Nordic Fintech Magazine’s - The Future of

Lacklustre Banking experiences got you down? Let's change that! Join us for a captivating conversation with Nicole Perry, Global Strategy Director Digital Business Growth at 11:FS Ventures, as she shares her unique approach to digital transformation in the financial sector. With her sharp insights and thought-provoking views, Nicole shares the secret to truly customer-driven, frictionless banking. Get ready to be inspired and learn what it takes to revolutionise the industry and how the power of understanding your customers' "jobs to be done" has the potential to shape the banking landscape into a customer-driven digital experience. We are certain that Nicole's engaging conversation, knowledge of the industry, raspy Glaswegian accent and wit will have you hooked!

The seamlessly unstoppable growth that fintech had enjoyed for years is finally tapering off. We all watched with excitement the rise of neobanks, fintech platforms and crypto exchanges but instinctively we also knew that the level of investment was not sustainable and likely due a reality check. That is not necessarily a bad thing, our industry exists in a delicate balance of trust and stability that enables people to transact, access credit and multiply value so regular adjustments should be seen as necessary and beneficial to the industry as a whole. That's not to say that the movement has come to a halt, opportunities still abound for companies with compelling business models and the future of Fintech is looking more exciting than ever. In a recent trip to London, we had a unique opportunity to sit down with Jeff Tijssen, Expert Partner and Global Head of Fintech at Bain & Company to talk about Fintech trends, the pace of transformation in Finance and a Global perspective of what's coming down the innovation pipeline. Jeff see's ‘plenty a reason' to be excited and so do we!

We continue to see a strong move towards enabling investors to be more discerning of where they put their money. Similarly to how health conscious foodies became intent in knowing what was in their food, a new generation of investors are now demanding that funds and investment companies disclose further information on the virtues, or lack of , of the companies in their portfolios. The trend in itself is not new, for decades investors have been able to decide whether to finance companies aligned with their values, which saw many steering clear from things like weapons, or tobacco.  This time is different though, as the push is accelerating by concerns for climate change, and newly devised standards relating to social issues and governance. We had an opportunity to sit down with Alvar Lumberg, a veteran in the Estonian startup scene, who in his latest move is acting as CTO and late Co-founder of Grünfin, a company that is enabling investors to put their money where their heart is. Listen to how Grünfin not only provides clarity and further options for values based investing, but is also working to nudge organisations into adopting more environmental, social and governance aligned practices.  Whichever side of the isle you stand on ESG ratings, it's undeniable that simplicity and transparency will become the hallmark of a new generation of finance solutions to come.

The disruption of Finance has come in waves. Incumbents have moved from confidently ignoring the attempts of fintechs to transform the industry, to fearing death by a thousand cuts, to embracing the innovation and speed to market that many challengers and innovators bring to play. It is now clear, in a way that was not a few short years ago, that the synergies between incumbents and fintech startups are producing amazing win-win-win situations at unprecedented speeds. A company that has fully embraced the transformative power of fintech entrepreneurs is Mastercard, who not only has demonstrated its commitment to innovation through their recent acquisition of Danish Open Banking Front runner Aiia,  but that today continues to empower fintech startups by making open banking rails available to them. We had a wonderful opportunity to sit down with Tanya Slavova, Head of Fintech Sales, Open banking at Aiia, a Mastercard company where we got to discuss how the marriage of open banking and payments is resulting in services and never-before seen convenience to fintechs and their customers. Learn how Mastercard is equipping fintechs with technology, scale and reach and how it supports entrepreneurship through programs that nourish and elevate many of the extraordinary fintech heroes leaving their mark in the Nordics today.

Prepare to have your mind blown away! This has been the most exciting and lively interview we have done to date. But we have to be honest here, this concept is a little bit hard to grasp, or at least it was for us at first , but don't let that discourage you , this is one of the most daring and exciting innovations we've seen, and the potential application for this idea is huge. In our recent trip to Estonia, we were lucky enough to have a sit down with Merit Valdsalu, CEO and Co-Founder of Single Earth, an Estonian company that has found an ingenious way of incentivising landowners to preserve their land and natural resources. In this chat you'll hear how Merit and her team of researchers are merging digital twins, economics and innovative business models  to create the first nature backed token, a coin that aptly shares the name of its founder. Through Merits, Single.Earth is creating a market that enables people to buy tokens attached to the land. These tokens are in essence a digital tradeable asset, that not only directly benefit landowners but that, like any other asset, can increase in value in the open market. Is your mind about to ignite?  Yes we thought so.

We have to admit it, when it comes to Iceland, we are slightly bias. The country offers some of the most spectacular scenery one could visit as well as some astonishing natural attractions and world class hospitality. It is also home to ingenious down to earth people who have achieved the extraordinary feat of making this mid Atlantic largely uninhabited landmass, a thriving nation with all the infrastructure, industry and services, needed to prosper its 360,000 population. In our recent visit to Reykjavik we had the opportunity to meet, amongst many inspiring entrepreneurs, Gunnlaugur   , CEO and Founder of the Fitnech Cluster. In this engaging conversation we hear how Iceland's fascination with heroism combined with its self sufficiency and necessary ability to adapt, is creating some outstanding fintechs that are born global from their inception.  Learn about how the past and recent history of this Nordic nation continues to shape its approach to finance and the way in which visionaries are role modelling a new breed of financial services to the rest of the world.

The digitalisation of financial services has excited us all. Even those outside the industry see the benefits of accessing more convenient ways of paying, more immediate access and transfer of money and more intuitive solutions for investment. Yet we seldom think about the darker side of finance, the criminals looming in the dark constantly looking for ways to game the system for fraudulent and illegal purposes, who in many cases, are also benefiting from digitalisation. The transformation of our industry brings with it a whole new set of challenges for financial crime fighting professionals, regulators and institutions. We had a fascinatingly interesting chat with Taavi Tamkivi, CEO and Founder at Salv, an Estonian company that is intent in developing the tools and cross industry workflows across bodies and jurisdictions to stay one step ahead of criminals. Find out what Salv is doing to make financial services more secure while making it more difficult and expensive for criminals to operate and finance the activities that harm and affect us all. Proof, once again, that not all heroes wear capes.

Retail banking investors usually get the short end of the stick when it comes to investment, missing out on opportunities available to those who understand the finance. With Web3 and the crypto-space, the financial service industry is taking gigantic leaps towards a new financial system. One that is fairer, more accessible and secure. A company that is pioneering the development of this industry through, transparency, simplicity and strong regulation is the Estonian frontrunner Coinmetro. We had an opportunity to speak to it's CEO and Founder Kevin Murcko to understand how Web3 is changing investing for retail customers and traders and the foundational role regulation plays in all of it. In this interview you'll learn more about how clean smart regulation can ensure that clients don't loose access to opportunity, while injecting transparency into the system and removing the complexity that stops many of us from accessing the market in the first place. Listen to how Coinmetro is striving to create a modern financial solution combined with the power of community and the most comprehensive regulation for crypto in Europe, as it accelerates the progress of this fascinating industry. You will be hooked listening to Kevin's insights and passion for spearheading the development of this vibrant space.

Payments is perhaps the area of finance where we've seen the most innovation and the most intense competition. In only a few short years we've gone from chip and pin, to contactless, to mobile payments, to immediate cross boarder payments.  And yet amongst all this innovation and convenience, companies are striving to make the payment process more seamless, immediate, secure and affordable. We recently had the opportunity to speak to Johan Strand,CEO of Swedish Payments frontrunner Zimpler, to understand what lies ahead in the payments space and how fintechs continue to disrupt this intensely competitive industry. Learn about how a payment infrastructure that enables account to account transactions could significantly improve payments by removing unnecessary steps along the value chain, creating jobs, economic growth and more value for consumers, merchants and payments operators, in a way that challenges the hegemony of cards we have all come to rely in.  

Digital transformation is a difficult undertaking for any organisation. Many incumbents fail in their attempts to change the mindset, behaviour, practices and technology that will help them remain competitive, presenting a market opportunity for companies that can bring speed, technology and agility to service them. Fintechs have seized the opportunity to serve as surrogates for incumbents, helping them modernize their digital experiences and keep up with customer expectations. A company that has successfully equipped banks and other financial institutions, serving over 100 million customers worldwide, with state of the art digital experiences is Meniga out of Iceland. We had the opportunity to sit down with their founder Georg Ludvikson to understand how fintech are helping banks stay at the forefront of their business. In this session you'll learn more about how Meniga is ultraprersonalising experiences for millions of banking customers, making digital banking, smart, intuitive and relevant.  Our banking history tells a story about us, it's about time banks use that knowledge to help customers live better financial lives.

At the risk of being simplistic, the credit process of decision, monitoring and collection has remained unchanged for hundreds if not thousands of years. However we are seeing a strong mindset shift in the way banks and other lenders go about issuing credit. Long gone are the days of “all-you-can-eat” infrastructure where credit organisations, resolute to develop their core systems in house, would build them with excess capacity to account for future growth and peak demand. Modular scalability is the new cool! In our recent trip to Estonia we had the opportunity to sit down with Ian Kalla, CXO at Bankish a company that is building a “pay-as-you-grow” cloud banking platform on which clients can plug and play ecosystem solutions in a modular and scalable way. In this lively conversation you'll learn how Bankish is reducing barriers to market entry, accelerating speed to market, reducing costs and allowing lenders to focus on what they are best at, powering their customer's dreams!

Insurance has traditionally been a paper heavy business loaded with regulatory burdens that have made insurers slow in the uptake of transformation. It is no surprise that amongst the disruption of financial services, insuretech solutions have not yet taken centerstage in the way many other fintech innovations have.We sense that's about to change. We recently had a revealing conversation with Lars Bonde, COO at Tryg, the largest insurance company across the Nordics, to understand how Tryg is adapting through digitalisation. In this conversation we discuss how Tryg has been working hard to empower customers to handle more of their insurance needs by themselves while living more sustainable lives. Learn how leaders in the industry are working with insuretechs and technology companies to create exciting new products that are more intuitive, flexible and innovative as the industry readies itself for hellbent disruption. 

Digitaliztaion of businesses has made things more convenient for consumers but has come with its own set of new challenges. Problems arising from the “non-phisical” nature of many new businesses has led to instances of fraud, crime and other illegal activities perpetrated by organizations that hide behind the relative anonymity of the digital world. Enter Vespia, the regtech company from Estonia proposing an innovative solution to keep businesses in check. We recently had a fascinating conversation with Julia Ront, their CEO and Co-founder whose ambitions are not limited by the sky. Julia who was an early core team member of Veriff and identity verification unicorn from Estonia and Anton, her Co-founder are bringing all their experience in people's digital verification to bear into their innovative solution for business. Learn how Vespia's pre-verified and up to date passport for businesses, not only promises to solve the issue validating the legitimacy of companies, but also their ongoing monitoring process; all while making onboarding for partners, investors, suppliers, or customers fast and cost efficient.  You'll be blown away by the boldness of Julia's vision and her resolve to make business interactions safe and trusted. 

Hyperpersonalisation is a well documented benefit of digitalisation. We can see it everywhere, in the content we consume on social media, in the gadgets we use and even in the clothes we buy online. With advances in data analytics, we can also now also hyperpersonalize the financial products that we buy.  The proverbial “segment of one”, is becoming a reality thanks to companies that are fusing deep analytics, technology and financial capabilities. We recently had a very insightful conversation with Marc Mettler, Managing Partner for Business Development at 3rd-eyes analytics, the Swiss Wealth-tech company that is making hyperpersonalisation in wealth management a reality. In this chat we discussed how the hyperpseronalisation trend in finance is enabling customers to pursue investment goals based on their values, their priorities and their risk appetite, helping them maximize the probability to reach their financial goals. Learn how 3rd-eyes analytics is empowering financial institutions to deliver goal-based investing products that enable people like you and me to plan for our future dreams. 

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts Few organisations espouse this idea like the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) the worlds largest group of blockchain experts, working in unison to influence and steer the development of this radically transformative technology.  GBBC is a non for profit Swiss based association that helps with education, advocacy and partnership on blockchain and digital assets. Its members work as educators and connectors with 500 + institutional members across 95 jurisdictions including multi-stakeholder organisations like government agencies, regulators, central banks, entrepreneurs and other fortune 500 corporates.  In this conversation with Sandra Ro, GBBC's CEO we'll learn more about how GBBC is building bridges between the amazing industry of blockchain,  and traditional finance, to scale and grow the technology that will help people do well while having a positive impact on societies and communities globally.  We are certain you will find Sandra's words as inspiring and compelling as we did!

As innovation enters the market there are inevitably kinks to iron out while new solutions reach maturity and enter the mainstream. Today if you want to venture into the world of crytpo you would have to go through an often cumbersome process of setting up your digital wallet and getting it ready to hold and transact with cryptocurrency. Those who can understand the complexity behind the new types of financial services and who can leverage technology to simplify them, are quickly gaining the upper hand in the industry. In our recent visit to Tallinn, the stunning capital city of Estonia, we had the opportunity to meet with Bernardo Magnani, CEO and Co-Founder of Striga, a financial technology company that is bringing together the worlds of traditional finance and cryptocurrency by seamlessly enabling service providers to handle flows from fiat to crypto and direct card payment settlement against crypto. Find out how Striga's technology is removing the complexity of connecting a crypto wallet with a payment card,  dealing with the payment rails and making crypto integrations simple and affordable for banks and other service providers. We guarantee that you will learn a thing or two about how this space is developing after listening to Bernardo's sharp insights.

We can often find two types of people; complainers and fixers. The payments space offers plenty of opportunities for the latter and in today's episode we meet a fixer who saw opportunities to provide better, faster, more cost efficient and innovative payment services to consumers. We recently travelled to Finland to meet one-on-one with one of the co-founders, who is also co-CEO of Enfuce, a payment company that is turning up the dial on payment experiences while seeking to solve global problems. Monika Liikamaa is a seasoned banker, with a fascinating background, inside and outside finance, that has influenced her bold and no-nonsense attitude towards transforming the industry. In this interview. you'll Learn how Enfuce has taken on the mission to fix payments with deep understanding of technology, infrastructure and an equally profound concern for sustainability.  Learn how Enfuce's focus on transparency, dynamic scalability and its approach to true and committed partnerships caters for companies with a banking license as well as for customers who buy everything as-a-service, giving them the freedom to focus 100% on their user journey.

Credit worthiness, the intricate set of data, projections and scores that determine an individual or a company's ability to access debt capital, is an area of finance that we rarely hear about. Yet, while credit worthiness is the gateway that controls the access to financing in all markets, traditional credit assessment models rely on outdated historical data and broad statistical models that convey little insight on an organisation's true ability to generate revenue and repay debt. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with serial entrepreneur Michael Hansen who is not only an Executive Vice President at Fortnox, the Nordics largest cloud based ERP system, but is also the founder of Monto and Capcito, organisations that were born out of frustration with accessing available credit for small and medium businesses. These organisations aim to create integrations to all the major accounting software in Sweden to build a data driven assessment of SMEs that enables them to access working capital faster, with more fairness and at better rates.  Learn how Monto is unlocking access to business data to create more reliable and accurate credit decisions that benefit SMEs with fuel for growth. 

Think Insurance is a boring analogue paper heavy business with a static business model and predictably poor customer service? Until recently, so did we, but as it turns out, insuretech is gushing with innovation in all areas or the insurance value chain. In our recent trip to the Norwegian Capital of Oslo we had a surprising encounter with Erik Skaar, CEO and Co-Founder at Tillit. And we say it was surprising because we were stopped cold on our tracks by the astonishing level of innovation Tillit is wielding. Think entirely automated claims processes through software used on drones for crack detection on bridges, repurposed to identify cracks on phone screens. Or advanced math models used to defer risk across all policy holders and offer dynamic pricing that fluctuates on a monthly basis according to how much risk the company is able to spread. Need we say more? Erik and his cofounder having worked in insurance prior to becoming entrepreneurs, witnessed first hand  the many inefficiencies in the industry and how poorly customers were generally treated. They set out to change this with smart technology and unconventional thinking.  This is one of our favourite interviews and we think it'll be one of yours too. 

What happens when you build a country as a Startup? It's not uncommon to think that cutting edge innovation resides in the hands of private enterprise and academia. After all their business models demand that they stay one step ahead of the competition, which has always brought new ideas and inventiveness to play. But what happens when you are able to start from a clean slate, when you have the opportunity to rebuild from scratch and when your ambition transcends the boundaries of a private organisation and reach as far as an entire state? We travelled north to the beautiful city of Tallinn to find out how, Estonia, the "Startup Nation", came about and became the entrepreneurship and fintech powerhouse that it is today. In our recent “unicorn safari” in Estonia we had the privilege to sit down with Erika Piirmets, Digital transformation advisor at E-Estonia to talk about how this economically progressive state rebuilt their nation on the platform of the future. In this chat we learn how Estonian pragmatism, commitment and evidence-first approach propelled this small country into a modern, forward driven Nordic nation with the most advanced digital state in the world and the highest global number of unicorns per capita (1:130,000 people) .  This interview will make you shift your attention north and perhaps make a few changes to your upcoming travel plans.

What do you get when you cross a comparison site with a powerful real estate assessment tool and loan calculators? In Iceland

To date, we've had the privilege of siting down with over 70 dreamers who are bringing to life the financial system of the future. While we have learnt and been excited by every single one of their visions, today's guest has not only managed to inspire us but it has also amazed us with the sophistication of his thinking and the profound impact of his solution. Meet Fairown, the Estonian fintech that is rethinking the financial model behind the lifecycles of the things we buy, from manufacturing all the way down to reuse.  In this jawdropingly interesting chat with Hendrik Roosna, CEO and Founder of Fairown, we learn how through a clever combination of the subscription economy and advanced finance and tech capabilities, Fairown is making circularity a practical reality in markets around the world. And what is circularity you may be asking. Well think of how we usually consume products; 95% of all the energy required in the lifecycle of a product is consumed in its production. Yet after obsolecense, products are disposed of and forgotten, including all their metal, silicon chips and other components that could be reused. Fairown is powering the finances that let manufacturers bend this linear economy into a closed loop circle where there is no waste and where nothing drops out. And what about profits we hear you say. Well this approach also builds healthy P&Ls by helping manufacturers effectively predict and plan for product and component lifecycles including the use, retirement and repurposing of every part of their products. This interview is worth every minute of your time. 

In our attempt to uncover what makes Nordic fintech exceptional, we recently visited Oslo, the modern capital city of Norway. We couldn't help notice that in spite of it being a market with a limited reach, at least from a B2C perspective, Norway has recently produced a row of remarkable companies that are reshaping how financial services addresses some of the most concerning problems for Nordic societies. With its strong values and open society, as well as a highly digital savvy population, Norwegian entrepreneurs are leaving their mark across the fintech spectrum. For example in areas like Impact, where companies like Empower.ico, an Environmental and Fintech company are using blockchain to create a circular economy and deposit system for waste plastics. Or important proponents of identity and security solutions like Signicat, now a European leader in digital identity, or Zwipe which is enabling biometry for digital security on credit cards.  Other relevant examples include Viips, a payment spinoff from one of Norway's largest banks and , ZTL and Dintero which are making payments simple and convenient.  But perhaps the most progressive approach to fintech comes from companies operating in the crypto space like Firi, the Nordics largest crypto-exchange or Dune analytics and Nansen.ai who are providing real time data on the crypto and NFT markets. To better understand the origins of all this innovation and the vision for Norway as a fintech powerhouse, we sat down with Hans Christian Bjorne, Co-Founder of The Factory and CEO of the Factory Innovation. In this chat you'll learn more about the Norwegian approach to entrepreneurship and scalability, the advantages of launching and testing your proof of concept in a highly digital market and the transition to a global mindset that is helping Norway flourish as a fintech powerhouse.

Is the end of Bullshit Banking in sight? This will definitely get you thinking! For year's we've heard from self-important people in expensive suits that while Fintechs have the snazzy innovation and speed to market, banks have the customer's trust. But do they really? Sure our money is protected by a regulatory requirement that forces banks to guarantee our deposits, so we know that, should something like the crisis of 2008 were to happen again, our money would be safe. Yet according to a recent survey by Ipsos Mori, over 66 % of us suspect that our bank would take advantage of us if it could. Haukur Skúlason , CEO and Co-founder at Icelandic challenger bank Indó is rethinking trust and taking what it means to trust your bank to a whole new level. With a refreshing philosophy of what banking should and shouldn't be, Indó bank is gearing up to bring an end to bullshit banking with a revolutionary proposition: “We don't want customers only to trust us, we want them to like us.” And how will it achieve this monumental task? with a mindset rarely seen in financial services and a value proposition centred on transparency, clarity, fairness and a rotund and friendly animated green mascot for good measure. In this refreshing chat with Haukur we find out how his fearless founding team is approaching the development of Indo like many other disruptors outside banking; removing unnecessary fees, engaging customers in product development and taking a broader view that seeks to understand what problems they should be solving for customers, rather than what products they should be forcing down on them. Indo's measure of success will come when the rest of the industry is forced to change their approach to fees and customer service in response to the new standard it seeks to establish. This is one of the most provocative takes on banking that we've heard so far, and we say that with a lot of excitement as consumers who yearn for the type of banking and mindset that Indó promisses. The end of bullshit banking cannot come soon enough!

Effective communication between corporates and their banks is essential as it enables banks to fine tune their service approach to businesses  and enables businesses to communicate their requirements. However as we all know the day to day work invariably gets in the way and the urgent often displaces the ideal.  A group of experienced bankers who have suffered at the hands of poor communication and less than optimal feedback loops with their business customers, have set out to solve the problem of expensive, ineffective survey reports between corporates and their banks. We had the opportunity to sit down with Claus Nielsen, CCO and Co-Founder of Buying teams, a fintech that has set out to build a solution that replaces inactionable and invalid survey data for actionable feedback and business intelligence for sound and impactful decision making. Buying Teams highly specialised solution is leveraging technology to bring a degree of scalability and insight that's been lacking in the relationship between corporates and their banks. Find out how this group of banking veterans are bringing their years of experience to bear, while solving a problem, that they as they well know, has long been asking for a solution.

We all hate penalties, most of us are familiar with that stomach turning feeling of impotence that strike us when when we are hit with one. Yet, cynical critics may say that penalties exist as an integral part of the business models of many companies behind our bills and invoices.  60% of our monthly income goes into paying bills and invoices an activity that torments 100% of adults. Seems like a widespread problem in search for a solution with a significant addressable market. Enter Bill Kill, the Norwegian app that rewards users to pay their bills on time! Have we got your attention yet?   We recently had a sit down chat with Elin Antonsen, Bill Kill's COO, to learn more about how this nifty fintech solution not only enables users to pay bills with the credit card of their choice, helping them to accrue points, miles and other rewards offered by many credit card providers,  but also minimising those nasty penalties by helping customers pay their bills on time. Rooted in a deep understanding of human psychology and aiming to counter the behavioural downsides of effects like the pain-of-paying, Bill Kill rewards its users for paying on time by gamifying the entire payment experience and rewarding them with points, redeemable for discounts and other perks. Learn more about how this innovative company is getting rid of the penalty problem for good!

The disruption of the financial industry has come in waves. First there was the Fintech wave, where those taking the pulse of the market were worried that banks and other financial institutions would die by a thousand cuts as a myriad of fintechs took nibbles at their marketshare. Then there was the Big Tech wave, where Google, Facebook Amazon and Apple appeared to be readying themselves for an offensive play with their sleek customer experiences, deep pockets, massive user bases and superior technology capabilities. And then came the technology enablers who equipped financial institutions with spanking brand new cloud technology, able to sidestep banks clunky legacy and enable incumbents and new market entrants to develop fast, customer centric new services. We had the pleasure of speaking to Vilve Vene, a uniquely experienced financial services executive turned entrepreneur and Co-founder of Tuum. Vilve has a remarkable background and track record in building banking technology from scratch as one of the main technologists behind no less than 15 banking platforms deployed in Banks across the region. I this insightful conversation with Vilve we get to hear how by combining deep financial services expertise and technology capabilities, Vilve and her co-founders developed a state of the art, modular API first banking platform, able to adapt to complex use cases and functional requirements of everyday banking. Listen to Vilve's priceless insights on the future of banking, the trends the most excite her and her vision on building seamless backend operations so that banks can focus on their key asset, their customers. We are sure you'll be blown away by her vast knowledge and experience.

The majority of us are unaffected by financial crime, at least not directly. Unless we've had our bank accounts hacked, or our identity stolen and used for fraud,  it's unlikely that we would've suffered at the hands of money launderers and criminals who cheat the financial system. Yet financial crime and money laundering is a significant and pervasive problem with estimates placing it at around 2 -5 % of the Global GDP! Thats anywhere between 800 billion and 2 trillion USD every year in funds that are used to manufacture and distribute drugs, finance terrorism and human trafficking, amongst many other ailments that affect our societies today We had the unique opportunity to chat to Guðmundur Kristjánsson, CEO and Founder at Lucinity, an Icelandic company that has grown out of a strong conviction to equip the hardworking individuals fighting financial crime with cutting edge technology. Through teh use of Human AI, Lucinity aims to improve Financial Crime fighting productivity making it more difficult and more expensive for criminals to operate. In this conversation, you'll learn more about how this visionary company employs the best of technology, behavioural insights and human capabilities to supercharge financial crime fighters. Listen to how thanks to Lucinty's solutions, people at the frontline of anti-money laundering can make decisions in split seconds that would've previously taken hours and how Lucinity is enabling collaboration amongst industry players to build resilience against criminals. 

Saying that digitalisation has revolutionised financial services is to state the obvious. What's not so obvious however, is that much has changed about how Financial Institutions have gone about digitalising their services. In hindsight we can see that automating away customer interactions, replacing them with bots and online forms has optimised operations at the expense of distancing customers from their financial service providers. After an initial wave of "exploratory" digitalisation, the industry has gained tremendous insights that are enabling a next generation of financial services to come to market with technology powered business models that offer new solutions to old and persistent problems. FundingPartner, a fintech that is tackling the problem of dwindling funding for SMEs, is using technology in refreshing new ways to service this traditionally underserved market. We recently had an enlightening conversation with Jorund Gjesvik, Managing Director of FundingPartner Norway, where he shared how the company is cleverly using technology to automate what customers don't see, freeing up resources for the meaningful customer interactions that foster trust, loyalty and closer relationships. Learn how FundingPartner's widespread use of technology has also found profitability in a business model that until recently was not commercially viable and how with a unique mindset, its team is improving the playing field for SMEs across the Nordics. We are certain you will enjoy learning from Jørund's vision as much as we did while speaking to him.

Welcome to the ownership economy where you will be able to capitalize on your existing digital assets in previously unimaginable ways! Web 3 continues to be the talk of the town as more clarity emerges on how this technological revolution will reshape the way we use and think about the internet.   As decentralized models for interaction and transaction between parties continue to take hold, visionaries and innovators are developing the services of the future that will allow us to capitalize our assets in dynamic and exciting new ways.  Have some money lying around? sure, you can buy a crypto asset and hold it in your wallet in the hope that it gains value, but through Web3 decentralized finance protocols, you will have the option to place that asset on a liquidity pool, a yield farm or a whole range of brand new exciting services that will change the dynamics of personal and business finance. In this highly upbeat conversation wtih 6 time crypto and blockchain startup founder and General Manger of Layer Three Ventures Taylor Ryan we go on a exciting rollercoaster ride of what the near term future of payments, money transfer and interaction between people will look like. Learn more about how decentralization will impact ownership of assets, and organizations and how users will finally be rewarded for investing time, attention and data, their most valuable assets, in the development of online platforms. Web3 offers so much potential that it is set up to become a component as essential to every business model as the internet is today.  

How do you reach 1/3 of your addressable local market in 7 years? Aur, the Icelandic peer to peer and online payment solution has managed to do just that with the characteristic mix of elegance, simplicity and powerful functionality that consistently sets Nordic innovation aside.  One of the most consistent findings that we hear from entrepreneurs and startup founders is that if you want people to adopt your product, you need to make it as simple and frictionless as possible. Aur, which was recently acquired by Reykjavik headquartered Kvika bank has not only captured 1/3 of the Icelandic market with its smooth-as-butter payment experience, but it's done so leveraging the power of networks, where one in five users are referred by other users. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Sverrir Hreiðarsson, Head of Fintech at Kvika to talk about how new payment solutions that are able to offer security, ease of use and convenience to customers, can experience exponential adoption amongst its user base. Learn how Aur has established itself a the go to solution for peer to peer payments via mobile phone number, amongst users and how through the introduction of Buy Now Pay Later services with a twist it continues to delight users who are not only able to gain access to interest free instalment payments, but that can also access better prices on physical stores as consumers avoid paying with credit. This is another great example of Nordic innovation setting new standards of how finance could be done, without riddling customers with complexity.

For many years Estonia has quietly but steadily built a name for itself in the startup world. With its 10 Unicorns, and its astounding 1 unicorn for every 130,000 inhabitants this small but extremely progressive nation is now capturing the attention of the world.  Nordic Fintech Magazine recently traveled to the wonderful capital city of Tallinn to try to puzzle together what makes Estonia the Startup Nation. And who better to start with in our quest to uncover the ingredients of Estonia's entrepreneurial concoction than Kaidi Ruusalepp, who is not only CEO and Founder of the Global Equity and Trading Platform Funderbeam, but also President of the Estonian Founders Society and advisor to the President of Estonia Mr. Alar Karis on digital and technology matters.  In this fascinating conversation with Kaidi we talk about her entrepreneurial journey, the unique value proposition that Funderbeam creates with its liquidity market for secondaries, and some of the unique cultural traits and attributes that have propelled Estonia into Startup Stardom.  Listen to how Estonian success cases like Skype, Playtech and Wise  have combined a duty for nourishment of their ecosystem with investment and global tech sector knowhow to create second and third generations of startups that have chosen Estonia as their base to scale globally. If Estonia has not been in your radar, that's about to change.

What is the best way to solve the problem of hidden fees  in insurance? Simple, get rid of fees altogether.  Exciting changes are happening in the insurance space. An industry that traditionally has been very analogue and opaque is reinventing itself through digitalisation, creating simpler, more accessible customer experiences and rethinking customers needs when it comes to protecting themselves against risks.    We recently had the chance to sit down with Sophie Bohr Groenbaek , CEO and Cofounder at Undo.  Sophie has a very interesting background. as A Neuro biologist previously working in consulting, and with no prior Insurance experience, she was able to approach the industry with a fresh pair of eyes. In this revealing chat with Sophie we hear about how she and her cofounders built an insurance company from scratch going back to first principles and trying to understand what it was that customers, especially younger ones, were looking for when buying insurance. Their findings resulted in a brand new value proposition that challenged the traditional insurance business model by removing fees, enabling customers to build their own insurance packages and allowing policy holders to change their coverage as their needs changed: when on holiday, when skiing, when cycling or when staying at home.  Hear about how Sophie's mind has been attuned to seek for opportunities for new insurance products everywhere as our lives become more complex and we undertake new risks in our digital lives, our investments, and even significant live events.  This approach to insurance based on flexibility, transparency and fairness will leave you wondering whether your insurer is the best choice for you.   

We have been closely following the democratization of wealth management for some time.  Demand from retail customers for new and more accessible products that allow them to build wealth has exploded in recent years. A number of visionaries have seized the opportunity to create services that enable people to get their foot in the investment ladder and start building wealth. Within this trend we've observed the emergence of companies that provide easy and convenient access to stock, crypto investment, crowd-lending and even equity crowdfunding on assets such as real estate and property projects, enabling companies to raise capital and the wider market to participate in their success. In this engaging conversation with Jesper Johansen, Managing Director at Kameo Denmark, we learn, with an refreshing degree of clarity, how democratization is going against the grain of the traditional finance, creating two sided markets that connect investors and companies looking for capital. Especially those that are unable to raise capital through the traditional financial system. Listen to how Kameo is servicing a new and diverse customer pool including students, and elderly customers all the way to professional investors, removing traditionally high barriers to invest, dramatically reducing capital requirements and creating a community of investors and ambassadors of all ages and backgrounds. All while building transparency into a traditional opaque part of the industry and challenging the existing market with an open approach to investing. 

Payments was one of the first areas in Financial services disrupted by digitalisation. In the past 10 years technology has not only changed our relationship with credit, debit and cash, but has also lowered the barriers to entry into the industry, unleashing fierce competition amongst payment companies for customers and merchants. The niche focus of challengers has also accelerated the fragmentation of new modalities of payments in the e-commerce space fundamentally changing the traditional relationship between consumers, merchants and payment providers, but also increasing volumes of fee generating transactions. Visa has approached these new challenges with a refreshing mindset and collaborative spirit that's allowed it to turn challenges into opportunities. In this insightful conversation with Philip Konopik, Visa's Regional Managing Director for Nordics and Baltics, we learn how Visa has chosen to see competitors as potential partners and in doing so has build a network of networks, agnostic to payment rails, that helps its customers succeed in the different markets. In this interview you'll learn more about Visa's strategy, how it's providing new added value services for their customers payments needs, its vision for 2025 and beyond and, how the company is embracing disruption to innovate and support its customers and partners.

The trend in Financial Services to decarbonize industries with a little nudge from capital flows has been thoroughly embraced by the financial system in the west. As investment funds and assets managers rushed to label their products as "Sustainable" in the hope to capture the attention of investors with a conscience, the ugly face of green washing started to show its true colours. The lack of standards and home grown measuring methods have caused all manner of confusion and ambiguity in the way companies and investors assess the impact of their portfolios. In this revealing conversation with Kristian Rönn, CEO & Founder at Normative, we hear how the lack of accounting standards for measuring carbon emissions is thwarting the industry's efforts to reward sustainable corporate behaviour in the hope of achieving net zero economies. Listen to how Kristian and his team are working towards establishing reliable accountable methods for tracking and reporting emissions and how they work with clients to help reduce carbon emissions along their value chains.

"It is in payments, that we all, rich or poor, have an interest in money.” We all have a relationship with money, whether we like it or not, money is a way in which we communicate our wants, preferences, ideals and priorities. However, as pivotal as money is to civilization, we rarely stop to think about the fact that what is so foundational about money is not money in an of itself, but the way in which we move it around.   In this fascinating conversation with Natasha de Terán, Co-Author of the Book: The Pay Off: How Changing the Way we Pay changes Everything, we get to hear with a unique degree of authority, insight and clarity how the way in which payments are changing is reflective of deep societal shifts, but is also reshaping the way we trust and relate to each other. This is an important conversation that will have you reaching for pen and paper, phone or tablet to capture the depth and relevance of Natasha's expert knowledge. In this session we covered a lot of ground discussing everything from financial inclusion, new sources of payments revenue, to sanctions , censorship and democracy. This is probably the most interesting piece of content you will listen to today!

Embedded finance will be everywhere, quite literally. As this new trend sweeps through financial services, it promises to turn every company, inside and outside Financial Services into a Fintech and to turn every business into a new channel to market for financial products.  With the promise of making financial products like payments, loans, insurance and even investment available to consumers as part as other industries customer journeys, Embedded finance has the allure of not only adding a high degree of convenience to customers, but also of generating trillions of USD worth of new value. In this exciting conversation with Erlend Senior Strategic Partnership Manager at DNB, Norway's largest bank, we learn more about how incumbent financial organisations can maximize the opportunity presented by embedded finance and how technologies like open banking and open data can bring the industry closer together. Listen to how partnerships plays a pivotal role in DNBs ability to execute its Embedded Finance strategy and how the largest bank in Norway sees the future of this exciting trend playing out in our industry.  

We are only scraping the surface of what technology can do to completely overhaul industries. Funding for startups has traditionally lacked innovation, but new disruptors in this space are combining the power of data and technology to radically improve precision and transparency in debt funding for companies that are changing the world. We had a wonderful opportunity to chat to Elin Bäcklund, Forbes 30 under 30 and CTO at ArK Kapital to find out what it is that attracts her about working in tech. In this interview we discuss the enormous possibilities that lay ahead for companies able to mash up strong technology capabilities and deep subject matter expertise, the rewards and challenges of building an AI platform from scratch and the importance of having women and men working alongside in tech teams. Elin also talks about her passion of getting more women into tech roles, and why she recommends women to hold off managerial positions for a while in favour of longer tenures in deep tech. Elin's enthusiasm and conviction will leave you excited about tech and maybe even questioning your career choice.

The role of Marketing and Communications in any financial services organisation cannot be understated. It is this function that opens a door between the output of all internal processes and the needs of the customers.  Most importantly, this is the only function tasked with creating emotional relationships with customers, and to do so successfully, requires a deep psychological understanding of peoples' highly emotional and highly personal relationship with money. In this fascinating interview with Jenny Gaffner, Nordic Head of B2C Marketing and Communications at BNP Paribas Personal Finance we learn about the transformation that the Marketing and Comms function in finance has undergone in the past 10 years.  Jenny walks us through the highly set of specialized skills that marketers require, beyond traditional marketing, to successfully communicate the value proposition of financial institutions and fintechs to the wider market. Jenny is sharp, insightful and you'll be glad you listened to her keen observations on Marketing and Communications in Finance.

We often marvel at the heroic feats of entrepreneurship that founders and innovators achieve when they combine their determination and execution ability to bring new products and services into existence. However, for most of us, how capital flows behind the scene to fuel all this innovation is still a bit of a mystery. We had a chance to catch up with Mathias Kaasgaard, Investment Associate at Vækstfonden who was able to expertly explain the role of Venture Capital and how it powers the dreams that are changing the world. In this enlightening primer on Venture Capital you'll learn about different types of funding available to founders, the pros, the risks and what goes on in the mind of the venture capitalists.

Step aside. The new generation is coming with tall orders and high demands and financial institutions better be willing to listen! We've recently been covering the trend of democratisation of Financial Services, especially within the wealth management space. A number of movements, especially amongst the younger generations, like the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early), the Antiwork movement are causing millennials and Gen Zeters to rethink their approach to earning, saving and spending.  This is resulting in a demand for wealth creation and wealth building products, never seen before, from a generation that has traditionally been neglected by the Financial Services Industry. In this excerpt or our lively conversation with Varan Parthmanathan, CEO & Founder at Make Impact, he shares with us Make Impact is educating a younger generation to invest sustainable. In this conversation you'll find out the distinct consumer behaviours of those between 18  and 28 and the mindset shift required from financial organisations to learn to listen to the needs of this group to develop solutions that cater for their needs and values. Varan's contagious enthusiasm, knowledge and passion for disrupting the investment space will leave you wanting to try out their platform and learn how to start making impact. 

Having to wait 30, 60 or even 90 days for a company to do good on their invoices often without the certainty that the payment will come can be critical to SMEs. The wealth of data available to companies these days is bolstering the creation insights and predictive power businesses have at their fingertips. One of the areas in finance that is seeing an enormous amount of transformation from more data and new ways of putting it to use is the area of credit worthiness and credit risk assessment.  For companies this can dramatically improve the precision with which they can assess who to do business with, a super power that,  can not only help them ensure that trading partners are able to honour their commitments,  but that can also help them maximise business opportunities along their value chains In this highly informative and engaging interview with Timm Jeppesen, CEO & Co-Founder at Risika we hear about the challenges that Small and Medium Enterprises  (SMEs) face when transacting with organisations that are at risk of losses from non-paying partners. Hear about how technology is helping SMEs assess the risk of doing business with each other and how Risika is creating services that businesses can use to maximize the value of commercial relationships with their partners while reducing risk.

Culture is changing faster than ever before and with it people's aims and ambitions. Strong trends amongst the young, like the FIRE - Financial Independence Retire early and the Antiwork movements are not only disrupting the whole idea of what it means to work for a living, but also what it means to accumulate wealth. And as we all know, where there is demand, supply follows. A new wave of disruption is hitting wealth management, a part of financial services that was traditionally reserved for the wealthy who could afford the steep fees associated with having a dedicated advisor. In this provocative and lively conversation with the engaging Ramtin Matin, Head of Innovation at Sparebank 1-SR Bank in Norway, we find out what the democratization of wealth management is all about and the exciting opportunities it is opening for the rest of us.

The volatility of Crypto, which is typically used as an argument against the whole concept has definitely put the the whole idea of a decentralised alternative financial and monetary system to test, especially in recent days as we've seen heavy drops in the cryptomarket. But as the dust settles we need to start an honest and balanced conversation about the risk and benefits of new asset classes, and the revolutionary potential that new forms of capturing and exchanging value have for the creation of entirely new economies. In this fascinating conversation with Karina Rothof Brix, Denmark's country Manager at Firi, the largest crypto exchange in the Nordics, we get a sober view on risk in crypto in contrast with other risky investments like private equity and venture capital. We also discuss different levels of crypto uptake across the Nordics and the impact that Web 3 business models will have on the way we create and exchange value in the future. This is a must see for anyone interested in understanding what the future of business and the underpinning economy could look like.

Wonderful things happen when subject matter experts combine their knowledge with technology. A sound business model can all of a sudden become exponentially scaleable, more precise, timely and multiply its value manyfold.  Swedish Debt Funding firm ArK Kapital uses artificial intelligence to empower technology companies to grow faster, achieve their potential and make the world better for all. Its founding team of senior technologists and bankers have masterfully combined the power of data and frontier tech, with their deep understanding of finance and risk to bring a non dilutive, debt solution to entrepreneurs. In this enlightening interview with Kim Lundberg, Head of ArK Kapital Denmark we hear about ArK's philosophy, its innovative way to assess credit worthiness and its approach to radical transparency that unleashes entrepreneurship without the financial barriers of the past.

Some things in live were meant to go together. Peanut butter & jam, bacon & eggs, Netflix and chill. However, amongst all the things that could be harmoniously combined, one would be excused for not arriving at the conclusion that Design & Law could fit the bill. And yet, this may be one of the most revolutionary ideas we have come across in a while. It's been suggested that "Design adds value faster than it adds costs" and in this fascinating talk with the outstanding Abda Rothman, Regulatory Strategic Partner at Nordea Group Legal we learn how one of the most important banks in the Nordics is rethinking parts of it's Legal function, through the lens of design. In this interview you'll get to hear what Legal Design is all about, the principles that the function borrows directly form Design, and and how this seemingly "lo-fi" solution can radically improve customer communication, experience and loyalty in financial services and beyond.

Not long ago, online payments and specially mobile ones, required a tiresome and inefficient process of taking out your card, typing in your name, card number, expiry date and CVV. This feat was often done on a tiny phone keyboard only to find out that your payment had been declined, either because you missed a number in the long chain of characters you were forced to enter or because your bank had rejected the transaction. Things have improved significantly in the last few years as payments have become an integral and often invisible feature of the purchasing experience. Now, things are about to get wild! As embedded finance continues to make waves in financial services innovation, today it is possible to embed all manner of financial services, like loans, investment, insurance and even pensions into unlikely places, a trend that not only drastically improves convenience for customers, but that exponentially increase the potential opportunities for business. In this thought provoking interview with Fredrik Neumann, Nordics Country Manager for Worldpay, the world largest acquirer, we learn more about what the embedded future of finance has in store in the months and years to come.

Cryptocurrencies continue to make strides towards the mainstream with more than 10,000 active cryptos in circulation and over 300 million users globally, and yet there is still so much confusion as to what they are, what they are not and how they are changing our economies and society. Leave it to the experts in communication to explain this in an easy uncomplicated and jargon-free way. We recently had the wonderful pleasure of speaking to Liv Freihow, Director of Communications and Public Affairs at NBX, one of Norways largest cryptoexchanges. Liv has 15 years experience helping IT companies and tech start-ups with regulatory issues, market access, internationalisation, access to capital and advising government on digital policy. Today, she expertly breaks down for us what the different types of digital currencies are, how they are redefining money from scratch and the potential they have to change the world.

It used to be, not long ago, that business was a zero sum game with winners and losers, where strategy was about gaining competitive advantage to win bigger marketshare. That model seems to be quickly dating.  An emerging new approach to business is leveraging the power of co-creation to effect combinatorial gains across businesses and industries to not only increase market share for everyone but to also create new value opportunities for customers. Welcome to the Ecosystem Model. In this roaring interview with international, Sillicon Valley based, thought leader, Andrea Kates we discuss how incumbent organisations can leverage their scale and influence to build Ecosystems that maximise, growth, impact and opportunities for players of all sizes and customers.