald conference where it invites all its clients to give them an update on the market and where it is headed. At this conference, clients can also provide direct feedback on what challenges they are running into.

“Capital planning and capital manage ment are the first priority on everyone’s mind at the start of a recession,” says Taleb. “And FIS is making substantial investments in this area to provide banks with the solutions they need during this critical time. In the middle of a storm, banks need solutions to liquidity, cash flow hedges, and anything else that can affect tier one capital.”

“Twenty years ago,” Ratnage says, “someone in my position might spend twenty minutes of their day on technol ogy. Today, it’s all I work on.”

FIS intends to come up with a solu tion that will allow the banking sector to better allocate its capital to maxi miseThatreturn.these incumbent banks turn to FIS for assistance evinces the huge level of trust that FIS has achieved. This trust was forged in multiple crucibles such as during the implementation of Basel II regulations in 2004, where banks hurried to ensure compliance; as well as the regulatory whirlwind that followed the 2007-2008 economic cycle. FIS demonstrated its reliability as a compe tent partner during those trying times, helping banks implement solutions that got them successfully through.

“Trust is a big word,” says Ratnage. “And we’ve established that trust by working with the banking sector for many years. For them to come to us indicates that they intend to work with us for many more.”

A sea change in banking attitude

thiness checks to managing the review process on an ongoing basis.”

Client feedback

The secret to FIS’ global success could be encompassed in the simple phrase: “Make sure the end user is happy.” Its strategy to consistently achieve that goal is so ingenious that even incumbent banks now turn to the fintech provider for advice in times of crisis.

What is probably most remarkable about FIS’ growth is that it is underpinned by one core belief: Do everything possible to ensure an excellent user experience.

Omar Taleb Vice President for Sales, FIS Europe

ew names make fintech profes sionals sit up and pay attention like global multinational FIS. The company employs 78,000 peo ple across more than 49 countries and processes over $75 billion in transactions every year. It is also listed in the S&P 500.

A large contingent of FIS’ clients are incumbent banks, indicating a sea

Find Out www.fisglobal.comMore!

change in attitude towards fintechs. The change is so marked that many of those banks now come to the fintech directly for help in times of crisis.

Trust is a big word. And we’ve established that trust by working with the banking sector for many years.”

“The products in the FIS stable comple ment each other,” Ratnage says. “As one example, our commercial lending de partment started very much in the loan servicing area because loan servicing was highly fragmented at the time. FIS offered an automated solution to this which grew and grew, both by internal development and external acquisitions, until we were finally able to provide a solution that manages the lending relationship entirely from beginning to end, offering everything from creditwor

3rd-eyes analytics empower financial in stitutions to deliver goal-based investing with realistic and scenario-based asset liability management methods, integrat ing sustainable investing in all steps of the advisory process.

Ensuring transparency and facilitating accountability

filing, our goal-based advisory solution focuses on the effective financial goals of the client. It optimizes the portfolio so that everything that is done focuses on reaching clients’ specific financial goals in all possible capital market scenarios,“ says Marc Mettler, Head of Business Development at 3rd-eyes analytics.

Employment of professional asset liability management methodology

“In contrast to existing advisory pro cesses where wealth might focus on creating a performance for the clients depending on certain volatility of the portfolio which comes from the risk pro

Employing a professional asset liability management methodology, “we simu late the wealth in a forward-looking and realistic manner,” says Mettler. They take a holistic view of the client’s balance sheet, including their liquid and illiq uid assets and liabilities. Based on this information, they provide investment options ranging from low to high vola tility. These options are then simulated over the client’s lifespan.

3rd-Eyes Analytics: Empowering Financial Institutions to Deliver Goal-based Investing

While climate change and sustainabil ity is a catchphrase for many emerging investment advisors, 3rd-eyes analyt ics has been actively advocating for it since its foundation in 2015. “So before it was on everybody’s mind, we already had the full ESG criteria implemented in the portfolio module since market entry in 2018. Further, they ensure the alignment of client portfolios and investment products with UN SDGs. Lastly, they display the carbon foot print of the client’s portfolios and investment products.

“We are the only ones who provide today a simulator that allows us to realistically simulate the impact of climate change on future wealth and goal achievement probability,” adds Mettler. “This helps us build climate robust portfo lios, which nobody is doing at this point in time,” concludes Mettler.

Promoting sustainable investing

3rd-eyes analytics’ goal-based advisory solution allows for better transparency and accountability in client relation ships. As an advisor, it is essential to be transparent with your clients and build a rapport based on trust. This is made possible by “streamlining the process and making it interactive by employing

Leading in the field with 20 awards in the domain exclusively, 3rd-eyes analytics is at the forefront of goal-based investing and wealth planning solu tions. They occupy a distinct position in a sea of similar service providers by their concerted involvement in genuine ly understanding the investment pain points and tailoring solutions in the light of those. Starting by getting to know you, they develop a comprehensive picture of your financial situation and gauge what you desire to accomplish with your assets. Resultantly, they help you create a wealth plan well aligned with your de sired goals that goes much further than pure cash flow planning.

Goal-based advisory solution provider 3rd-eyes analytics empowers financial institutions to deliver goal-based investing that encompasses sustainable investing beyond regulatory requirements.

Marc Mettler Head of 3rd-eyesDevelopmentBusinessatanalytics

a realistic approach that includes crisissince we calculate thousands of capital market scenarios. For instance, we will examine how the Covid-19 pandemic affects your wealth and profitability,” states Mettler. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a stronger client-advisor relationship built on mutual respect and understanding.

Each person is unique and should understand how to fulfil their dreams, get a realistic picture of their future wealth, cover their life risks and invest in a sustainable manner.

By Marria Qibtia Sikandar

attractive incentives, a supportive ecosystem, and a highly skilled workforce, Malta is emerging as a hub for Fin Tech in recent years, with many compa nies active in the payments, compliance, and biometrics spaces. Moneybase has actively contributed to the success of Malta’s FinTech industry and has made a name for itself as a leading provider of innovative financial solutions.

“Our priority is that of developing innovative tools that improve people’s financial lives and which make it easy for both individuals and also businesses to manage and grow their wealth. We are working closely with our community in this respect and we have many exciting projects in the pipeline for the years ahead. Though our origins are local, our vision is pan-European, and we plan to launch products that extend our offering into various areas, including credit, business accounts, and open banking, amongst others,” Cuschieri concludes.

Available on iOS, Android, and the web, Moneybase offers a variety of fea tures to meet all your financial needs.

Accessible ISO-Certified Customer Support

Alan Cuschieri CEO and founder of Moneybase

Offering

Powering Fintech in Malta

Offering Multicurrency Solutions

Financial processes can be com plicated, which is why Moneybase processes have been designed to be customer-oriented and simple.

Moneybase offers customers the oppor tunity to transact in multiple currencies.

“When it comes to FinTech in Malta, Mon eybase is testimony that Malta is able to provide the ecosystem required to build high-quality products that can scale. The Moneybase team built a proprietary state-of-the-art core banking system that incorporates a complete wealth manage ment system,” Cuschieri explains.

Customer support is more than just responding to and solving issues. It’s an opportunity to show your custom ers that you deeply care about them and are available for them every step of their banking journey. Moneybase exclusively offers ISO-certified custom er“Wesupport.arereachable on phone, via live chat, and by email seven days a week. It is the combination of high quality, easily approachable, and friendly customer service with a high-tech application that provides our customers with a complete payments and investments solution which makes us unique in the industry,” remarks Cuschieri.

The emergence of FinTech provides customers greater empowerment in the kinds of products they want to invest in. By leveraging innovative technological solutions, FinTechs also enable consumers access to low er-cost financial services.

By Marria Qibtia Sikandar

FinanceMalta, the Maltese promotional agency for financial services, is rendering efforts to harness the resources of the industry and government to ensure Malta maintains a modern and efficient legal, regulatory and fiscal framework in which the FinTech sector can continue to thrive. FinanceMalta avails itself of the expertise of its over 200 member firms and has been instrumental in the development of FinTech companies in Malta, a case in point being Moneybase, which joined FinanceMalta earlier this year.

“Moneybase also offers a wide va riety of investment opportunities in over 20,000 assets over 40 exchanges, including bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs, making it a true one-stop shop for managing finances. Customers can also choose between a simple and advanced mode where they can purchase fractional shares in the simple mode and also gain access to extended trading hours using pre-/post-market functionality in an ad vanced mode, which essentially provides customers with an additional 9.5 hours of access to US markets,” Cuschieri adds.

“It provides savings to customers when travelling thanks to its competitive currency rates and also its multicurrency solution, which allows customers to pay directly in a range of currencies without the need for conversions,” says Cuschieri.

“Moneybase was specifically designed from the ground up to be easy to use; it allows customers to open an account in minutes, get their own IBAN and send and receive SEPA payments, and make

Providing Viable Investment Opportunities

instant person-to-person payments be tween Moneybase users. Customers can also get a virtual or physical Mastercard which can be fully controlled in-app with functions such as view pin, freeze/ unfreeze, and several other security set tings such as switching on or off various transaction types,” states Alan Cuschieri, CEO and founder of Moneybase.

The End Goal

Crypto is taking footholda in the Nordics

The real story of crypto is much simpler: It works. There have been glitches, but it works.Themedia rarely reports that only 0.34% of all cryptocurrency transactions were illicit in 2021, according to data from Chainalysis. That amounts to about $10

The macrocosm of “scepticism to adoption” is well represented by the microcosm of Norwegian crypto consul tant Bjørn Bjercke’s personal journey to becoming one of Scandinavia’s leading experts on cryptocurrency. He is known fondly as “Mr. Bitcoin” in Norway and was one of the key players involved in bring ing down the $4-billion OneCoin scam, earning him a dedicated chapter in best selling author Jamie Bartlett’s book The Missing Cryptoqueen: The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away with It.

Bjercke obtained a Computer Science degree from the University of Denver and then worked within the banking infra structure from 1998. There he achieved a profound understanding of the SWIFT payment processing system at a detailed technical level.

is no stranger to contro versies. At any given moment, thick headlines run across major news sites announcing the lat est mega-theft or Ponzi scheme. Lacking context, uninitiated readers might consid er the facts of these stories to be all the same: “Cryptocurrency is bad.”

But Bjercke did not start out as a fan of Bitcoin. Quite the contrary.

Although adoption of crypto has historically been slower in the Nordics than in the rest of the world, more and more people — especially the younger generation — are dabbling in this new asset class.

By R. Paulo Delgado

From scepticism to wholehearted adoption

Mr Bitcoin Norway

Embezzling crypto is incredibly difficult. The crypto “mixer” Tornado Cash — a tool for obfuscating the source and destina tion of crypto funds — was the last port of call of many thieves to launder their loot. But that has now been shut down.

billion. This is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the estimated $4 trillion being laundered through fiat currency.

After seeing that Bitcoin was still going strong in 2014, however, he made a decision to try and break it himself. “If no one was going to take down Bitcoin and expose its flaws, then I was going to do it. I tried dedicatedly for two years to break Bitcoin and failed. I was amazed at how robust it was. So I decided to leave banking and dedicate the rest of my life to blockchain technology.”

For example, they might believe that the 2014 Mt. Gox hack was the same as the 2014-2016 OneCoin Ponzi scheme. But the Mt. Gox hack was caused by atrocious programming errors and regu latory ignorance. The OneCoin scheme, however, doesn’t even merit the term “cryptocurrency scheme” because it was a pure Ponzi swindle with absolutely no cryptocurrency in play at all.

Underreported, these facts are yet hard to hide.

Crypto

The real story of crypto

Another salient fact: The Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains have themselves never been directly hacked.

A study published in 2021 revealed that trust is a critical factor affecting mass crypto adoption. Scary headlines do little to improve that trust.

Bjørn Bjercke

“When I saw the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, I thought it was a scam,” he tells NFM. “I didn’t see how it was possible to transfer value using this system.”

In 2021, 11%

of people either owned or used crypto in Denmark.

Ten percent of the adult population in Norway — 420,000 people — now own some form of crypto, the majority being people under 40.

Crypto marches forward in the Nordics, regardless

The financial benefit of well-defined guardrails is evident: By the end of 2021, one-third of Gibraltar’s $3.2-billion GDP was coming from cryptocurrency and blockchain companies, and some of the world’s biggest crypto heavyweights have set up headquarters there, including eToro and Crypto.com.

Unlike Gibraltar and Malta, for example, none of the Scandinavian countries has a set of dedicated crypto guidelines that show crypto startups where the guard rails are, anthereby giving them more security to operate.

Bjercke says that strict financial regula tions in the Nordics make it difficult for

Despite the uncertainty for companies, people in the Nordics are adopting crypto at unprecedented levels, especially the younger generation. Quoting statistics he received from the Norwegian police,

crypto companies to get going.

In Denmark, 11% of the population (640,000 people) either owned or used some form of crypto in 2021, up from 8% (466,000) in 2019. Sweden had the largest jump, both in percentage and quantity — 4% of the population owned or used crypto in 2019 (roughly 400,000 people), up to 9% in 2021 (almost 1 mil lion

Bjercke says that 98% of Norwegians between the ages of 18 and 35 have been exposed to crypto — whether by obtain ing a cryptocurrency wallet, buying some crypto, or similar exposures.

I tried dedicatedly for two years to break Bitcoin and failed. I was amazed at how robust it was. So I decided to leave banking and dedicate the rest of my life to blockchain technology.”

(~1 million people) used or owned crypto in 2021.

In Sweden, 9%

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technol ogy march on relentlessly, their achieve ments speaking for themselves. And the numbers show that people in the Nordics are taking note.

might not be eye-popping, such as in Nigeria (42%), Thailand (31%), or the Philippines (28%), but they do indicate clearly that the naysayers can only go so far with their bad news.

Why crypto adoption has been slow in the Nordics

Thepeople).figures

of people between 18 and 35 have been exposed to some form of cryptocurrency.

Bjørn Bjercke, Mr Bitcoin Norway

In Norway, 98%

Crypto adoption in the Nordics

Banks as lifestyle changemakers

an electric car in India, I emit more in India than in France because, in France, nuclear power is doing the electricity that while in India it is the fossil fuels,” remarks Liikamaa.

The way forward

“Unlike other Carbon Calculators in the market, My Carbon Action provides per sonalized guidance for more sustainable consumption, ensuring that everyone can do their part to reduce their environ mental impact,” says Monika Liikamaa, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Enfuce.

Monika Liikamaa Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Enfuce

Benefits of consumption-based accounting

“This method focuses on your daily ac tivities and lifestyle choices to give you a clear picture of your emissions. You’ll be able to see where you can make changes to reduce your impact on the environment,” adds Liikamaa.

“Since a bank’s core business is to help with money, they are at the heart of helping people buy more sustainably. For consumers, banks can help them understand where to spend their money to result in fewer emissions. The goal is to encourage smarter investments, sus tainable investments,” says Liikamaa. While some banks have jumped on the sustainability bandwagon, others are still lagging. The reason? They fear that by highlighting their customers’ investment patterns, they will inadvertently make them feel guilty. “Banks must undergo a mindset shift where they realize they are helping their customers lead better lives by calcu lating their carbon footprint,” adds Liikamaa.

Banking services play a critical role in our daily lives and can help mitigate the effects of climate change. By choos ing sustainable options for everyday banking needs, we can help make a difference in reducing our global carbon footprint. This is why banks employing carbon calculators as My Carbon Action are essentially lifestyle changemakers.

Different carbon footprint calculators use different methodologies, but My Carbon Action uses consumption-based accounting as its leading calculation model. Since different lifestyle choic es can result in other impacts on the environment, consumption-based accounting is a way to measure these impacts by taking into account direct emissions and those caused by the pro duction and distribution of products and

Enfuce is on a mission to help banks and financial institutions calculate their customer’s carbon footprint to mitigate the climate crisis’s impact and provide sustainable options for everyday banking services.

services, including imports. “My Carbon Action is hence a personal life manage ment service that enables banks to help customers determine the emissions from their spending and share tips on buying better,” states Liikamaa.

My Carbon Action: Helping financial responsibleencourageinstitutionssustainablyconsumption

leading provider of payment services for FinTechs, banks, and merchants, Enfuce’s My Carbon Action offering is a manifestation of its dedicated efforts to ward sustainability. “As carbon emissions regulations become more stringent, it is increasingly important to ensure that carbon footprint calculations are rele vant and accurate for each individual.

“With My Carbon Action, we wanted to create a country-specific carbon cal culator that is more so based on where you are at in terms of location. This is important to understand the impact of regional emissions. For instance, if I drive an electric car in France versus

To reduce our carbon footprint and play our due part in healing the planet from environmental damage, banks need to help customers reduce their emissions. Banks are uniquely posi tioned to collect insights into consum er behavior, consumption patterns, and preferences. This data can then provide valuable advice and services that help build stronger customer relationships. By leveraging this data, banks can become trusted partners in helping customers achieve their climate-conscious goals. With the help of My Carbon Action, they can encour age sustainably responsible behavior to avoid and reduce emissions. “ It’s not always possible to completely avoid emissions, but we can offset them by living more green lifestyles. For example, planting trees helps offset carbon emissions. Ultimately, we need to raise awareness of the dangers of climate change and take action to prevent it – or we risk extinction,” concludes Liikamaa.

This allows for a more accurate as sessment of the global impact of con sumption and how different choices can affect the environment. You can take action to reduce your carbon footprint with consumption-based accounting.

continuously

banking Sparekassen Thy

”AQRisk has already shifted the understanding of department managers and financial advisors, towards a holistic view of the profitability of a custo mer customer group.” potentials

between pricing and risk, which strengthens the profita bility of the bank.” Frank Mortensen CFO & BoM Arbejdernes Landsbank Per HeadSmithofBusiness Development Fynske Bank

forDATA-DRIVENPowerfulsolutionsMANAGEMENTandStaff

SOUNDS GREAT, BUT DOES IT REALLY WORK? LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS - OUR CUSTOMERS… Contact our CEO to have a chat about how AQRisk Technologies can also support your banking optimization efforts Morten Virenfeldt . mv@aqrisk.com . +45 53624942

the

our

and

Large-scale by financial advisors SPECIALISTS

who have been priced incorrectly.”

”With AQRisk we can monitor profitability of customers quick identify customers

of the

creates great value through a better

Optimize the core banking business and become much more efficient and profitable Unleash great business

Nikolai Krogh-Hansen of Corporate

Head

via large-scale decision optimization by financial advisors Our secret sauce includes better utilization of data, analytics, modern technology

”AQRisk understanding relationship

DECISION-OPTIMIZATION

A Breed?Different

By Jakob Frier

The Nordic region has the highest number of unicorns per capita in Europe, and the last two years have seen Nordic fintechs raising record-high investment rounds. So, what is their secret sauce?

An Internationalized population

And Jeppe Rindom does tribute a significant amount of the company’s success to the Nordic values:

“A large percentage of the population is multilingual, where the majority are also fluent in English, which facilitates interaction with the outside world. Fur thermore, the governments in the Nordic countries are also supporting technical development by investing in universities and financially supporting Research and Development, which jointly contributes to highly educated and skilled entrepre neurs and a lot of talent.”

is the Nordic welfare model, with free education, social security, and health care. This provides a solid ground for startups and breed entrepreneurs with international scope:

The company’s CMO, David Sand ström, has been with Klarna since 2017 and has seen it transform into a global fintech power brand. According to him, the key to the Nordic fintechs’ success

But the commitment to digital services and the digital economy is also common in the Nordic countries. It has enabled the region to move fast towards cashless payments. The top rankings in interna tional indexes, including digital integra tion and infrastructure, competitiveness, and entrepreneurship, are a testament to this. For example, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden are among the top four in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). Also, Denmark tops the global competi tiveness index, with the rest of the Nordic countries ranking in the top 10.

On April 10, 2005, the first transaction at Klarna took place. Known for the buy now, pay later model, the Swedish fintech has a mission to make e-com merce as smooth as possible for both consumers and retailers. The company already earned unicorn status in 2011 and raised an impressive mega-round in 2020, doubling the validation from 5,5 billion dollars to 10,6 billion dollars.

Jeppe Rindom Co-founder and CEO, Pleo

“We have never seen ourselves as a Danish company, and I was the only Dane employed in the company up until we were more than 15 people. But we have Nordic values integrated as the cornerstone of the culture in Pleo and the product we build and design today. We want to empower employees

While Klarna is now a global company, we don’t want to risk losing the spirit that brought them this far. The colleagues should feel the benefits of working in a large, successful, well-resourced company without struggling with a slow, dull corporate environment.

“Buildingstatus.acompany in a technically advanced country is obviously an advan tage. We have a great technical infra structure and an open culture that en ables collaboration between fintechs and financial institutions. We are also catering solutions to a digitally savvy population so they will have high standards for the customer experience,” says Jeppe Rin dom, co-founder and CEO at the Danish business expense solution Pleo.

through efficiency, transparency, and trust. To make these values thrive you must run a flat organizational structure. To me, that’s also the most important value to why the Nordic ecosystem is a great place to scale a business.”

ith a combined population of more than 27 million people, the Nordic coun tries only account for four per cent of the European population. And let’s be honest. Most of the world doesn’t distinguish between the Nordic countries. Instead, they might see a group of coun tries speaking a similar language, sharing values and common ideas – and being the happiest people on the planet.

With the strong fundamentals in place, Nordic fintech companies have the conditions to scale beyond the magical 1-billion-dollar mark to achieve unicorn

Over six years, Pleo has raised more than 420 million euros headquartered in Copenhagen. In an online video, Jeppe Rindom announced the 150 million euro raise that earned the company unicorn status. While standing on top of a big rock – an evident contrary to a fast-mov ing agile scale-up company – he simply declared that he and the Pleo branding team like to think big and then an nounced the biggest C-round in a Dan ish startup. All with a dry and sarcastic touch. Just like the Danes prefer their it.

“We need to understand their custom ers with absolute dedication and ensure that serving the customer comes first. We don’t make excuses, we don’t hesi tate, and we have no barriers to the cus tomers’ input. We also want to challenge the status quo and never miss an oppor tunity to disrupt to find simple solutions to customers’ problems, and we are not afraid of failing. We choose courage over comfort and dare to engage in difficult conversations and decisions,” David Sandström says.

David Sandström CMO, Klarna

Estonia ranks equally at the top with the rest of the Nordic countries regard ing digitization of the public sector. In

2014, the government launched their e-Residency, allowing non-Estonians access to Estonian services such as company formation, banking, payment processing, and taxation. However, the country was in a completely different situation in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

“The impact of growing up in Estonia in the nineties had a massive impact on the founders of Wise. The economy was starting from scratch, meaning every one had to be entrepreneurial. Perhaps living through this has also impacted some of Estonia’s other entrepreneurs,” explains Clara Nobre, Head of Business Product at Wise.

In Tallin, Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus set out to fix international money transfers in 2011. They founded Transfer Wise – today Wise – and are more than 4.000 employees building an entirely new cross-border payments network which they hope will one-day power money without borders for everyone, everywhere.

Adding to the Nordic welfare model, David Sandström sees a couple of other common factors for successful Nordic startups. First, fintechs need to focus on quality and high results. There is a need to focus on quality in customer offerings, recruiting talent, and building teams.

For Wise, it’s always been essential to nurture the entrepreneurial mindset. The founders strongly believe in autonomy. Wise was founded with a mission to en able money to move freely, transparently, conveniently, and eventually, one day, for free. Each of those four parts gained its team full autonomy. For example, the speed team could build what it wanted, hire who it wanted, and do what it want

ed if it made the product quicker.

Why do unicorns matter?

“Thefactory?ability to pay for our future wel fare system the Nordic model lies in the success of the companies of the future. Unicorn companies are just that. We create many jobs, preferably in Denmark, if the strict regulations and taxations allow us to. We drive innovation and spin out new companies. Some employees feel inspired to leave because they want

Klarna has formulated a series of business principles which permeate their way of working.

“Today, we have 4,000 staff, but that autonomy remains. Employees are given a clear goal and then the freedom to reach it. This helps us avoid bureaucracy and allows our staff freedom. It is an ap proach crucial for our rapid growth,” says Clara Nobre.

“Everyone at Klarna is part of a team of four to eight people. That’s big enough to make things happen and keep the company moving forward but small enough to keep the startup magic alive. Each Klarna team operates like a mini business with its vision, targets and goals, and its members acting like startup founders. As a result, teams are fully accountable for creating and delivering value to their customers – in ternal or external – and at Klarna,” says David Sandström.

And just like they do in Pleo, Klarna is also putting great pride in running a flat hierarchical organizational structure with few or no levels of middle management that will slow the decision process down.

He sees a positive trend among start ups in the Nordic region that will give them a significant advantage in interna tional competition. In a time where there is a considerable focus on applying new technologies, Nordic companies tend to focus on something different and more critical: The customer.

Customer obsession

Stories of successful fintech unicorns are rare, but stories about the few are often told. Maybe it is simply about the incredible journeys these companies have made in relatively short time. But what goes beyond the stories and the narrative of the Nordic as a leading uni corn

Forced to be entrepreneurs

“Unicorn companies offer disruptive and market-changing products or services that make an impression on the masses and lead industries in different and new directions. A lot is happening within tech fast, and if you have a unicorn company, you have a lot of power to change. With the leading position, you have the opportunity to influence many different stakeholders globally and thus have enormous influence. This makes it so exciting and interesting that it’s essential to continue supporting and focusing on these businesses. The unicorn companies will shape our future.”

Company

“We are committed to proving that you can build and scale a company in Den mark that can be the biggest internation al player in its field. However, it requires good regulatory conditions and they do not exist in Denmark. The fintech ecosys

tem here is a great incubator for fintech companies. Still, to get to the next level and keep unicorns in Denmark, we need to eliminate tax legislation that puts us in a weak spot if we choose to keep our main activities here.”

WhileDenmark.thepublic sector holds a re sponsibility to create the best scaling conditions, unicorn companies have the responsibility to build something mean ingful. According to David Sandström:

He does point out the absurdity that Danish legislation can hurt international competitiveness in Danish fintech:

Jeppe Rindom refers to the fact that financial institutions pay a higher corpo ration tax than other industries and to a direct tax on salary expense. The latter was introduced in 1990 before labour and production became mobile and financial services became internationally competitive. Today, it might force fintech scale-ups to move their main activities out of

Klarna Viabill LunarJuni ReltimeBITLEVEX Insurely €800 million €120 million €100 million €70 million €50 million €50 million €19 million

to build a new fintech company and embark on their entrepreneurial endeav ours,” says Jeppe Rindom.

Clara Nobre Head of Business Product at Wise

Largest rounds raised in 2022: Location Amount Raised

That way, Moneyflow can advise com panies on when and where to be cautious.

Data rarely lie

Review, firms extended their days of payables outstanding (DPOs) from 76 to 83 days in Europe and 59 to 69 days in the United States during the 2004-2017 period. Days matter. Liquidity matter. This is exactly what Moneyflow help SMEs handle.

About Moneyflow

When they were ready to launch, 2020

The crises have shown that digital isation, and on many occasions, fintech solutions can be an important tool for companies to navigate through uncer tainOnetimes.such solution is Moneyflow, a Danish fintech company helping busi nesses get paid on time. Moneyflow was founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Kim Ulf Rehfeld Thoden and Werner Valeur.

are in unprecedented times. A pandemic, loom ing wars and full-scale wars, potential economic downturns and a crypto crash.

The pandemic made a known struggle even harder for SMEs: during financial crises, SMEs are starving for capital because banks are less willing to offer loans and customers’ have extended payment

In May 2020 when Corona rampaged through the world, Moneyflow launched their MVP. They onboarded 100 custom ers that turned into happy customers. Their service was needed. In the be

draw from and patterns to match on when new situations arise that needs solving.

With more data, uncertainty can become easier to manage. Moneyflow was born during the pandemic and managed to not only come out stronger but also close a € 250 million round. Now, they hope to help other companies flourish too, no matter the time.

As a 100 per cent data-driven compa ny, what we aim to do is to take a deep look into what the data tells us. We can give the companies real-time insights into what is going on in their business, where they make their money, what is working and what needs attention now,” Kim Ulf Rehfeld Thoden says.

“We love intuition and gut feeling. But when we look at how a company is run and how we can help finance them, we use data. Data rarely lie. Used right, data tells us exactly what is going on,” says Kim Ulf Rehfeld Thoden.

ginning, Moneyflow had bigger losses than expected but by using the data and focusing on the near-term goals they managed to ramp up to 2000 customers. Now, on the other side of the pandemic, Moneyflow has closed a round of 250 million euros from Belgian Aion Bank. This means that Moneyflow’s smart liquidity system will be available to even more SMEs through Money flow’s“Ourcollaborators.missionistohelp as many companies as possible to navigate safe ly through crises. Nothing is worse than seeing a healthy company that started in boom times suffer and potentially have to close down because of a black swan event. No one can predict those. And sometimes all they need is a few 100.000 kroner to be able to focus on the right things to survive,” Kim Ulf Rehfeld Thoden says.

Moneyflow creates liquidity and makes companies’ future earnings available through the latest technology. Moneyflow has developed the most sophisticated SME credit score on the market combined with advanced risk and payment predictions. This ensures quick payments to the invoicing company while eliminating the risk of late payments and resources spent chasing late invoices.

“It was a black swan event we had not seen coming. Most people hadn’t. No one could predict with certainty what was going to happen,” says Kim Ulf Rehfeld Thoden.

Pattern match on data Kim, at 57 and with multiple businesses behind him, has been through his share of crises and restrictions. He has helped SMEs with credit and liquidity in the dot com crash, the Eurozone crisis and the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. It has given him the extensive experience to

had rolled around and the covid crisis was ready to launch full scale as well.

“When there is a lot of volatility and nervousness in the market, typically companies will hunker down and focus on what they do best. Innovation takes the backseat and we go back to basics.

We can’t avoid uncertainty but we can change how we navigate uncertain times

Accordingterms.toHarvard Business

“We basically take over the relation to the customer. We have automated the entire bookkeeping and invoicing pro cess, so you don’t have to think about it. You get paid immediately and we take on the risk,” says Kim Ulf Rehfeld Thoden.

By Simone Okkels

Kim Ulf Rehfeld Thoden CEO & MoneyflowFounder,

example, if a regulatory change requires a coding change from the IT team, the likelihood of the change being made in a timely manner is lower. However, em powering risk teams to update process es and add in new data sources them selves within the drag-and-drop low code system is key to making changes in the systems on the fly,” remarks Berg.

Merchants are always searching for ways to improve customer loyalty and increase sales.

For consumers, the option to choose how they want to pay and the ability to spread out payments can be really helpful. It can also help with financial inclusion, as people who might not have access to tra ditional forms of credit can still get access to credit. Additionally, lower interest rates are another benefit for consumers.

Provenir’s ‘no code’ technology is perfect for risk management teams as it eliminates the need for coding knowledge and expertise.

Provenir works with disruptive financial services organizations in more than 50 countries and processes more than 3 billion transactions annually.

A key benefit of using an AI-powered model is that it gets smarter with each transaction it processes so your AI mod els use real-time data to identify new patterns, learn, and adapt accordingly.

“Webefore.helpfintech and financial service providers to make smarter decisions faster and we do that with our AI-powered risk decisioning platform. Our innovative soft ware helps organizations make powerful decisions throughout the customer lifecy cle - from onboarding new customers to improving the customer experience. With our easy-to-use platform, companies can drive better decision-making and improve their overall operations,” says Frode Berg, Provenir’s General Manager for EMEA.

Increase sales

“This is how we power the leading buy now pay later providers across all continents. We provide them with universal access to data through the Provenir Marketplace, simplified AI and world-class decisioning technology so they can deliver superior consumer experiences,” adds Berg.

Serve consumers

automating the process of gathering and analyzing data, AI can help busi nesses make more informed decisions about risks since it can help identify risks that they may not have consid ered

By Marria Qibtia Sikandar

In the fast-moving BNPL sector, risk decisioning that’s accurate and based on real-time information is essential. Equally important is the ability to adapt and comply with a changing regulatory landscape.

brings together the three essential components needed –data, AI and decisioning – into one unified risk decisioning solution to help organizations provide worldclass consumer experiences. This unique offering gives organizations the ability to power decisioning innovation across the full customer lifecycle, driving improvements in the customer experience, access to financial services, business agility, and more.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the poten tial to revolutionize risk decisioning. By

Frode Berg, General Manager EMEA, Provenir

he technology BNPL providers select today must be flexible and agile to support the entire cus tomer lifecycle as well as a chang ing regulatory and compliance landscape.

Data is the key to unlocking hidden insights and making better decisions. With Provenir’s platform, you can track model performance, monitor KPIs, and use real-time decisioning data to iden tify innovation opportunities. “For BNPL providers, it is critical to have a flexible

How BNPL providers can future-proof their technology platforms

Empowering Innovation

The more you use the model, the more you will tune it to the regulatory requirement, and the better it will adapt to those requirements. At Provenir, we pride ourselves on offering a unique solution that is powered by AI. Our software is user-friendly and designed to facilitate quick, secure transactions. Our platform provides users with access to all the data they need in one place, making it easy to get the information they need,” concludes Berg.

“Systems that use no code and dragand-drop user interfaces can empower risk teams to update processes and models more effectively and quickly. For

BNPL technology gives business es the flexibility to offer consumers an alternative to credit cards or other payment plans, making it easier for cus tomers to make larger purchases. It also helps businesses boost overall sales and average order value while reducing cart abandonment. This flexibility can help businesses attract customers and keep existing ones coming back.

The Value of an AI-Powered Risk Decisioning Platform

AI-powered platform to access the data needed, implement the right processes and models, and make decisions in ac cordance with regulatory requirements.

About ProvenirProvenir

Frode Berg General Manager EMEA, Provenir

An AI-powered, purpose-built risk decisioning platform can help you make more accurate decisions through out the customer lifecycle and allows you launch quickly and see value from day one. Let’s take a look at the benefits of BNPL for consumers and merchants.

We provide the leading buy now pay later providers across all continents with universal access to data through the Provenir Marketplace, simplified AI and experiences.”superiorsodecisioningworld-classtechnologytheycandeliverconsumer

Partnerships can support the ambitions

Kasper Uhd Jepsen

On the business side, ecosystems are emerging in close connection to ERP systems, which is typically the most common interface used by business customers. Danske Bank District solution integrates with ERPs and Partners and is the first step toward more open banking solutions and integrated ecosystems.

“We are determined to make longterm sustainable change, but we cannot do it alone. Therefore, we are constantly on the lookout for partnerships. When

Partnerships can help accelerate the green transition of society. Consequently, Danske Bank is aspiring to harness the value of collaboration to give customers the ability to act and create sustainable progress today and for generations to come.

Danske Bank already has a strategy for societal impact that involves a framework for green bonds, through which the bank is helping society transition to a low carbon, resilient and environmentally sustainable economy.

Financial institutions alone cannot achieve the transition. It needs to happen in close collaboration with stakeholders and customers, who will need to build transition plans and change behaviour ac cording to scientifically guided scenarios.

“We ultimately want to help our cus tomers to understand that the choices they make matter and how they can take action to support the green transition” says Kasper Uhd Jepsen expressing his goals for the bank’s focus on the agenda:

in financial services will shift from offering individual bank ing products to shared marketplaces with excellent services that address customers’ needs. This new way of banking paves the way for exciting new business partnerships as, for example, big financial moments like buying a home involve many complexities be yond financing.

he world is facing an existential challenge in fighting climate change. Financial institutions play a central role in supporting the transition towards a more sustainable society. Danske Bank has made a clear commitment to be a leading bank in the Nordic region within sustainability and sustainable finance and has a fundamen tal responsibility to support a shift in capi tal deployment to enable the transition to a sustainable society and to support their customers in their transition journeys.

we team up with stakeholders in our value chain, we can bridge our ambi tion to make customers choose the responsible option. And most likely, no customers want ten individual solutions delivered from 10 different fintechs, so we aim to deliver all data and insights in a digital savvy experience,” says Kasper UhdCompetitionJepsen.

Danske Bank: Partnerships can play an important role in solving our climate crisis

To support customers in the transition, Danske Bank aspires to build an ecosys tem of products that makes it easier for the customers to act and drive responsi ble businesses and behaviours. Accord ing to Kasper Uhd Jepsen who leads development within Daily Corporate and Transaction Banking, the ability to address ESG issues will be an important criterion for how customers assess banks in the years to come.

needs to be digital and fintechs can play a key role here.”

Senior Vice President, Tribe Lead, Daily Corporate and Transaction Banking

“Our ability to address the pressing issues and make it easy for customers to transit to a greener economy will have ramifications for how they will judge us. Understanding this will give us a leading advantage to build on in the future.”

“Together with partners, we aspire to create solutions to analyse and report on your carbon footprint and suggest ways to reduce emissions through greener spending choices, habits and climate-friendly financial goals. Danske Bank have strong sustainability advisory today, and like everything else, it also

For us to be successful in the combat against the profound challenges of climate change, strong collaboration across both financial institutions, fintechs, customers and politicians will be needed.

If financial services want to cater to the customer’s needs, they must design services centered around the customers. Building an ecosystem creates a market place of services from which customers can choose, between loans, mortgages, and investment opportunities.

Customer centric solutions

As a financial institution, Danske Bank has several touchpoints with all of its customers, and they have insights into a broad spectrum of their customers’ activities. Playing an integrator role and activating these insights may help to speed up the transition and impact.

At Ciklum, we work with global leaders in the ﬁnancial services sector to help them build custom products and platforms that meet their most critical business needs. We partner with our clients to enhance their end-user experience whilst ensuring they remain compliant with key regulatory requirements such as AML, PSD 2, Open Banking and Regulatory Data portals. Learn more about how we can help your business by visiting www.ciklum.com/industries/bfsi.

Product engineering and digital services that redefine industries www.ciklum.com

DEMOCRATIZATION OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

The availability of democratizing technology

New access to wealth building opportunities for the retail market

access, while enabling them to build new services on top of them.

By Chris Crespo,

Similarly, financial services, specif ically within the wealth management space have traditionally been reserved for high-net-worth individuals. At the same time, other type of investment options like venture capital and private equity have only been available to people close to the companies seek ingButfunding.tothe delight of many, who have previously been mere observants of the

capital markets, the landscape is chang ing rapidly thanks to three main drivers:

he concept of democratizing a service or a technology, simply refers to the process of remov ing any barriers keeping the public from accessing them. A good example of democratization is the use of the internet. Back in the 80’s and early 90’s the internet was a resource only available to the military and academia. As personal computers with internet con nectivity became more widely available and networks grew and expanded, the internet was democratized giving users

1 Democratizing technology fulfils two main functions. First, it can pool resources from large numbers of people. This is a concept we some times refer to as crowdfunding. Secondly it automates parts of the advisory model. By doing this, technol ogy can significantly reduce the cost

Technology is making financial services that traditionally have been reserved for the few, available to the mass market. A good example of these are wealth management services, the service model of which has traditionally relied on high personal touch provided by advisors. This model comes with high overhead costs and therefore has typically been available only to high net-worth individuals. The democratization of finance is making these services available to more people while hyper-personalizing experiences using AI, Big Data and Predictable Analytics.

The promise of this space is very encouraging however, for it to stick, fintechs and regulators will need to increase the availability of financial education. Recent surveys show that only around 30-33% of adults in Europe have an adequate understanding of their finances. Consumers of new types of democratized financial products must develop a better understanding of personal finances as well as the new opportunities and risks available to them.

of finding investors and of providing customers with viable options to invest theirArtificialmoney.intelligence and big data have been combined to create robo-advisors; essentially algorithms that are able to automatically make investments on our behalf. This is done based on prefer ences about our risk tolerance, patience and expected returns, usually gathered through a survey. Thanks to fintech solutions, people like you and me can today access investment services with as much or as little money as we want, and for the first time, participate in the success, or the failure of companies that create and multiply value.

Companies like e-Toro, Lightyear, Kameo, and FundingPartner are creating platforms through which retail custom ers, can back up companies in exchange for a piece of ownership, interest or other type of financial benefits.

A highly digitized population pushing for equal access to services

2 The increase in digitally savvy people within society is also driving momentum for this trend. New generations are comfortable investing their money though companies that exist only virtually. While the brickand-mortar model used to be a signal of trust and sturdiness, millennials and increasingly generation Z are more and more comfortable placing their money in organizations with no branches, or offices but that offer them intuitive customer experience through mobile applications that are friendly, and easy to use. This has been combined with an us -vs them culture where the younger generations are less trusting of financial institutions and have felt underserved or outright overlooked by the traditional financial system. Lead ing them to look for alternative ser vices that allow them to participate in the investment economy.

companies. This trend is likely to gener ate a positive loop where the increase in funding will lead to an increase in innovation, and entrepreneurship which in turn will lead to an increase in available capital. Ultimately this can result in better products and services in the market, more competition, better prices, and more choice for consumers.

Similarly, the FIRE or bothvicesdecentesttoinstitutionstraditionallyproducts,trendswardschangingpendence-Retire-Early,Financial-Indemovementisyoungpeople’sapproachtoearningandspending.Thesetwoarecreatingademandforwealthfromcustomersthathavebeenignoredbyincumbentandwhohavedecidednotwaitarounduntilcompoundinterontheirsavingscanaffordthemalifestyle.Thedemocratizationoffinancialserisexpandingmarketopportunitiesforpotentialnewinvestorsandfor

generate higher demand for wealth generating alternatives.

3 Finally, two important movements are emerging amongst young people who refuse to follow in the steps of their parents and spend their lives working in jobs that leave them unfulfilled and dissatisfied. The Antiwork movement, which gained popularity during the COVID pandemic, is driving young people to adopt lifestyles centered around the pursuit of purpose and meaning rather than around work.

Learning to differentiate between the seemingly unending supply of fast-mon ey schemes and sound long-term strategies for wealth building, will be the cornerstone that makes or breaks this developing trend in finance.

Generational movements like FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and the Antiwork movement that

As personal computers with internet connectivity became more widely available and networks grew and expanded, the internet was democratized giving access that could also build and create new services on top of it.

This trend is not only opening investing opportunities for an entire new market of to-be investors but is benefiting small and medium companies too. Through the power of crowds, companies with new services and products can reach out to a huge pool of new investors and raise capital from hundreds and thousands of sources. Technology companies, real es tate and even movie production compa nies are benefiting from this trend which brings investors and visionaries closer together, across borders, to create value.

a lot to offer foreign talent, we must be better at promoting opportunities and a high degree of liveability in the capital.

“Copenhagen can offer high quality of life between 9 to 5 and from 5 to 9. We know from surveys that the high focus on work-life balance and sustainable living are very attractive to a new generation of digital talent that look for meaningful work life and free time, and they are willing to relocate here. And that Denmark is one of the safest countries in the world, and you will have one of the most attractive desti nations to live,” says Nikolaj Lubanski.

companies become increas ingly digital, the need for talented developers increases.

By Jakob Frier

And it’s not only bad news. Because Den mark and especially Copenhagen have

And the Danish ecosystem has ma tured to a level where the professional challenges are at the international level, and Denmark saw four new unicorns in 2021“Youalone.canachieve a lot here, and you won’t have to comprise your family life doing it. In Denmark, we focus a lot on the human side, and we don’t only grow businesses, we also grow people,” says Nikolaj Lubanski.

“This is not solely a Danish issue. Every country in the world lacks a significant talent pool to meet compa nies’ need for skilled technical compe tencies. The fierce competition will not slow down any time soon,” says COO of Copenhagen Capacity, Nikolaj Lubanski.

“Most companies are primarily looking for senior talent with the experience to

Nikolaj Lubanski COO of Copenhagen Capacity

Where People Grow

Building critical business pro cesses based on software requires the right team to ensure ongoing success. However, attracting and retaining worldclass talent is not a straightforward task. For almost a decade, there has been a shortage of competent people with programming skills.

He explains that the quest for com petences is not made easier due to the specific type of talent Danish fintech companies are looking for.

We need to be better at unfolding this narrative to an international audience and ensure that the talent worldwide knows about Denmark’s unique offerings.

“However, we do see a great commit ment to Denmark from the two biggest fintech companies, Lunar and Pleo, who are determined to prove that you can scale a business from Denmark,” Nikolaj Lubanski adds.

Today, the lack of talent is creating more distortion for companies. The challenge of attracting talent is only made more difficult by the international competition for bright minds.

scale digital business models. They are offered attractive compensation pack ages in their current jobs, and Denmark will not provide special regulations for internationals to a degree where we can compete with the most appealing destinations any time soon,” says Nikolaj Lubanski.Tomake things worse, we also see a worrying trend among the most prominent Danish tech companies as they leave Denmark when they grow to a level where Denmark can’t offer the number of skilled talent they need to scale further. This will decrease the pool of senior profiles, and if the trend continues, it will become even harder to find and recruit that type of talent in Denmark and Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Can Become a Top Priority for Tech Talents

The tech talent shortage is the biggest barrier to growth in fintech companies. To solve this, we must be more accessible and share the opportunities for professional and personal growth - here, Copenhagen has something to offer.

“We know what being an early-stage fintech company means. We know the hurdles and the frustration of dealing with massive regulation. But we are here to turn complexity into simplicity for fintechs across the European market. We help facilitate innovation and empower them to focus on their journey to success, “Head of Fintech Sales, Tanya Slavova, says and elaborates on their commitment to support the ecosystem:

Getting their hands dirty

About Aiia

Based in Copenhagen, the company’s mission has always been to empower people to bring their financial data into play safely and transparently. Aiia’s platform allows businesses and financial institutions to integrate financial data and offer account-to-account payments directly in their services to the estimated reach of 337 million European citizens.

“We have nurtured partnerships with banks early on and know the impor tance of building relations. We want to pass that on to the fintechs of tomor row and help them innovate for the benefit of consumers. That’s why we are passionate about partnerships and promoting programs that support this,” says Tanya Slavova.

ofaEmpoweringNewGenerationFintechs

To contribute fully, play a valuable role in the ecosystem, and become a key player, Mastercard is running a series of programs to help startups achieve their ambitions.

Today, Aiia has more than 3,000 connected banks across Europe; it processes over 10 million bank logins and more than a million account-to-account payments monthly for large banks and e-commerce payment gateways.

Tanya Slavova Head of Fintech Sales, Aiia.

When you hear about the success stories of fintechs growing into financial giants, it’s not common to hear about the times of struggle. But that does not mean there haven’t been any. Just ask the team behind the Mastercard company Aiia.

“We are getting our hands dirty to offer integrations to a wide range of banks without our customers having to deal with licenses, certificates, and other complexities. With the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of fintechs combined with the stability and distribution at large corporations, we can strengthen the entire ecosystem,

Today, Aiia is a pioneering open bank ing operator owned by Mastercard. But it started as a small Danish fintech with a B2C offering and the mission to empower people to bring their financial data into play safely and transparently. And that was even before open banking.

“We know first-hand what it means to build and scale a fintech. We have seen both sides of the coin, and we still have the mindset and heart of a startup, so we also know just how important it is for early-stage fintechs to have easy access to market expansion.”

Mastercard acquired Aiia in November last year to allow a wide range of busi nesses to develop and launch innovative open banking solutions that make life easier.. Backed by a market-leading technology platform with a global infra structure, a high level of security and the capacity for data connectivity.

Mastercard wants to build a better future for European fintechs and lower the barriers to market entry for early-stage fintech startups. With more than a decade’s experience in nurturing partnerships and supporting innovation across industries, Aiia now shares its story of how it became a European leader in open banking.

Mastercard launched the Start Path global program to engage open banking startups on their path to scale, uncover unique opportunities to co-innovate and power experiences that enable consum er choice. And for more established fintechs, Mastercard helps scale-ups through strategic partnerships in the Mastercard Lighthouse programme.

By Jakob Frier

Nurturing partnerships

Aiia’s product makes it easy for fintechs to enter the market for accepting payments, taking the burden for them by offering a licensed product that allows them to connect to all the data centres and banks through one single API.

increasing the size of the industry we all share,” says Tanya Slavova.

In the future of Web3, anyone can become an investor

By Simone Okkels

With the advent of Web3 comes a promise of a more decentralized internet built on blockchain and fueled by token-based economics. This can pave the way for a transfer of ownership from the monopolistic few to the democratized many. NFM talked to a crypto entrepreneur and a crypto investor about what they see Web3 has in store for the future of finance.

David Schneider Entrepreneur in the crypto and blockchain space and the founder of Lit Protocol, a decentralized cryptography network designed to bring more utility to the web

TM: The decentralization in the crypto movement is about alignment incentive and making sure that everyone who brings value to the table receives value in return. The greater financial inclusion means you don’t have to be wealthy to

play the VC game. You can get carried interest on deals not in exchange for putting money in but in exchange for bringing value to the table that has histor ically not been compensated. Right now, so many people are providing value to the venture ecosystem through networks, introductions and content that get noth ing in return. They will be able to become VCs because of the infrastructure set up for them to leverage and monetize their own network.

DS: Web3 enables tokenized finance. There are many types of tokens ranging from community/DAO tokens to utility tokens that power decentralized infra structure. Just looking at infrastructure to kens specifically, the open and tokenized nature of decentralized networks enable individuals to learn and participate early in growing projects opposed to the Web2 al ternative where the average individual can only get skin in the game of the compa nies they are impressed with after an IPO.

Wealth has historically been accumulated in the hands of the few. How do you see Web3 change this?

DS: In a open systems world it’s easier for individuals to behave like late stage venture capitalists and make invest ments that they are expecting to sell in 10+ years. With that said, I disagree that everyone can become a venture capitalist because the liquid nature of tokens means that buying and holding is no longer the only option.

What is exciting about the future of finance?

DS: Firstly sovereign and highly portable money, which also applies to personal data, which is valuable but not innately fi nancial. The major opportunity is for each person to have self sovereign automation, aka agents, of their data and finances.

TM: Web1 was the read only internet. With Web2 we moved to read and write and having accounts and usernames. Still it has been owned by centralized hierar chical organizations. Now, we are seeing examples of moving towards an owner ship economy with Web3. In the very ear ly days you will see wealth accumulation in the hands of the few who understands and builds the systems. But over time, it sets up a system where Web3 democra tizes ownership a lot more than anything we have seen so far.

Web3 might marginally help with income inequality, but this issue continues to exist outside of the revolution in digital ownership and computing that is Web3.

What role does Web3 play and how does Web3 affect the future of finance?

What this means for people is not too dissimilar to how they might think about public equities today. Case and point, being able to buy and sell stocks doesn’t make someone a venture capitalist; they are a investor.

Which challenges does the future of Web3 hold?

Ted Moskovitz Angel investor and VC in the crypto space and founder of DeCentranet, a full-service blockchain consulting company and earlystage investment firm about what they see web3 has in store for the future of finance

DS: The main challenges are around key management and custody, and the fact that in an open systems world, scammy and malicious actors have more opportu nities to dupe people.

TM: A big thing is trust and the lack of community. In Web3, people are often just a jpeg, you can be totally anonymous. There is a lack of personal connection between people because it is not required for the way things work now. This is not an ideal way to create resilient systems. Then there are also the technological challenges. A lot is nascent and new. The tools that would make it easy haven’t been created yet. We are doing the best we can and build ing as we go along.

TM: The opportunites are limitless. Ob viously we have the democratization of finance and venture capital. More people will be included in wealth than ever be fore, and more people will have access to global financial systems than ever before.

But a unique encryption method is looking to change the way we work with sensitive information.

A 1:1 real-world virtual match

“Just like with classical encryption you can still send and store data safely but the important detail is that the receiver can also work on the data in a protected form. We facilitate a new lifecycle for your data: Encrypt the data once and leave it like that because the data is still functional and maintains its business value in its encrypted form,” he explains.

Photo: PII Guard

By OkkelsSimone

Because of his background in cryptog raphy and interest in privacy, Martin Staal Boesgaard started investigating how to use crypto to add an extra layer of pro tection to the data and thereby setting the data free. He was inspired by For mat-Preserving Encryption. But it had its weaknesses when it came to protecting PII (Personally Identifiable Information). So he developed what is now known as Type-Preserving Encryption.

His mission with PII Guard is to set data free and say “Yes we can.” Yes, we can gain maximum value from our data while respecting human privacy and laws like GDPR.

The fixed story that it is difficult, ex pensive, and almost impossible to work with production data ethically will soon be just a story. The argument “others ar en’t fixing it so why should I?” won’t hold water much longer. Because the reality is that change is coming. PII Guard, which launched in 2018, is already working with banks, insurance compa nies, pension funds, companies, and authorities in Denmark and Sweden.

“The focus from authorities and companies on privacy protection has changed. Previously, most believed that there was no solution to the privacy issues. And thus, there was no alterna tive but to continue working with data as before. But lately, the authorities have been less forgiving to this argument and companies have started implementing better solutions,” he says.

A privacyprotectingthechangingstartupDanishisgameof

A new technology for privacy efficientlydatatostartupdevelopedprotectionbyaDanishcanbethekeyworkingwithpersonalmorefreely,moreandsafely.

Martin BoesgaardStaal Founder, PII Guard

With classic cryptography, the entire file or database is encrypted as a whole. That means that without the encryp tion key whatever comes out is totally illegible. It means that the data can be sent and stored safely but to work with it in, for example, research, testing or AI training is impossible without the key. And with the key, the person decrypting the data suddenly has all the private data in their hands.

ersonal data poses a challenge to many organizations. It is a complex area with a strict set of rules that can make it difficult to work within. The complexity can make it feelSooverwhelming.companiesoften get so overly cautious that they almost give up and miss out on the value their data holds. In short, protecting privacy has become a resource-heavy hassle to many.

startup PII Guard. Martin Staal Boesgaard has more than 20 years of experience in information security and cryptography. Throughout his career, he kept running into the same problems: How time-con suming and complex it is to get access to and be allowed to work with data con taining personal information.

What PII Guard is doing is encrypting only the personal and sensitive parts of the dataset like phone numbers, social se curity numbers, IP addresses, or account numbers. You end up with a test dataset that matches the real dataset in a way

Encryption. Reinvented.

Data helps us learn and improve pro cesses, marketing methods, products, and even our societies. We need it for research, analysis, testing, and AI training and much more. Our data is a gold mine and a Danish startup has developed a method to mine the gold more efficient ly, less cost-heavy, and in respect of privacy and legislation.

The encryption method is called Type-Preserving Encryption. It is the brainchild of Martin Staal Boesgaard, founder of the Danish data protection

that keeps the relations in the dataset intact. The personally identifiable infor mation is destroyed but the datasets can still be compared 1:1. “The automation cuts down the processes from months to hours and is cheaper, more secure, and more simple than any previous method,” says Martin Staal Boesgaard.

The goal is to create a digital land scape where all data can be efficiently simulated matching the real-world data in virtually any way, without disclosing any PII in the process.

Customer experience is always a top priority for businesses, but it can be difficult to create a smooth, efficient customer journey that meets everyone’s needs. By tailoring solutions to better enable customer workflows, Scrive en sures a positive experience for all.

By Marria Qibtia Sikandar Nagra

Delivering Omnichannel Solutions

“We are using our experience in the segment for the past 10+ years in order to be a digital transformation partner and guide our customers through the jour ney. We are involved in scoping, imple mentation, adoption, and maintenance of a variety of solutions, solving a wide variety of challenges for our customers,” states Amanatiadis.

“We approach all projects with the end customer in mind, aiding in creating workflows that will dramatically improve the experience and make the interac tion with the organization smoother and more secure,” adds Amanatiadis.

As the payments industry looks to establish consumer trust, electronic signatures and eIDs have become an increasingly important topic. Their use can help to speed up transactions, while also providing a higher level of security.

When embarking on a digital trans formation project, it is essential to take a customer-centric approach and have

Electronic signatures and eIDs are essential since they improve customer experience by making it possible to interact with service provid ers entirely online. They also help with compliance issues related to data protection, KYC requirements, EBA rules, and other areas where digitizing the onboarding process is necessary. Since data management is a critical part of any organization, electronic signatures can play a big role in unlocking data and making operations more efficient. By streamlining workflows and making data more accessible, organizations can offer better service to their customers,” says George Amanatiadis, VP of Sales and Customer Success at Scrive.

a deep understanding of compliance requirements. By doing so, you lay the groundwork for a successful initiative.

“From a product perspective, we offer

“Once the project approach is set with well-informed requirements, technology can help to deliver an excellent customer experience, while making sure that all compliance

e-signing and eID/IDV products and services. We have a variety of different solutions tailored to fit our customer’s workflows, increase overall efficiency in operations and improve Customer Experience. As an organization, or rather as a digital transformation partner, we offer solution engineering, project man agement, and adoption support, focus ing heavily on ensuring our customer’s ROI. The experience and expertise on large-scale projects is equally import ant to the product itself as no system is worth its investment without adoption,” remarks Amanatiadis.

Improve customer experience with electronic signatures and eIDs

This also means that they hold their customer’s customers in high esteem.

George Amanatiadis VP of Sales and Customer Success at Scrive

Prioritizing Customer Centricity Scrive aspires to be the most cus tomer-centric provider in the industry. Their customers are the focus of their business’s efforts since their needs and wants are always prioritized.

As a leading provider of digital transfor mation solutions, Scrive helps businesses automate their agreement lifecycle with electronic signatures and identification. This cloud-based platform delivers a bet ter customer experience while maintain ing security and compliance.

“We work on being a trusted advisor for our customers. Instead of focusing on the product itself alone, we aim to assist in every aspect of the project, provide feedback and aid in ideation, and implementation, and ensure scal ability. We also challenge our cus tomers’ assumptions in order to help them avoid pitfalls that we have seen in digital transformation journeys in the past,” remarks Amanatiadis.

requirements are met. Scrive in particular is able to offer an end-to-end customer onboarding experience, including KYC/AML options in several regions, that complies with regulatory requirements and delivers a smooth experience for the end customer,” concludes Amanatiadis.

• Hard braking

Noticing a gap in the financial sector, Grønbæk and her fellow co-founders took the plunge and decided to do the impossible: Disrupt the Danish insur ance scene by offering digitally-driven insurance that was quick to sign up for, completely transparent, easy-to-use, and customer-centric — with a human touch.

• Acceleration patterns And so on.

3. Processing the claim took an inordinately long time.

1. Traditional insurance offered opaque, confusing packages with hidden costs.

• Hard cornering

The future of fintech: The human touch

Before signing up for car insurance through Undo, users can do a test drive and opt-in to have their driving patterns analysed through something called vehicular telematics — the sending of data regarding the vehicle to a separate system.

Specifically, users drive around for a period of time with the Undo app on their phone, and the built-in telematics checks for things such as:

The insurance sector lagged behind its financial cousins when it came to adopting digital solutions. But tech-driven transparency coupled with a human touch forecast a bright future for this industry.

In an article titled “Human touch in FinTech is key to growth,” written for Payments Business Magazine, Chief Commercial Officer of Bambora in North America at the time, Ryan Stewart, wrote: “The value of human touch can come in many facets. From helpful staff available to assist customers while By R. DelgadoPaulo

n article in Computer Weekly in 2020 called the insurance sector the “digital laggards” of finance. In the same year, the managing director of Insurance at Ac centure for North America hypothesised that the reason insurance was so slow to adopt new tech was that it lacked talent. This sentiment was mirrored in a report by McKinsey — also in 2020 — which concluded that the insurance industry needed help in how to implement a fullfledged digital strategy.

“Insurance felt like one of the last frontiers, something the incumbents just hadn’t been able to turn into a great digital experience,” says Sophie Bohr Grønbæk, co-founder and CEO of Undo, a Danish digital insurer with nearly 40,000 users, and a zero-fees approach to insur ance. “Insurance was still being sold in an old-school way.”

2. People had immense difficulties filing claims.

Also, if a user insures, say, a bicycle and then sells the bike halfway through the month, they can simply deselect the cov erage for their bike through the app and receive a refund for the rest of month.

To solve the above, Undo took a high-tech approach to transparency that opened the door to fair and ethical insurance for consumers.

The problems with traditional insurance Grønbæk and her team surveyed people in their twenties to determine what prob lems they were running into with tradi tional insurance. They discovered that:

Consumer-centric approach

UBI is insurance based on how you personally use a product. UBI provides transparency for the insurer because it offers insight that helps the insurer better understand its risks.

Undo is upfront about its fees (they have no additional fees) when the user signs up. They also offer an intuitive interface that makes it easy to choose an insurance product. Users can sign up for insurance in five to 10 minutes, says Grønbæk.

“It’s not a huge amount. But we want users to feel a one-to-one relationship with us,” says Grønbæk. “We want them to know that our purpose is not to be greedy and take as much as we can from them.”

The other problem was how certain de mographics were placed into “high-risk” categories, such as under-25 drivers, and so were made to pay much higher rates for insurance when they might be, in fact, very careful drivers.

• Excessive speed

High-tech transparency — Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) and Telematics

In the same McKinsey report referenced above, the international consulting company says about digital technology: “Consumers, not companies, are often the ultimate winners.”

The Future of Finance: Bringing humanity back to throughinsuranceInsurtech

All processing is done on the user’s device, and only a limited amount of data is sent to the insurer, such as number of kilometres driven and some metadata such as the score itself. Absolutely no location data is sent.

Insurance felt like one of the last greatbeenincumbentssomethingfrontiers,thejusthadn’tabletoturnintoadigitalexperience.”

Undo’sspeed.rapid rise by the numbers 7,000 customers with car insurance only 1½ years 40,000 insured customers in total Nearly DKK 73 million (~USD10 million) Gross Written Premiums (GWP) of 100DKKmillion (~USD13.5 million) by end of 2022 Forecast GWP of

When it looked like airports were going to close down as a result of the pandemic, potentially stranding people in foreign countries, Grønbæk and her team got on the phones and personally called those clients, proactively urging them to get to the airports as fast as possible. They were only able to pro vide this human touch as a result of the sophisticated tech that their Insurtech product operated with.

Sophie Grønbæk, co-founder and CEO of Undo

Undo’s human touch to insurance became most apparent during the COVID pandemic. Their travel insurance product uses GPS tracking and only charges peo ple when they are out of the country.

To hardened Luddites, the idea that cutting-edge tech could lead to a more humane and helpful society might seem contradictory. But to those in the fintech space, working for better transparency, easier transactions, and little savings here and there that add up to a lot of customer satisfaction, it is part of the greater vision that keeps this sector innovating at lightning

signing up, to always being there to troubleshoot an issue.”

Petersen, this is in stark contrast to the reality of the regula tions in the financial industry today.

tax is a clear example. The current regu lations tax means that Danish companies in the sector must pay a tax to the state corresponding to 15.3 per cent of the total payroll costs,” says Kent Petersen.

how fintechs drive business. It will mean even further decentralizing job creation and collaboration with stakeholders. We need to be ready for that movement and be well equipped to handle the inter national talent competition also when it comes to regulations,” he says.

A barrier to growth

“The payroll tax will inevitably force some companies to move jobs out of Denmark. The fundament of future com panies is based on technology and are less dependent geographical location. And while the lack of talent is one of the most present barriers to growth in fintech, we see Danish fintech are hiring like nev er before, and those jobs should be kept in Denmark. So there should be broad political agreement on this.”

Losing out on billions

“The recent report and figures clearly show that the industry is right on track to create growth, jobs and international investments. The estimates show that the industry will employ 5,000 by the end of 2023, an increase of roughly 800 per cent over eight years. Copenhagen Fintech has played a massive role in maturing the industry and making Denmark an international powerhouse in fintech,” says Kent Petersen, president of Finansforbun det, a trade union for all employees in the Danish financial Finansforbundetsector.isone of the found ing partners of the industry association Copenhagen Fintech. The ambition was to establish an environment where en trepreneurs could build businesses from a disruptive business model and create jobs for the future financial industry.

o far, the story about Danish fintech has been nothing short of a fairy tale. When Copenha gen Fintech opened in 2016, few would expect Danish fintech to represent a serious actor for established financial institutions. But the job creation and the rise in the number of entrepreneurial fin tech startups tell a different story. Today, the industry has more employers than the entire pension industry.

Despite the momentum and inargu able success of Copenhagen Fintech, Kent Petersen see challenges luring on the horizon. If those challenges are not appropriately addressed, Denmark risks losing successful companies to countries where taxations and investment opportu nities are more favourable to the fintechs.

When the tax is placed on labour, com panies can achieve significant savings by moving jobs abroad or creating digital solutions for advisory positions. An estimate made by Copenhagen Economics in 2017 showed that the tax alone could cost up to 10.000 Danish jobs. This would amount to a loss of around 1 billion euros.

Kent Petersen President Finansforbundetof

In 2020, the Danish Board of Business Development pointed out fintech as a Danish economic stronghold and cluster of the future. With the acknowledge ment comes the privilege of being an industry with the best possible condi tions for Accordinggrowth.toKent

The payroll tax for companies within the financial sector was introduced in 1990. Thus in a different time, before labour and production became digital to the degree, we see today, where finan cial services are exposed to international competition. The consequences today will significantly impact the Danish fintech ecosystem going forward.

“If we want to drive growth, innovation and create jobs of the future, we must address the inappropriate balance in some tax areas which will affect employ ment. In the financial sector, the payroll

“We are looking into a not-to-distinct future where digitalization will dictate

“When we have an inappropriate way of taxing Danish companies, it will impact the creation of jobs in Denmark. If they choose to relocate, they can avoid taxes aimed at salary expenses.

Danish Fintech is an international position of strength. Still, while the industry is showing significant momentum with record high investments and job creation, regulations could force the largest Danish fintech companies to move abroad.

We want to do our best to maintain the workplaces in Denmark. That’s why Danish long-term investments are needed.

By Jakob Frier

“We can’t afford to halt the momentum in Danish Fintech.”

Kent Petersen, president of Finansforbundet

“This must be addressed. We have established one of the world’s biggest strongholds in fintech, and despite an uncertain future, we do not see a hiring stop among Danish fintechs. We can’t afford to halt the momentum,” says Kent Petersen.

“Capitalenvironment.injectionsare often coming from foreign investors. When foreign investors look at the pricing of doing business in Denmark, they will, in most cases, push to relocate from Denmark. We want to do our best to maintain the workplaces in Denmark. That’s why Danish long-term investments are needed. We are not interested in making a quick return. We rather enter sustainable investments that maintain jobs in Denmark,” says Kent Petersen and concludes:

“We are determined to make the investments necessary to create the best conditions for Danish fintechs to develop into established financial companies.”

Earlier this year, Finansforbundet in vested 10 million euros into the fintech fund Upfin, which invests in early-stage Nordic fintech companies. As a natu ral consequence of the association’s involvement in developing the Danish fintech

Apart from losing existing jobs, we are also looking into a future where companies will be forced to place new jobs and key hires in foreign countries with lower taxes. There are no winners in this scenario,” says Kent Petersen. The direct tax on salary expenses in the financial sector gives Danish companies an unnecessary distortion of competition compared to foreign com panies. The tax will also severely impact international financial companies when having to choose where to locate.”

“From early on, we wanted to define fintech as an independent industry. The agreement with the Employers Associ ation is an important step in going from a startup environment to an established industry. Apart from securing a fair in dustry, it gives fintech founders access to advice and guidance on responsible business conduct. Just because you get good ideas does not mean you know how to build a company with everything from salary agreements to recruiting employees,” says Kent Petersen.

Long-term investments needed

This momentum is, in many ways, caused by an ecosystem that has ma tured over the last five years. For exam ple, last year, Finansforbundet reached an agreement with the new Employers’ Association for Danish fintech that de fines the framework for the companies’ pay and working conditions.

Rather, the complexity can be em braced as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Fintechs could and should take the lead and do what they do best: create clear options in a nuanced space with user-focused solutions where customers can evaluate for themselves - and choose offerings that match their sustainability preferences. As fintechs,

Distinguishing between ESG and Impact

ESG is focused on how a company is run. To be very simplistic, does the com pany minimize energy-use in the produc tion (E), does it treat its employees well (S) and does it shy away from corruption (G). All types of companies can get an ESG rating, also tobacco and oil companies. Impact is focused on what a company produces. For example, energy or food. And this can lead to a view that a compa ny producing windmills is considered to have a positive impact while a producer of oil is not, or that a producer of plantbased burgers is chosen for its impact while a steak producer is not. Mixing impact and ESG often creates confusion. Most of the EU-legislation and initiatives in the corporate world are focused on ESG (particularly the E) and a lot of impact initiatives focus is on the

climate. ESG and climate issues are critical, but there is amble opportunities to embrace other dimensions of ESG and impact. This is needed with large funding gaps across the board, which, in my opinion, translates into business oppor tunities for fintechs to grab. Fintechs are well suited to do so as culture, mindset, customer focus, innovation

One simple mechanism to create more clarity in the debate is to distinguish between ESG and impact. They are different but complementary lenses on sustainability often mixed up in the general debate.

Opinion piece

forisTheImpact:ComplexityanOpportunityFintechs

n my opinion this seem to have the effect that many companies are holding back instead of taking action.

Waiting for clarity and an overarching model to give a singular answer is futile, in my humble opinion. And it is not real ly an option as action is needed now.

Questions abound: What is sustain ability exactly? How do we work with it? Where is regulation heading? What will emerge as the standard framework?

Personally, I do not believe that we will ever get rid of the complexity. Sustain ability has many faces: climate, health, education, reducing poverty, social impact, good governance etc. Also, there are many views on what is import ant reliant on personal views, regulation, corporate policy, the latest scientific findings or something fifth. In continua tion of this there is a myriad of ways to dissect, measure and report on impact.

Founder and CEO, DoLand

we have the means to be pragmat ic and get going while pushing the boundaries for what is possible.

The talk of sustainability is sweeping across finance driven by consumer demand, shareholder action, evolving regulation and visionary individuals. This is forcing companies to adapt and scramble for solutions, while at the same time the many moving parts are creating complexity and uncertainty within the field.

JakobHansenLage

In DoLand we focus on the impact of investments and make it possible for everyone to choose which areas within sustainability their investment should focus on. We see how this resonates with

those trying to live a sustainable lifestyle. For many it is an eye-opener that invest ments can be yet another tool promoting sustainability and 43% of our customers have never invested before. This empha sizes how a focus on impact can create relevance and expand the market beyond what traditional finance can reach and hereby mobilize more capital for impact.

This is a win-win-win-win for our custom ers, the planet, our partners and DoLand. The time is now. Fintechs have a golden opportunity to ride the strong trends within sustainability, embrace the complexity and use their innovative power to create crisp customer-fo cused solutions. Taking impact within finance to the next level.

49 and tech are key elements to succeed. Not least in the social dimension where fintechs have traditionally had an edge regarding inclusion of the unbanked.

DoLand focuses on the impact of investments and makes it possible for everyone to choose which areas within sustainability their investment should focus on.

Better transparency seems to be the answer to more ethical finance. But a misaligned regulatory environment makes achieving that transparency challenging.

By R. DelgadoPaulo

“Misaligned” regulations make fighting financial crime difficult But transparency gets more complicat ed when we wade into the dark under world of financial crime.

Ethical Finance: Is conditions?existingpossibletransparencycompleteunderregulatory

ransparency sometimes feels like the silver bullet to achiev ing a more ethical financial ecosystem. Consumers like knowing what they will be charged be fore their cards are run, and businesses are satisfied when cybercriminals are caught because banks shared informa tion on suspicious transactions.

From a consumer perspective, the argu ment for more transparency is simple.

According to Advisoa’s research, nine out of 10 merchants are paying more for card transaction fees than they should.

“What we envisioned when creating Advisoa was to bring about full trans parency within the payments industry,” Sativa tells NFM.

support more transparency,” Sativa says. “And we help them deliver it.”

And the need for increased trans parency drives innovation and spurs new startups such as Advisoa, a Danish company dedicated to providing more transparency for merchants in the Nor dics when they are seeking a payment processor.

The response from many of the pay ment processors that Advisoa has part nered with — Elavon, Flatpay, Swedpay, reepay, and other familiar names — has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Our experience is that providers are eager to use our platform because they

Frustrated at the opaque nature of the payments sector, Emil Sunesen and Ga briel Sativa, former colleagues at one of Denmark’s largest payment processors, decided to build a system that helps merchants see all the fees associat ed with each payment processor at a glance, as well as simplifies the appli cation process. The system also informs merchants of the processor’s terms be cause some processors are more suited to merchants in specific sectors, even if they are slightly pricier.

Transparency from a consumer perspective

Part of fighting that crime is allowing financial institutions to share data with each other. But a misaligned regulatory framework between AML, GDPR and Bank Secrecy legislation makes this in credibly challenging, says Taavi Tamkivi, CEO and co-founder of Salv, a regtech (regulatory technology) company pro viding solutions to help fight financial crime and improve AML procedures.

But attaining complete transparency across the various fintech subsectors is a murky subject. Specifically, remaining compliant with European privacy laws and differing regulatory frameworks makes transparency a challenge.

This problem is particularly evident in Scandinavia and Europe. “Globally, banks spend $250 billion a year to remain in compliance with regulations,” Tamkivi says, “and $150 billion of that is spent by European banks. So Europe is heavily above the global average in terms of how carefully they follow global agreements and stick to financial regulations.”

But he also believes that there could be better collaboration among all the different interest groups so that financial regulations between jurisdictions are not so misaligned and far-removed from the realities of financial sector challenges.

Taavi Tamkivi, CEO and co-founder of Salv

Just a year after its launch, Bridge is used daily by at least 16 members in the UK , Estonia and Sweden to share information and help track down suspi cious movements of funds.

“The aims of regulation are super-pos itive,” says Tamkivi, “and regulation is necessary to ensure the global financial system keeps functioning.”

Regulations should be more collaborative

Taavi Tamkivi CEO and co-founder of Salv

“When you successfully stop money laundering,” Tamkivi says, “you’re effec tively limiting crime — such as human trafficking, drug traffiicking, and illicit war-related funds.”

Emil Sunesen and Gabriel Sativa Founders of Advisoa

One of Salv’s primary products is called AML Bridge, a system designed around the labyrinth of country-specific regula tions, business and security needs, to provide financial institutions the ability to easily share information about possible criminal activity between each other while still remaining compliant. “On the one hand, you have to please the regulators and ensure you are following the laws,” says Tamkivi. “On the other, you want to please consumers and ensure their funds are not being embezzled. Finally, you don’t want to please the crimi nals, who are laundering illicit proceeds and financing terrorism, by keeping all their information completely secret form investigators. These goals can be quite contradictory, so building Bridge was an enormous challenge. But we managed it.”

Globally, banks spend $250 billion a year to remain in compliance with regulations, and $150 billion of that is spent by European banks. So Europe is heavily above the global average in terms of how carefully they follow agreementsglobalandstick to financial regulations.”

ering the entire invoice journey. This includes receiving the invoice, reg istering it in the accounting system, passing it on to be paid, making the payment, and then reconciling the account - and very important also all the surrounding repair flows. When looking at companies that sell invoice management services, they typically charge a hefty price per invoice at double or quadruple of the cost of Smart Pay” remarks Nilsson.

“Visma e-conomic’s well-defined API, and November First’s knowledge of the payment space, allowed us to set a high ambitions for a collaboration, with the goal to generate value for Visma e-co nomic’s 170,000 customers”, says Mikael Nilsson, CEO of November First.

Lars Engbork, CEO of Visma e-conomic & Mikael Nilsson, CEO of November First.

With Smart Pay you can skip logging into the online bank, and approve and pay supplier invoices directly from within e-conomic.Butthat’s not all Smart Pay has to offer. Smart Pay also represents a merge between banking and accounting, that eliminates unnecessary and fragmented workflows, and provides the SMEs an opportunity to save time and improve their bottom line.

Delivering a unified payment solution to customers helps combat work process errors that may be caused due to manual entries, data duplication, and redundant communication between bookkeeping and approvers of pay ments. Smart Pay is built on the e-co nomic platform and has November First’s Payment engine integrated to create a solution that offers accounting and payment in one process, helping SMEs save up on crucial time, without compromising control and security.

“With Smart Pay, businesses and bookkeepers can attach invoices to payments so business owners always know what they’re paying for. In addi tion, businesses can take advantage of better exchange rates on foreign payments, meaning more money stays in their pocket. The SME’s get access to similar competitive exchange rates as the large corporations, and are offered lower fees too - all in real time if need ed“ adds Nilsson.

“We realized that if we want to get into the business of handling people’s mon ey, we needed to find a trusted partner who was regulated and could be taken seriously. We found a good match in November First, in terms of a company that we could deeply integrate into our e-conomic workflow and give our cus tomers a great experience,” adds Lars Engbork, CEO of Visma e-conomic.

Automate Invoice Payments

Visma e-conomic and November First’s collaborative endeavor Smart Pay makes payments a whole lot easier! Now you can embed payments directly into your accounting software and streamline your payments and accounting processes!

“What we’ve done is to create a flex ible service automating the process of paying invoices that is suited to however a given company operates on a day to day basis across platforms - mobile and web. Once a payment is approved

Experience Cost Transparency

Smart Pay takes care of everything in a logical digitalized process, eliminating the need for mails and calls. Further, the Smart Pay logic is at its core built to sup port the collaboration between business owners and accountants. The exchange of data happens behind the scenes and is only possible because both compa nies have great APIs that work very well together. We’ve put a lot of effort into making sure that November First’s and Visma e-conomic’s team members func tion as one team,” says Engbork.

With the rapid technological develop ments, efficiency gains and improved bottom line is available for those who embrace it. Smart Pay is instrumental in the digitalisation of the financial func

tion, where manual process is becom ing a thing of the past. The collaboration is still the same, just highly digitalized, consolidated and streamlined.

Smart Pay: Delivering an Integrated Accounting & Payment Process

“The way we’ve addressed embedded finance, is that we’re actually consid

“As we move forward, we will make it even easier for our customers to use Smart Pay. I think that the key here is that we’re going to do the integration even more seamlessly and add further features to the convenience of our customers to using Smart Pay,” con cludes Engbork.

By Marria Qibtia Sikandar Nagra

Avail Better Exchange Rates

It is a known fact that financial re ports often seem incomprehensible to many business owners. The numbers stay as fallow land. But by optimizing the financial data and making it vivid through visual design, we can enhance comprehension. If we furthermore focus on detailed counselling – we get one step closer to creating better financial experiences.

The companies activate more than 70 % of our friends and families. Some are founders, others employees. Some sell services to them, others buy ser vices from them. We cannot live with out those companies and hence we all have a mutual responsibility in building stronger companies.

1. We collect financial data - to create one destination.

Stronger companies build prosperous societies

That is what we are suggesting via these three simple steps:

We will be a success to the extent that we are able to create stronger companies. That’s a nice thing to get out of bed for every morning.”

Now, consider these scenarios with the three steps in mind:

From left to right: Jørgen Horwitz, Chairman of the board & Nicholas Meilstrup, CEO

QualityLiquidityReportingbudgetsassurance

Companies

We find ourselves in a period affected by uncertainty, a fear of a new Global crisis, and inflation. It has never been more essential to have a full overview of your fi nancial situation, and a transparent relation between you and your advisors.

If you are not already one of the 15.000 companies using Crediwire - scan the code and we will be in touch.

Accountants

Are you struggling to get the latest data from your clients? Well, now you can have direct access to updated data on all your clients - always. We know that 89 % of the clients want to share data with their bank in exchange for more value.

Companies play an essential part in our society. Thus, our ability to create stronger companies will define our op portunities to build prosperous societ ies now and in the future to come.

Stronger companies define our ability to solve critical and interesting problems. Making space for innovation that will ensure that we as a society are ready to defy the challenges and dilemmas of tomorrow.

Features: Real-time financial data

—” Seeing is believing” – if you are able to see it and understand it, then you are able to do something about

Photo: Crediwire

2. We structure financial data - to create context.

Do you want to create more value? Well, now you are able to send visual and understandable reports to all your clients. Data shows that 93 % of the cli ents want to work with accountants who work in real-time.

Better Financial Experiences

Something you already do - just easier

Are you longing for more tangible information and advice on how to run your business? Well, now you have an updated overview at your fingertips and your advisors do too.

By Julie Dorthea Bøge

It is not just another fancy tagline. It is the backbone of Crediwire. Experiences are something we create together — Creating more knowledge, better decisions, and ultimately stronger companies. It takes courage — the courage to embrace change, and new technologies, and to unfold new opportunities.

We will be a success to the extent that we are able to create stronger companies. Thus, we are able to make companies achieve their aspirations. That’s a nice thing to get out of bed for every morning. Nicholas Meilstrup, CEO of Crediwire.

Collaboration is key for creating stronger companies

it along the way. Companies need an easy overview: What is their status, and what are their options for optimizing? A full visual overview in combination with close counselling is the main ingredi ent for value - accountants, banks and SMEs in between. This is the way to create stronger companies and more prosperous societies, Nicholas Meil strup, CEO, Crediwire.

This leaves us with a simple recipe. With common access to structured financial data, you and your advisors will have more knowledge. Knowledge sets the framework for better decision-mak ing. Better decisions enable you to create more value and paths the way to your success.

3. We activate financial data - to create understanding.

Nicholas Meilstrup, CEO, Crediwire

xperiences are something we create together – so why not talk about better financial expe riences?

About NumberFoundedCrediwirein2015ofemployees:

Transformation and tech have the potential to move us from one reality to another. In order to succeed, we must offer a better reality and a reality that is not too different from the one you already know.

Target audience: Accountants, companies and banks

Banks

ong before fintech was even a thing, Taavi Tamkivi — now CEO of Salv, a collaborative finan cial-crime-fighting fintech compa ny — was using big data to spot patterns in digital credit card fraud at one of the early pioneers of fraud mitigation: Skype.

From Skype to Wise to global crime-fighting platform

The aughts were the Wild West of internet credit card fraud. There was no such thing as “3D Secure” or “Verified by Visa” checks. The only thing fraudsters needed was a credit card number and, bingo, they had scored the jackpot — or free Skype “Originally,credit.Skype knew nothing about this type of fraud until MasterCard called us and said, ‘We’re closing down your business if you don’t handle this,’” Tamkivi says.

theory at university.”

Although each transaction size itself was small, the number of transactions was enormous. This made tackling the problem challenging because the cost of tracing down a single fraudulent transaction was nowhere near the value of its “Whatreturn.we did was use our huge data set — hundreds of millions of transac tions — to determine patterns,” Tamkivi tells NFM. “There were huge amounts of data points to work with such as IP address, country, location, and so on.

By R. DelgadoPaulo

Salv’s remarkable origin story:

A successful early career at Estonia’s two worldwide tech success stories — Skype and Wise (previously TransferWise) — gave Taavi Tamkivi, CEO of Salv, the experience necessary to create a financial crime-fighting platform that can scale globally.

Salv’s founders were there when Estonian startups Skype and (Transfer) Wise grew to global scale. Now they want to see Salv do the same.

“Skype needed a ton of mathema ticians and data scientists,” Tamkivi tells NFM, “and I somehow ended up becoming a data analyst in their anti-fraud team because I had studied applied mathematics and probability

This experience informed Tamkivi’s approach to fighting financial crime in all his future endeavours, including his time as head of compliance at early startup TransferWise, now Wise.

Unfortunately, being compliant with regulations sometimes got in the way of customer satisfaction. It was Kristo Käär mann, one of Wise’s co-founders, who gave Tamkivi the insight he needed to solve this dilemma. “He told me, ‘What is the core aim of these regulations? What are they specifically trying to achieve?’”

“At Skype, I had been one-dimen sionally focused on stopping fraud and minimising loss,” he says. “At Wise, I was in charge of much more and saw the other side of the picture. It’s more important to keep the customer happy.”

When Tamkivi realised that their core aim was to make a safer world and to stop illicit money flows, it became a lot easier to interpret and follow them.

Wise’s meteoric growth — 50 to 1,000 employees in just four years — exposed Tamkivi to the world’s very many regulatory landscapes across the Americas, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Africa, and more. He began to see the differences and similarities between regimes, and always focused on the aim of those regulations to come up with solutions that benefited the user but which also stopped criminals, and kept the regulators happy.

“Jeff has an awesome systematic approach and fantastic capability to explain things to people,” Tamkivi says warmly. “And Sergei had once been the lead on a KYC product we had to develop. I felt like I had created a small Dream Team.”

Salv works with multiple networks in the UK. And many of their fintech clients are themselves customers of large cor respondent banks.

1. Up to 50% reduction in successful APP (Authorised Push Payment) Fraud — the type of fraud where criminals convince consumers to make a direct payment into the criminal’s bank account.

AML Platform provides screening, monitoring, and risk assessment fea tures. And AML Bridge lets financial institutions collaborate and share intel ligence easily and compliantly to fight

2. Reduction of RFI (Request for Infor mation) response time from over 24 hours to just minutes. This is espe cially important for banks needing information on sanction-related blocks of transfers.

“Both working at Skype and at Wise gave me the confidence necessary to know that we can scale Salv successfully,” Tamkivi says. “Skype handled one-third of the international phone calls back then, up from nothing, so why can’t AML Bridge someday be used by one-third of the global banks?”

He was happy to help them, and the deluge of requests convinced him that he might be able to start a small “hob by business” offering this same service on an advisory basis. The company’s name was Dataminer.

By the time Salv decided to shift focus and get a product created, it already had all the expertise on board necessary to do it.

Both working at Skype and at Wise gave me the confidence necessary to know that we can scale Salv successfully.”

Scaling globally

Salv’s two core products are AML Plat form and AML Bridge.

Every bank in Estonia uses AML Bridge, as do many of the country’s fintechs. The banking association of an other major unnamed country has now just accepted Salv’s RFP (Request for Proposal) and every bank in that country will soon be using AML Bridge as well.

financial crime effectively. The two prod ucts are currently being used across 12 European countries.

From Wise to Data Miner to Salv Tamkivi did not initially plan to leave Wise. He took a year of parental leave and, during that time, was approached by numerous close friends to help them with their own AML and compli ance issues in their businesses.

Two specific benefits of using AML Bridge are particularly loved by customers:

Taavi Tamkivi. CEO of Salv

My job was to discover the patterns, compare them to similar patterns, then feed them to an automated system that could stop the criminals.”

The “hobby business” grew and it soon became apparent that much of the time-consuming work they were doing could be automated. In 2019, when it be came clearer that there might be a prod uct being developed, Tamkivi brought in

Tamkivi joined Wise in its early startup phase, when it had only about 50 employ ees. He was made head of compliance. At Wise, he had to deal with AML, KYC, and customer onboarding processes.

And so Salv and the AML Platform were born.

Wise lessons

his ex-colleagues from Wise and Skype as co-founders — Jeff McClelland and Sergei Rumjantsev.

Tom Turula, PR and Marketing Manag er of Monto, highlights that the pandem ic helped accelerate expectations for financial services that are instant, online and embedded.

Monto (and Capcito) was recently acquired by Fortnox, the leading accounting soft ware provider in Sweden. Besides serving the financial ecosystem through its API and credit intelligence dashboard, Monto is helping Fortnox become a one-stop shop for business services.

Our edge is that we don’t just deliver data — we also keenly understand the SME credit scoring and underwriting process from both sides.”

Facilitating Fair Financing

“As we look to the future, we see companies from all corners of the industry striving to provide smarter and faster financing services. Our focus will be on helping lenders both big and small achieve sustainable business outcomes through improved efficiency, increased margins, and reduced portfolio risk. By doing so, we can create a much better financing landscape for everyone involved,” concludes Schreij.

Covid-19 has had far-reaching conse quences in the SME sector. For Monto, the pandemic underscored the impor

Both companies share the vision of de livering easy-to-use business services to small businesses – and Monto’s technol ogy will power many of the new financing services Fortnox is launching. This means that Fortnox’s 450,000+ business custom ers will soon be able to get invoice-based financing with a few clicks, based on real-time accounting data.

or small to medium enterprises (SMEs), access to adequate fund ing is key to maintaining operations and investing in growth. However, lack of access to financing continues to be a major hurdle for many businesses, as lenders are reluctant to give loans to SMEs that may not be able to repay them. This dynamic has resulted in a €1,000 billion SME funding gap in Europe.

“Our edge is that we don’t just deliver data – we also understand the cred it scoring and underwriting process from both sides, because we’ve done it ourselves. Capcito has leveraged Monto’s credit intelligence technology to lend SEK 2.5 billion to date. This gives us a unique perspective and in-depth knowledge of what it takes to success fully serve businesses. And it puts us in a strong position to help our clients achieve their goals,” says Schreij.

“Our mission is to provide lenders with the data and tools they need to under stand and delight SME businesses. We use a proprietary scoring model to eval uate SME companies based on a host of factors, taking into account not just their last annual report but also how they are performing now, ” says Leonard Schreij.

“Fortnox is a publicly-traded company with an ambitious strategic objective of expanding from accounting services into integrated financing. We’re excited to have an owner with such a massive scale, allowing us to build and grow embedded financing services. With their vast access to data, we can make financing as easy and straightforward as possible for our customers, so they won’t need to go any where else,” says Turula.

This is where Monto comes in. The company’s credit intelligence platform provides direct, consented access to financial data from SME companies’ accounting systems.

Monto’s ultimate goal is to enable the SME sector to prosper by facilitating fairer credit decisions. The key is remov

Stockholm-based Monto is determined to reshape the Nordic SME lending landscape. Through its credit intelligence platform, the company enables both banks and fintech lenders to gain a real-time understanding of their borrowers.

“Our platform uses AI-based algorithms to assess the performance of companies in real time. We have been validating this solution in Sweden through Capcito for the past six years, and are now ready to scale the underlying technology to lend ers everywhere. Partnering with Monto, lenders will no longer be blindfolded when it comes to understanding how their portfolio companies are faring, a competitive advantage especially during times of volatility,” adds Schreij.

Partnerships and Acquisitions

By Marria Qibtia Sikandar Nagra

ing information asymmetry from the underwriting process.

“As embedded financing becomes a bigger trend, businesses are look ing to access financing in the places where they spend most of their time. For example, accounting systems or e-com platforms. Open banking and the increased sophistication of financial ser vices towards small businesses are other important trends that lenders should stay on top of,” adds Turula.

The demand for real-time borrower data is evident among Monto’s partners. One of Sweden’s largest banks, SEB, partnered with Monto to leverage this data in order to improve their lending decisions.

According to Monto’s CEO Leonard Schreij, the funding gap is largely driven by an information chasm. Lenders have historically lacked access to the data that’s required to make accurate credit decisions and run efficient underwrit ing processes. As a result, the financial incentives among business lenders have been tilted towards serving large corporations.“Theindustry has lacked quality data on how SME companies are performing. When you go to the bank to get funding for your business, the credit agent requests records of your past perfor mance – information that’s often up to 18 months old. That’s actually quite insane. It’s little wonder, then, that banks have focused on serving bigger corpo rations with plenty of public financial information available, leaving SMEs at a disadvantage,” says Schreij.

How Monto helps SME lenders make smarter credit decisions

Propelling Growth of SMEs

tance of fresh financial data in credit decisions, especially for SMEs who were heavily affected. Because they play such a vital role in society, Monto believes that facilitating access to SME financing is one of the best ways to help society as a whole.“While big businesses receive the lion’s share of attention, small and medi um enterprises are the true job creators today. According to Swedish statistics, 80 percent of new jobs since the 1990s have been generated by SMEs,” remarks Schreij. “We are committed to empower ing lenders to extend the credit entre preneurs need to grow and create jobs – starting in the Nordics.”

Since it spun out of its sibling com pany, direct lender Capcito, in 2021, Monto has been working to help busi nesses and lenders simplify access to financing. The company’s technology is giving lenders the insights they need to make informed decisions through fresh financial information.

“For us, fair financing means being assessed on up-to-date performance, rather than being judged based on data that doesn’t make justice to the hard work that entrepreneurs are putting in. Fresh financial information empowers lenders to onboard more business, while giving borrowers higher chances of get ting the capital they need – when they need it,” remarks Schreij.

Leonard Schreij CEO Monto

Leonard Schreij, CEO, Monto

In keeping with this concept, Tuum is also focused on adapting and modernis ing its own platform.

About Tuum

Sergei Anikin CEO, Tuum

“The key to becoming an agile, “always modern” business, is first distributing the decision power by creating self-man aging operational units - this allows for small quick changes within the organi sation - and then have the technology in place to support this kind of distributed organisation model. Tuum’s architecture follows this same model of separation and distribution of authority.” remarks Anikin. Tuum’s platform is built around modu larity and follows an API-first approach. It

“Tuum’s modular architecture is one that allows banks to make changes gradually and without having to invest a large amount of money upfront. This is also appealing from a risk management perspective, as it allows CEOs to approve small changes that carry little risk. This methodical approach is in contrast to the traditional approach of making sweeping changes all at once, which can be costly and difficult to implement.”

which supports continuous innovation. It is up to the individual bank to decide how they want to orchestrate these capabili ties and in what form they want to interact with their customers. By combining this broad functionality and flexibility with an agile approach, banks will be able to stay ahead of the game.” states Anikin.

Agility is key in making sure that the technology and processes stay modern The agile mindset and way of working is a concept introduced by software teams back in the 90s, and has today become far more widely adopted by all kinds of businesses as a means to expedite change, improve project management and empower teams at any rank. The faster you get feedback on a solution and make changes, the quicker you get to evolve. Essentially business agility is about speeding up and improving the efficiency of evolution.

“We are always looking for ways to improve our offering. Our future plans include adding corporate banking capabilities to our platform, and also exploring ways to connect traditional banking infrastructure with the crypto world in a compliant and regulated manner,” concludes Anikin.

Lack of progress does not necessarily come from a lack of trying; in fact, most banks have initiated some form of a digital transformation process, but have stumbled along the way (or failed). Allo cation of resources, buy-in from senior management, and method of trans formation are just some of the reasons as to why banks have paused or aban doned transformation initiatives.

The way customers interact with banks, the products and services offered by banks, and even the very definition of “banking” is constantly evolving. Banks need to focus on continuous innovation in order to keep up with these ongoing shifts. By doing so, they avoid future scenarios where they find themselves out-manoeu vred by more agile challengers.

How Tuum ensures your tech and processes never become “legacy” again

Tuum ’s modular and API-first core banking platform enables a quick roll-out of new, customerfocused financial solutions. It covers all retail and business banking processes from accounts, deposits and lending to payments and cards. The cutting-edge technology allows for real-time operations, data-based decisionmaking, and personalized service

Continuous innovation in banking is needed

Tuumofferings.was

Banks’ transformation struggles

Banks today are under constant pressure to modernise themselves in order to keep up with agile fintechs that are quick to respond to changing consumer needs. Whilst the trend of digital transformation has fully taken hold in other sectors, many of the established players in the financial services industry have found themselves lagging.

From digital transformation to digital evolution:

“We provide the standard features that every bank needs to have. Additionally, we enable a high degree of configuration

According to Tuum’s latest industry report “The changing face of banking”, banks are well aware of the need to digitally transform themselves. Of the 313 IT decision-makers within financial institutions across the UK, Germany and France that were surveyed, 64% said they

founded in 2019 by a small group of Estonian financial IT pioneers with decades of experience in digitizing and transforming large Nordic banks. The company has acquired customers throughout Europe, the customer base in the Nordics includes Januar, Sweepbank, Credinord and LHV. Tuum currently employs 100 people in its offices in Tallinn, Berlin, Malaga and London.

is designed to follow the logical struc ture of a bank or financial institution, with the four primary modules being: accounts, cards, lending, and payments. The platform enables businesses to start with one specific module (or even just certain capabilities from a module) and then add additional modules later on, as needed. This convenient and cost-effec tive approach cuts down on implemen tation costs, as businesses only pay for the modules they need.

ergei Anikin, CEO, Tuum: “It’s ironic to think that banks were actually one of the first ones to start adopting computer technologies. They needed it the most, because of all the numbers, data, etc. But somewhere along the way they stopped. They thought they were done. Then, suddenly, when society and con sumer expectations started changing faster than they did 20 years ago, banks found themselves in a position where they couldn’t keep up anymore.”

have already started with digital transfor mation, and 35% have plans in place. But how to make sure that this transformation is not a one-off thing and in 20 years time, the bank is still “digitally transformed”?

These problems are not new, why is this trend picking up momentum now?

Technology is making it more accessible for you and me to go and invest in these type of instruments. But the root cause is the inequality of the access to wealth building instruments. Some events relat ed to companies like Game Stop, where hedge funds investment strategies were perceived as unfair towards the broader public, have resulted in people joining forces to even out that playing field. The sense of inequality is in my opinion the true core issue.

We are seeing cultural trends like the financially independent retire early movement (FIRE). It boils down to becoming financially independent ahead of the predicted retirement age, which requires savings and a complete ly different view on spending. People want to be independent from the financial system. There is an us versus them culture which to a certain extent I can understand. It is this current type of mindset that is fuelling the democrati zation of wealth management.

But where does this inequality exist?

PlayingSociety’sWealth:DemocratizingLevellingFinancialField

Ramtin, as Head of Innovation you have your hands in a lot of different pies but today, we’re going to be focusing on the democratization of financial services. Let’s start by defining what is democratization and what’s driving it.

Many have the perception that in equality within the financial system is only tied to parts of the less developed world, where the cost of banking can be close to 20-30% of your income and where people don’t have access to ser vices we take for granted, such as card, payments and account infrastructure. But inequality also exists here, on an other level, within the financial service spectrum.Asanexample take equity raising for startups. Most of the value creation in companies happens when the startup moves from its infant stage, to a scale-up and ultimately the stock exchange. It is

Is this driven by technology or is there a problem at the core that this is trying to solve?

usually not possible to invest in a startup from the very beginning, unless you are a family office, or you have some con nections to these companies. The lack of access to these opportunities is part of the inequality which some companies are trying to to solve.

e sat down with Ramtin Matin, Head of Innova tion at Sparebank 1-SR Bank, the second largest regional bank in Norway with approx imately 220 billion in gross lendings and 350 000 retail and corporate cus tomers, to find out what the democ ratization of wealth management is all about and the exciting opportunities it opens for the rest of us.

The democratization of wealth man agement is creating an even playing field for everyone in society. Historically, wealthy people have had opportunities to invest and grow their wealth through instruments that are not accessible to everyone. In the past five years there has been a paradigm shift, making those in struments available to the broader part of the public. Distributed ledger technology and the crypto space are good examples of how ordinary people can invest in in struments that are highly lucrative, on the same conditions as wealthier segments.

By Chris Crespo

Culture is changing at breakneck speeds, and with it, people’s aims and ambitions. Strong trends amongst the young, are not only disrupting the whole idea of working for a living, but also what it means to accumulate wealth. A new wave of disruption is hitting wealth management, a part of financial services traditionally reserved for the wealthy who could afford the steep fees associated with having a dedicated advisor.

Ramtin Matin Head of Innovation at Sparebank 1-SR Bank

As technology brings down those barriers and automates banking functions, will investment companies and banks continue to optimize the physical channel?

I’m not a financial advisor but i think it is important to have some type of diverse portfolio. The advantage of these type of tools is that they bring down market barriers for entry. In the Nordics the housing market soared for the past two years but it now has a more moderate outlook. Price hikes increase barriers for new entrants. For a young couple who wants to settle and buy an apartment, it can be very difficult to get into the mar ket. The democratization of wealth and savings could become a steppingstone towards that, but inherently there is risk.

There are some interesting ideas on how the democratization of finance could be a solution to broader societal issues like access to property ownership.

What are the main opportunities that democratization of wealth management is opening for investment companies and for fintechs?

There are possible synergies between these two. Investment companies have knowledge and trust as well as a distribution network. Fintechs and those who provide the tools, products, services, and business models for the democratization can make them accessible to incumbents, so why not collaborate on those two areas? It’s an ideal match, but it requires that each party tries to understand one another. There is much to be gained by collabo rating towards the end user. Ultimately the goal is to provide better financial services for everyone equally.

rather than interacting through a screen. This is a big question mark for a lot of the new fintechs.

For the past 30 years there’s been a focus on getting people on the property ladder as a way to build long term wealth. We now see a similar trend for getting people on the investment ladder through democrati zation. Why would customers choose new types of investment instruments over equity on real estate property?

This is an extremely good question, as these two things are usually put aside as opposites. I think there’s room for both. I believe that we need to develop the physical channel as the younger generations, used to screen interaction, are seeking for validation from a profes sional who has looked over their financ es and can tell them things will be fine. You don’t get that type of trust building foundation with digital tools yet. It takes a long time to build trust and it’s easier when you’re sitting across one another

Nordic Fintech Week 2022 TAP1 | Copenhagen | Sept 27th-28th www.nfweek.com

Nordic Fintech Magazine Sept22

Articles inside

Democratizing Wealth: Levelling Society’s Financial Playing Field

From digital transformation to digital evolution: How Tuum ensures your tech and processes never become “legacy” again

How Monto helps SME lenders make smarter credit decisions

Salv’s remarkable origin story: From Skype to Wise to global crime-fighting platform

Better Financial Experiences

Ethical Finance: Is complete transparency possible under existing regulatory conditions?

Smart Pay: Delivering an Integrated Accounting & Payment Process

Impact: The Complexity is an Opportunity for Fintechs

The Future of Finance: Bringing humanity back to insurance through Insurtech

“We can’t afford to halt the momentum in Danish Fintech.”

Improve customer experience with electronic signatures and eIDs

A Danish startup is changing the game of protecting privacy

Empowering a New Generation of Fintechs

Copenhagen Can Become a Top Priority for Tech Talents

In the future of Web3, anyone can become an investor

Democratization of Financial Services

Partnerships are Key in solving our climate crisis and ESG challenges

How BNPL providers can future-proof their technology platforms

We can’t avoid uncertainty but we can change how we navigate uncertain times

A Different Breed?

Powering Fintech in Malta

My Carbon Action: Helping financial institutions encourage sustainably responsible consumption

Crypto is taking a foothold in the Nordics

3rd-Eyes Analytics: Empowering Financial Institutions to Deliver Goal-based Investing

The ingenious strategy that keeps FIS ahead of its competitors

Sileon helps fintechs and banks capture the growing Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) market

Eight markets, one region

Embracing disruption to anticipate customer’s payments needs

The Mind of the CEO

But is bigger better?

Transforming lending through cloud-based services

Sobriety over hype: Levelling the curve of Inflated Expectations on Embedded Finance

Redefining “stringent” for an inclusive and collaborative crypto regulatory system

Zimpler: Guaranteeing Simplified and Seamless Payment Solutions