This summer, Oradea Fortress will host the 5th edition of UNCHAIN Festival (on 17–18 June 2026), a high-level finance summit bringing together over 900 senior leaders and decision-makers from more than 40 countries, including financial institutions, regulators, technology providers, and industry leaders.

Marking its anniversary edition as the premier summit of CEE, UNCHAIN Festival 2026 is honoured to welcome as Keynote Speaker Prof. Marek Belka, former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland—a leading voice at the intersection of economics and public policy, and an economist with a distinguished career spanning academia, government, and international institutions. Over the course of his career, he has held a series of influential international roles, including Head of Economic Policy in Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority, Executive Secretary of the UNECE, and Director of the European Department at the IMF, before going on to serve as President of the National Bank of Poland and later as a Member of the European Parliament.

He will be joined by prominent officials and central bank governors from across Central and Eastern Europe, as well as key decision-makers from private and international financial institutions, including the European Commission, the European Banking Authority, and regulatory bodies from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Moldova, and the Czech Republic.

By fostering high-level dialogue and cross-border collaboration on the most pressing issues shaping the future of finance in the region, the UNCHAIN Festival reinforces its position as the premier summit for decision-makers in banking, fintech, insurance, and technology across Central and Eastern Europe.

The agenda will address key topics including the digital euro (Europe’s upcoming CBDC aimed at modernising payments and preserving monetary sovereignty), the European Unique Identifier (EUID) for streamlined cross-border KYC and verification, cybersecurity and operational resilience under DORA, AI governance and its responsible applications in banking, instant payments (SEPA SCT Inst), asset tokenisation using DLT to enhance capital market efficiency, and the evolving open finance framework under PSD3 to drive innovation and competition.

A dedicated section of the UNCHAIN Festival will spotlight the region’s most dynamic ecosystems, showcasing top disruptors and innovative companies driving transformation across financial services. This initiative is designed to give early-stage and stage disruptors a prominent platform to present regional business opportunities, innovation frameworks, and cutting-edge solutions poised to redefine the financial landscape.

Applications are open until May 15th via https://unchainfestival.com/startups/ inviting the most ambitious innovators to step forward and take part in shaping the future of finance on a regional stage.

Under this initiative, a carefully selected group of companies representing countries from across Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics will take the stage to share their national perspectives on the future of finance and the disruptive technologies shaping the industry.

“UNCHAIN Festival was created as a platform for meaningful dialogue among financial industry leaders, and the 2026 edition marks a significant step in shaping the future of finance in the region. With our new initiative spotlighting top disruptors from across CEE and the Baltics, we aim to elevate national perspectives and connect ecosystems that can collaborate to accelerate innovation,” said Alexandra Pollack, Founder and CEO at UNCHAIN.

Continuing its annual tradition, UNCHAIN Festival 2026 will recognize excellence in financial services and technology, presenting awards to the most outstanding disruptors and innovators from Central and Eastern Europe.

All of this is made possible thanks to the essential support of key players in the fintech ecosystem, such as Visa—the event’s Main Partner—along with Raiffeisen Bank Romania, BRD Groupe Société Générale, and Banca Transilvania as Banking Partners, Payten Romania as Gold Partner. The event’s sponsors, who support innovation in the CEE region, are Garanti BBVA, fme Romania, SurePay, Worldline, Profile Software, Axe Finance, TSYS, Finshape, Namirial, CMS Cameron McKenna, and VeritaHR.

CEE finance leaders return to the UNCHAIN Festival each year. Early Bird tickets offering a 30% discount are available at https://unchainfestival.com/tickets/ for a limited period of time until April 22nd. Prices will increase after this date.

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Prof. Marek Belka – Biography

Prof. Marek Belka (1952) is an economist with a distinguished career in academia, government, and international institutions. He has been affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Sociology at the University of Łódź for most of his career and has held research fellowships at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the London School of Economics.

He twice served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (1997; 2001–2002) and was Prime Minister of Poland from 2004 to 2005. His international roles include leading economic policy in Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority (2003–2004), serving as Executive Secretary of UNECE (2006–2008), and heading the European Department at the IMF (2008–2010). He was President of the National Bank of Poland (2010–2016) and a Member of the European Parliament (2019–2024).

In 2024, he was appointed Chair of the Audit Board of the Ukraine Facility, overseeing financial support for Ukraine’s recovery.

About UNCHAIN Festival

UNCHAIN Festival is the leading finance and technology summit in Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2022, it has connected banks, fintechs, regulators, and industry leaders in Oradea, Romania, fostering cross-industry collaboration and turning emerging trends into actionable strategies for regional growth and resilience.

The company is not a generic e-signature tool. As a Qualified Trust Service Provider under eIDAS, Evrotrust delivers remote identity verification (KYC/KYB), qualified electronic signatures (QES), electronic timestamps and electronic delivery services. It is an EU-notified eID scheme, audited and supervised at European level, and listed on the EU Trusted Lists with the highest assurance for qualified electronic signing in regulated and cross-border workflows. Today, the company supports over 2 million users from 61 nationalities and more than 200 enterprises, including 15 of Europe’s leading banking institutions.

“Trust is the new user interface. Evrotrust gives Romanian organizations a single, compliant platform to verify and sign digitally, while reducing fraud and unlocking cross-border growth.”, said Konstantin Bezuhanov, CEO at Evrotrust.

EU industry estimates point to e-signature spending growth from €2.33B in 2025 to €23.05B by 2032. Digital identity verification is also expected to expand at a robust, double-digit pace over the same period. In Romania, digital rails are already mainstream, 662,713 electronic ID cards were issued as of Oct 2, 2025, and ADR’s Government Private Cloud is budgeting RON 867.5M to migrate over 30 systems online. Meanwhile, the EU Digital Identity Wallets move from policy to implementation, making public-sector acceptance mandatory by the end of 2026, a clear runway for remote onboarding and QES at national scale.

“The new investment enables Evrotrust to scale EU-grade digital identity in Romania faster – localizing audited, cross-border trust services for banks, businesses, and the public sector. With a free mobile app and an EU-recognized qualified certificate at no cost, we make trusted digital transactions simple and accessible. Financial institutions benefit immediately from identity reuse across services, delivering faster onboarding and a smoother user experience. Proven in Bulgaria with fully online passport issuance, our secure and compliant approach now comes to Romania to put digital trust in everyone’s hands and accelerate national digitalization.” shared Valentina Dragomir, Country Manager for Romania at Evrotrust.

For Romanian businesses, Evrotrust’s expansion means faster, fully compliant onboarding and signing flows that cut abandonment and cost while meeting KYC, AML and eIDAS 2.0 obligations. Banks, insurers, fintechs, e-commerce, telecoms and utilities can consolidate identity verification, qualified e-signatures, timestamps and electronic delivery into a single, audit-ready platform with Romanian language support, EU data-residency options and sector-specific controls. Citizens benefit from simpler remote access to financial services and public administration, with cross-border recognition and stronger protection against fraud.

About Evrotrust

Evrotrust is a leading identity verification and qualified trust service provider with a mission to help businesses and governments digitally transform their processes and build sustainable digital channels. The Evrotrust platform is an end-to-end solution for remote electronic identification and digital signing with qualified signatures that enables users to register and authenticate for services using only their smartphone. www.evrotrust.com

About 3TS Capital Partners

3TS Capital Partners is a leading European growth capital investor supporting technology and innovation-driven companies. 3TS partners with exceptional teams to build category leaders across Europe, providing capital, expertise and access to an extensive network. www.3tscapital.com

At UNCHAIN, the fortress is just the setting. The real story is the people. In this edition of Finance Legends, two sides of the same transaction meet.

Ciprian Pîrv, Country Managing Director at Payten Romania, has spent years on the infrastructure side of payments, making sure the systems that move money work seamlessly. 

Dorin Branza Danciu, Team Lead for POS Systems at Auchan Romania, lives on the other side of the counter, where technology meets real customers, queues, and expectations.

Together, they map the frontier between fintech and retail, between what’s possible and what’s practical. Their perspectives are different, but the challenges and roadmap are the same. Ultimately, both aim to make every checkout invisible, every payment instant, and every failure virtually impossible.

When it comes to payments, retailers are juggling speed, volume, and reliability all at once. What does that pressure look like from your side?

Dorin Branza Danciu → Auchan Romania
For large retailers managing high-volume checkout systems, everything starts with keeping the flow uninterrupted. Orchestration must prioritise a fast and frictionless checkout process: minimising transaction and wait times, ensuring reliability, and adapting to the growing diversity of payment methods. Mobile wallets, contactless cards, and wearable devices all need to work seamlessly.

This doesn’t stop at technology. It’s also about throughput. Investing in efficient POS hardware and well-trained staff keeps lines moving and satisfaction high. The goal is always the same: a quick, reliable, secure payment that customers barely notice.

Ciprian Pîrv → Payten Romania
From our side, two things keep retailers up at night: lost revenue and operational drag. Fragmented in-store setups (multiple terminals, uneven acceptance) create friction and unnecessary cost. That’s why we built POS Sharing, a single-terminal model that consolidates checkout operations across the network.

In Romania, that means one device covering covering close to 90 percent of locally issued cards, integrated with RoPay instant payments, and leaning on hardware maintenance. The result is fewer points of failure, faster queues, and predictable costs. When the checkout works as it should, everything else follows.

How has the consumer demand for digital and contactless payments changed your approach to POS orchestration?

Dorin Branza Danciu → Auchan Romania
Modern payments are continuously evolving, and for this reason, we have to consider several points of view.

The rise in consumer demand for digital and contactless payments has compelled large retailers to redesign their Point of Sale (POS) orchestration to prioritise speed, convenience, and security. Contactless payments allow transactions to be completed within seconds without physical contact, eliminating the need for cash or manual PIN entry. This results in faster checkouts and reduced in-store queues, thus enhancing customer satisfaction and throughput.

At the same time, large retailers now implement POS systems capable of handling a broad range of digital payment options, including mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay), RoPay, contactless cards, and wearable devices. POS orchestration embraces near-field communication (NFC), QR codes, and tokenisation technologies to ensure compatibility and security across platforms. This multi-modal support accommodates diverse consumer preferences and future-proofs payment infrastructure.

Another key point is security and compliance. Heightened consumer and regulatory focus on data protection has shifted POS orchestration toward end-to-end encryption, tokenisation, and real-time fraud detection. Retailers invest in robust cybersecurity frameworks within their POS ecosystems to maintain trust, comply with PCI DSS standards, and mitigate fraud risks inherent in digital payments.

Beyond these technical and operational layers, Auchan’s approach to payments is also about scale and coordination. The digital shift is forcing retailers to think omni-channel by design: connecting in-store and online payments so that customers get a consistent experience across every touchpoint. 

It also drives efficiency on the back end. Automation reduces cash-handling costs, eliminates manual errors, and accelerates reconciliation, giving large retailers clearer visibility over daily operations and cash flow.

Orchestration promises flexibility across channels. What benefit matters most: reliability, cost, data, or something else?

Ciprian Pîrv → Payten Romania
Reliability first, then acceptance uplift. If the terminal is down or the flow is slow, nothing else matters. POS Sharing is built on Payten’s rails that handle 2 billion-plus EFT transactions per year across around 1.7 million terminals in 14 countries, with 24/7 monitoring and real-time dashboards, so uptime and speed are bank-grade. Once reliability is assured, retailers see higher approvals (broad card coverage, installments), cost discipline (one device, shared infrastructure), and better data (standardised reconciliation from a single source).

After reliability comes scale, and with scale comes complexity. If the checkout works flawlessly in one store, the next challenge is making it work the same way across hundreds of locations, apps, and online touchpoints. That’s where orchestration stops being about hardware and starts being about data.

Integration across e-commerce, app, in-store, and loyalty systems is complex. What’s been the biggest orchestration challenge for you recently?

The primary and biggest challenge is ensuring real-time, seamless, and scalable data synchronisation across highly disparate systems while maintaining system compatibility and security.

The integration often involves legacy POS systems, modern e-commerce platforms, mobile apps, and loyalty programs, each with different data formats, APIs, and architectures. This heterogeneity creates barriers in communication and data exchange, making seamless orchestration very complex. Legacy systems with outdated tech or customisations resist easy integration and slow down real-time synchronisation efforts.

Unified commerce also demands real-time updates of inventory, orders, customer profiles, and loyalty points across all channels (online, app, and physical stores) to avoid issues like overselling, inconsistent pricing, or delayed rewards. Failure to synchronise accurately leads to poor customer experience and operational inefficiencies.

Beyond these core technical challenges, the hardest work often happens behind the scenes. As volumes grow, integration must scale without performance bottlenecks while keeping data secure under strict GDPR and PCI-DSS requirements. 

The human side adds another layer. Teams need shared ownership, integration know-how, and constant coordination to keep systems aligned. Middleware plays a crucial role here too: diverse APIs, rate limits, and platform updates demand automation, error handling, and continuous monitoring to keep everything stable.

On Payten’s side, the same complexity looks different. Where retailers fight to keep systems aligned, providers must build infrastructure sturdy enough to absorb change, constantly adding new features without breaking what already works.

Payten supports online, in-store, ATM, tokenisation, and mobile. How do you balance innovation with stability?

Ciprian Pîrv → Payten Romania
We ship features on top of a proven, certified acquiring stack. For POS Sharing, that means: versioned software updates, remote device management, PCI-compliant kernels, canary releases/instant rollback, and SLOs on latency and success rates. Innovation (like RoPay instant at the POS, installments, and tokenisation for repeat customers) is introduced without disrupting live operations.

Innovation at the infrastructure level only matters if customers can feel it. Once the system is stable, the next frontier is experience, and that’s making payments not just reliable, but personal.

What’s one customer-centric capability few merchants offer, but should?

Ciprian Pîrv → Payten Romania
Portable shopper identity across channels—linking a network/tokenized profile so a customer recognized online gets the same one-tap experience in store (saved payment credentials, account-to-account via RoPay, easy exchanges/returns). POS Sharing makes this practical: one device, one flow, consistent consent and receipts—so loyalty isn’t trapped in a single channel.

If Payten’s view highlights the invisible layer connecting a shopper’s identity across every touchpoint, Auchan’s perspective looks toward the ways identity itself may soon evolve.

As coordination across systems tightens, what emerging trend in in-store payments are you keeping a close eye on?

Dorin Branza Danciu → Auchan Romania
The emerging trend in in-store payments to watch as coordination across systems tightens is the rapid expansion of biometric payments. This includes technologies such as palm scanning and facial recognition, moving beyond the familiar phone tap methods at checkout. 

Major companies like JPMorgan Chase and Amazon are already conducting tests indicating a swift adoption curve for these biometric payment methods in retail environments. This trend reflects a push towards more seamless, secure, and convenient payment experiences that integrate tightly with evolving payment infrastructures and customer verification systems.

After exploring the layers of technology and customer experience, the conversation naturally circles back to perspective: what each side of the ecosystem takes away from moments of exchange. 

What did you take with you from UNCHAIN 2025?

Dorin Branza Danciu → Auchan Romania
My experience at Unchain 2025 enriched my understanding of the fintech landscape’s dynamic growth, strengthened valuable industry connections, and equipped me to bring back practical innovation strategies.

For Payten, the same event was less about discovery and more about validation. The conversations confirmed that retailers are asking the same questions they’ve been building toward: resilience, simplicity, and usable data.

Ciprian Pîrv → Payten Romania
Merchants want resilient checkouts, lower total cost, and usable data, and they’re open to mixing card and instant rails to get there. POS Sharing aligns directly: it reduces hardware/OPEX, adds instant payments alongside cards, and normalises data for faster reconciliation. In short, fewer moving parts at the till, more approvals, and clearer insight into what actually converts.

What connects Payten and Auchan is a shared obsession with what happens in the split second between intent and transaction. One builds the rails that make payments work everywhere, while the other turns them into moments that customers barely notice.

Both see the same future coming: payments that are faster, more intelligent, and increasingly invisible. Whether it’s through shared terminals, instant payments, or biometric recognition, the goal remains the same.

In that sense, fintechs and retailers are no longer on opposite sides of the counter. They’re part of the same ecosystem, moving toward a version of commerce where experience and infrastructure finally run at the same speed.

At UNCHAIN, the fortress is just the setting. The real story is the people. Finance Legends brings forward the voices shaping finance. The ones building, adapting, and rethinking the systems that keep money moving. This time, we sat down with Raul Alexandru Risnita from Banca Transilvania to talk about the efforts of bringing digital banking closer to Romanian businesses.

Raul has spent much of his career at the intersection of business and technology. As Director Companies Digitalization Department at Banca Transilvania, he works on the products and processes that keep businesses connected to the bank’s services, from everyday transactions to full digital ecosystems. His approach is pragmatic rather than theoretical, built on understanding how technology can solve real operational challenges for companies that are still learning what “digital” means in practice.

Corporate digitalization has become a strategic priority for many banks. In your view, which area of the digitalization process makes the biggest difference for corporate clients?

Digitalization has become a mainstream priority in most domains and has become more interconnected between segments than ever. For full digital experiences or automation, some domains become dependent on others. Corporate customers focus mostly on creating efficiency in internal processes and automating redundant employee work, very similar to what we, as a large bank, are trying to do.

And from the bank’s side, what does that mean in practice?

We need to be able to offer them transactional frameworks, accessibility, and connectivity to their transactions, accounts, and banking activity. Extending this to customizing statements, recurrent or bulk payments, auto-reconciliation, and adapting to their more personalized needs, like direct integrations with ERP systems, payroll systems, and so on. In other words, we need to facilitate accessibility in whatever touchpoint a customer needs.

Looking at it, we get the sense that the story of corporate digitalization isn’t really about the technology itself. It mostly centers around habits. About how companies, often run by people who built them long before “digital” became a department, start rethinking the way they work. 

That same idea is what shaped BT Go, the platform that slowly grew from a practical tool into something closer to a companion for entrepreneurs who just want banking to get out of the way.

BT Go is well-regarded among SMEs. What do you think has been the key to building an app that business users choose to adopt?

I think we have built BT Go with the thought of it becoming more than a banking application. We mainly focused along the way on understanding how we can solve the day-to-day problems and struggles that entrepreneurs face. Most of the time, it has been a close collaboration between real customers and product owners, trying to discover together what the best experience would look like and how we can adapt and offer more seamless services. 

There is still a long way ahead for BT Go and its plans, but I am most confident about its success because we totally changed the product development mindset and perspective on how it needs to be developed, starting from real needs being solved with the latest technology.

With BT Go, the front door felt settled. The next question sat behind it: how do you handle the knocks that come at all hours? Where do you put help when people don’t want to open another app? That’s where a “little” WhatsApp experiment came in, one that even carried his name.

You’ve launched tools like the “Raul” chatbot on WhatsApp. What role do you believe automation plays in transforming client service at scale?

I think it solves exactly what the question expresses — “scale.” Depending on processes, the only way you can reach high numbers and volumes is by automating whatever can be automated, restructuring unnecessary steps, and creating simple and intuitive workflows.

How far can that automation go before it starts to replace the human element?

We have managed to reach more than 60,000 customers with a chatbot embedded in WhatsApp that has been built around simple automated processes. I believe most companies should focus on using automated or AI capabilities to figure out potential scalability paths that open up through this type of technology. Close and offline customer relationships still remain a very important aspect of the experience, but when it comes to servicing high numbers and volumes of simple requests, we should let technology do its thing.

Automation helped BT serve more people, faster. Inside the bank, that created a different kind of work: aligning teams, untangling approvals, redrawing processes. We asked Raul what has to shift on the inside for the strategy to stick.

Digitalization isn’t just about technology, and it also requires internal transformation. What organizational change do you think is essential for making these strategies work?

A very good question. I think technology is the last thing that comes in the digital transformation process. Basically, it’s the enabler, not the starting point. I think that a combination of a forward-looking mindset together with business knowledge, customer insights, and process design is the most important thing when thinking about transforming businesses and organizations. Once your strategy is clear, your processes are designed based on real needs and customer understanding, tand he technology will come to enable these changes.

And culturally, what needs to change inside the organization for that to work?

I am a great fan of creating a safe environment where people can create, think outside the box, push the boundaries, and just try. No matter if they fail, if the trying never stops, in the end you will find a good solution or develop a good product. So, to conclude, it’s mostly about the right people with the right skill set who can work within a safe and innovative culture. It’s itself a great process of aligning all this together.

After culture comes direction. Once the teams, processes, and guardrails are in a decent place, the open task is simple enough on paper: decide where to put the energy to evolve.

Looking ahead, where should Banca Transilvania focus next when it comes to supporting businesses through digital innovation?

I’m really not a great future predictor and I think the way things are looking nobody can truly say what will happen in the next couple of years. Nevertheless I think that there are some areas where we should be more present or focus more, like embedded finance for example. People and businesses are more and more on the go. We are seeing more and more superapps being developed which leads to the fact that we need rapid access to multiple services in the same place, quickly and with lower effort.

This creates a future based on API capabilities and services, not a fight for the most beautiful interface. The touchpoint will be wherever the customer feels most comfortable and attracted to enter. Who knows, maybe we will no longer have any applications in 10 years from now but just one… a super AI search engine and assistant that provides personalized content without us even making a slight effort.

All of this lands only when people keep comparing notes in real life. Direction is set inside the bank. Calibration often happens out in the open: on stages, in hallways, around a table after a panel. From there, the role of industry meetups becomes hard to ignore.

UNCHAIN has become a key meeting point for fintech and banking professionals across the region. From your perspective, what role do events like this (and particularly UNCHAIN) play in shaping collaboration and innovation in the industry?

Unchain Festival is a venue for innovation that has managed to improve year after year. Something rare in the Romanian landscape of fintech and technology events, and it’s something that needs to be sustained continuously. We need to focus more on bringing great people and minds together, facilitating and investing in their ideas and discussions so the entire ecosystem benefits from it. 

It’s exactly what these kinds of events bring together: great minds and people with no limits in opening a great dialogue for collaboration between them. It’s also a great place for people to be seen, for ideas to rise and, why not, for people to start co-creating together.

Overall, Raul talks about digital change in a way that stays close to the work. Start with real problems and map the process. Let the technology come in when there’s something clear to enable. For companies, the value shows up in operations: access, connectivity, integrations, and service that holds up when demand surges.

Looking ahead, his instinct stays modest. Companies should build what helps, meet people where they already are, and don’t make the tool the story. It’s a practical view for a market that moves on habit as much as on hype. If the coming years reward builders who keep usefulness at the centre, Raul’s work is already pointing in that direction.

FINANCE LEGENDS

At UNCHAIN, the fortress is just the setting. The real story is the people. Finance Legends is a series that shines a light on the individuals whose choices and ideas leave a mark on the region’s financial landscape. Each edition looks at a leader whose work is influencing how banks, fintechs, and regulators think about progress and act on it. In this edition, the focus is on Serban Negrescu, the Garanti BBVA executive whose work in digital transformation raises some of the most pressing questions facing banks today.

Serban Negrescu has built his career on the idea that banking should always follow progress. At Garanti BBVA, he leads the push on digital transformation and product development, a role that puts him in the middle of one of the biggest questions in finance today: how do you keep the bank relevant when customers expect everything to happen instantly, on their phones, and without issues? In today’s market that challenge is amplified: customers are quick to embrace digital tools, yet institutions often struggle to keep pace. Serban sits at that fault line, pushing Garanti BBVA to move with the agility of a fintech while carrying the responsibility of a bank.

What does real digital transformation in banking require today, beyond the hype?

Real digital transformation in banking goes far beyond adopting flashy front-end apps or simply digitizing existing processes. It demands a deep, strategic shift across the entire organization, one that rewires both the technology stack and the operating model

At Garanti BBVA Romania, we are replacing our core systems with scalable, cloud-ready platforms that allow for faster integration, real-time data processing, and continuous delivery of new digital services. Old legacy systems are too rigid and slow to support the agility of today’s market demands.

So it starts with technology, but where does the customer come in?

Technology is only the foundation. Real transformation also means redefining how value is delivered to the customer. That starts with putting customer journeys at the center, not just digitizing offline processes but completely rethinking them to be intuitive, accessible, and efficient. In my experience, aligning business, IT, and data teams around this goal is key.a teams are all aligned around the same goal.

And what about culture inside the bank? Many institutions still struggle with risk-aversion.

A successful transformation also requires a culture of agility and experimentation. Traditional banks often struggle with siloed structures and risk-averse mindsets. To drive change, we need empowered, cross-functional teams, rapid feedback loops, and leadership that supports bold decisions. At Garanti BBVA, we’re fostering this by adopting agile methodologies and collaborative governance across departments.

You also mentioned data. How central is it to this transformation?

It’s critical. True digital transformation means becoming a data-driven organization, where insights guide decision-making, personalization, and operational efficiency. This goes beyond dashboards; it’s about embedding intelligence into every customer interaction and internal process.

All of these moving parts (technology, culture, data, and compliance) point to the same conclusion: digital transformation is a complete rethinking of how a bank operates. It takes leadership willing to make structural changes, teams willing to experiment, and above all, a constant focus on the customer. 

How would you describe Romania’s progress in digital banking compared to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe?

It is a solid fact that Romania has made significant strides in digital banking, particularly in the past five to seven years, but its progress is a mixed picture when compared to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

On the positive side, Romania has seen strong innovation in mobile banking and fintech adoption. The local market responded rapidly to global trends like NFC payments, instant onboarding and lending, and mobile wallets. The appetite for digital experiences is there, and Romanian consumers are digitally savvy and willing to adopt new solutions quickly when the value is clear.

What role have banks played in that shift?

Banks (both local and subsidiaries of international groups) have invested heavily in core modernization and digital channels. Initiatives such as replacing legacy infrastructure, launching fully digital lending products, and integrating RPA or AI-based services are no longer exceptions, they are part of the new norm.

Still, progress has been uneven. Serban points out that while there are success stories, the pace and consistency of implementation lag behind markets like Poland or the Czech Republic. Many banks are still early in their digital journeys or working with fragmented strategies, which makes scaling harder.

Another weak spot is public digital infrastructure. In countries such as Estonia (and increasingly in Hungary), tools like digital IDs, electronic signatures, and open data have created the foundation for seamless financial services. In Romania, those pieces exist but remain underdeveloped or underused.

What about inclusion? Has digital closed the gap, or widened it?

That’s still a challenge. Financial inclusion and digital literacy continue to present barriers in rural or underserved communities. There’s a need for broader efforts across the ecosystem (banks, regulators, fintechs, and government) to ensure digital doesn’t widen the accessibility gap

Even so, Serban believes the fundamentals are strong: talent, appetite for innovation, and consumer readiness. What Romania needs now, he argues, is scale, speed, and closer cooperation between public and private players. Only then will the country be able to match (maybe even surpass) its peers in the region.

At Garanti BBVA, you have overseen fully digital onboarding and AI-powered personalization. What were the main lessons from implementing those capabilities?

One of the key lessons we learned is that digital onboarding and AI personalization are not technology projects. They are transformation enablers that require deep alignment across the business, IT, risk, legal, and customer experience functions.

What did you discover when it came to digital onboarding specifically?

The first major lesson was the importance of customer-centric design. It’s not enough to digitize forms or replicate the branch process online. We had to rethink the onboarding journey entirely, simplifying steps, eliminating friction, and ensuring compliance and security without compromising user experience. Getting KYC, digital signature, and identity verification to work seamlessly required intense collaboration between compliance and tech teams, and sometimes even regulatory dialogue.

That collaboration, he adds, was not just a technical exercise but a cultural shift inside the bank. Compliance and technology don’t always sit at the same table, and digital onboarding forced those conversations to happen in real time.

Did everything work smoothly from the start?

We realized the importance of agility and testing in live environments. What worked in pilot did not always scale as expected. We had to continuously monitor drop-off rates, customer feedback, and operational data to iterate quickly and optimize the funnel. Real transformation came from being willing to adapt and improve fast, even after launch.

And when it comes to AI personalization?

Personalization must serve a clear value to the customer, not just push offers. When used right, AI helps us anticipate needs, simplify navigation, and make financial decisions easier. But relevance is key. Irrelevant recommendations erode trust fast, so the AI has to be smart, explainable, and continuously trained.

The broader lesson was about ownership. Digital onboarding and personalization touched nearly every part of the bank. Success depended on breaking silos and aligning everyone around the same goal: creating a simple, intuitive, and meaningful customer experience. These initiatives, he says, are now treated less as standalone projects and more as pillars of a scalable digital bank.

Looking ahead, where do you think banks still fall short when it comes to delivering truly personalized customer experiences?

While many banks have made progress in collecting data and segmenting customers, most still fall short in translating those insights into real-time, context-aware, and emotionally intelligent experiences. Personalization today is often superficial, driven by marketing rules or product triggers, not by a true understanding of customer intent or life context.

What’s the core problem behind that?

One of the key shortcomings is that banks think in products, not in customer needs. Most personalization efforts still focus on pushing offers (a credit card when spending is up, a loan when income drops), but that’s not truly personal. Real personalization starts with anticipating behavior and offering relevant guidance, sometimes even before the customer realizes the need. That requires a shift from transactional thinking to relationship thinking.

Serban points out that this shift requires more than clever targeting. It means building an understanding of customers that cuts across silos, something most banks still struggle with.

Is data integration the missing piece?

Yes. Many banks still operate in silos, with fragmented views of the customer across channels and products. Without a unified customer profile (enriched with behavioral, transactional, and even contextual data), it’s impossible to deliver consistent and meaningful personalization. The data exists, but it’s often underutilized or locked in legacy systems.

Beyond data, what else gets overlooked?

Banks also underestimate the importance of timing and delivery. Personalization is not just what you say, it’s when and how you say it. A push notification during salary week can be relevant; the same message during a financial hardship moment can be tone-deaf. Understanding context and emotional state is critical, and AI can help, but only if designed and trained thoughtfully.

He adds that timing without trust doesn’t get far. Customers today are more aware of how their data is used, and if personalization feels intrusive or manipulative, it can backfire quickly. Transparency, control, and a focus on genuine financial well-being matter just as much as the sophistication of the algorithm.

So what will separate the leaders from the laggards in the years ahead?

I would say agility. By the time a personalized campaign is built, approved, and deployed, the moment of relevance has often passed. Embedding real-time intelligence into customer interactions (from app navigation to contact center conversations) is where the future lies. And that requires not just technology, but a cultural shift toward experimentation and continuous learning.

That shift, he argues, will define tomorrow’s leading banks.

How did you enjoy your time at UNCHAIN this year?

UNCHAIN this year was truly inspiring, both in content and in energy. It brought together exactly the kind of community we need more of in the region: bold thinkers, digital doers, and people genuinely passionate about reshaping financial services. What I appreciated most was the honesty of the conversations. It was less about buzzwords. It had actual substance. Whether it was about embedded finance, open banking, or AI in customer journeys, the discussions reflected a maturity that shows how far the ecosystem has come.

Part of the value was also personal. Stepping outside the day-to-day pressure of execution gave him space to reconnect with peers from fintechs, banks, and regulators across CEE. The mix of perspectives (and even the constructive disagreements) offered both validation for what Garanti BBVA is already doing and sparks for what could be improved.

Another standout for me was the diversity of voices, not just geographically, but also across disciplines. You had product leaders next to founders, data scientists next to policymakers. That kind of mix creates the right tension, and some of the most insightful conversations happened outside the formal panels, over coffee or during side chats.

Too many conferences stay in the clouds; Unchain managed to balance inspiration with practical use cases and lessons learned, including some failures, which are just as important to hear. All in all, it was time very well spent.

That sense of shared purpose also mirrors his own approach at Garanti BBVA. He has never spoken about technology as an end in itself, but as a means to build relevance and trust. Whether it’s digital onboarding, AI-driven personalization, or the broader cultural shifts inside banks, his message is that transformation only matters if it makes people’s lives simpler and more meaningful.

In a region still defining its digital future, transformation is not a showcase of technology but a test of relevance: whether banks can remain trusted, useful, and human while rethinking their foundations. Serban’s work at Garanti BBVA shows that the future of finance in Romania (and in the wider region) will belong to those who can turn ambition into execution without losing sight of the people they serve.

Over the past few years, Bulgaria has gone from having a small patchwork of digital finance startups to hosting more than 150 fintech companies, most of them clustered in Sofia. The sector has seen consistent growth in revenue, investment, and international visibility, and it’s not just about volume. It’s about how these companies are scaling fast, experimenting across verticals, and attracting global backing.

The digital payments segment is especially dominant. It makes up about a third of all fintech activity in the country and drives more than 60% of the industry’s revenue. Names like BORICA, Paynetics, and EasyPay form the local backbone, while giants like Visa and Mastercard have set up shop here too. Add in Bulgaria’s first fintech unicorn, Payhawk, and a wave of crypto innovation led by companies like Nexo, and the picture gets clearer: Bulgaria is a testbed for real fintech ambition.

So, how did this happen? What role did regulators, banks, and cross-border investors play in shaping the ecosystem? And what’s next as Bulgaria eyes eurozone entry and deeper EU integration?

That’s what we’re about to explore.

Regulation: Stability First, Innovation Close Behind

Bulgaria’s financial regulation system is methodical, and that’s part of what’s helped the fintech ecosystem grow without overheating. At the centre of it all sits the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), which acts as the country’s central bank, banking regulator, and macroprudential watchdog. It issues licenses for banks, payment institutions, and e-money firms, oversees financial stability, and implements EU rules like PSD2.

Since 2020, the BNB has been under “close cooperation” with the European Central Bank, meaning the ECB now supervises Bulgaria’s largest banks directly through the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). This was a major step forward in aligning with the eurozone. The BNB has gradually raised capital buffers, like the countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB), which hit 1.5% in 2023 as a way to prevent excessive credit growth and make the system more shock-proof.

Speaking of eurozone preparations, Bulgaria still aims to adopt the euro, even though that timeline has slipped past 2025 due to inflation concerns. But regulators are treating it like a when, not an if. The BNB recently connected its national payment system (BISERA) to the ECB’s TIPS platform, enabling instant euro transfers, one of the last pieces of technical infrastructure needed for euro adoption.

Another big name in the regulatory space is the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC). While the BNB handles banks and payments, the FSC oversees insurance, pensions, capital markets, and non-bank finance. They’ve started to lean into fintech more actively, rolling out a Strategy for Monitoring Financial Innovation (2021–2024) and showing openness to ideas like a regulatory sandbox, though a full one hasn’t launched yet.

There’s also the Ministry of Finance, which handles legislation and coordinates Bulgaria’s eurozone strategy and post-COVID recovery investments. Their work with the BNB and FSC helps align Bulgaria with upcoming EU rules like MiCA (for crypto) and DORA (for digital operational resilience).

So far, this three-pronged setup (BNB, FSC, and the Ministry) has struck a fairly good balance between financial stability and fintech growth. One key challenge, however, remains financial literacy. Bulgaria’s population still struggles with understanding new financial products, especially digital ones. The government’s Financial Literacy Strategy (2021–2025) tries to tackle that, but making fintech truly inclusive will take time.

Commercial Banks, Neobanks & Fintechs: Digitalisation Meets Consolidation

Bulgaria’s banking sector is concentrated, foreign-owned, and (over the past few years) quietly getting a digital overhaul. As of the end of 2023, 23 banks were operating in the country, including six branches of foreign banks. But it’s the top five that run the show, holding nearly 77% of all banking assets. That level of concentration isn’t new, but what’s changed is how these banks are operating.

There’s been a steady wave of consolidation. The most recent example was in 2023, when Postbank (Eurobank Bulgaria) acquired BNP Paribas Personal Finance Bulgaria, tightening its grip on the retail lending market and expanding its customer base.

Banks like UniCredit Bulbank, DSK (OTP Group), UBB (KBC), and Postbank are not only dominant but also investing heavily in digital transformation. Bulgaria’s eurozone ambitions are pushing banks to modernise legacy systems, tighten up compliance, and rethink how they deliver services online. A lot of this is also driven by necessity, such as regulatory alignment and rising customer expectations.

United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), part of the Belgian KBC Group, has been getting noticed not just for tech upgrades but also for its ESG credentials. In 2024, UBB was named Best Digital Bank and Best ESG Bank in Bulgaria by Euromoney, proof that digitalisation and sustainability can go hand in hand.

Meanwhile, neobanks and fintech-style lenders are starting to carve out their own space. A major move came in 2024 when Advent International announced it was acquiring tbi bank, a Sofia-based digital-first bank focused on Buy Now, Pay Later and consumer lending. Tbi isn’t a classic neobank, but it plays like one: mobile-first, quick onboarding, and accessible financing options.

On the infrastructure side, Evrotrust has become a key tech provider, especially in digital identity. In 2023, the Bulgarian government officially adopted Evrotrust’s eID scheme as the national standard for electronic identification, allowing people to sign documents and access public services online. The company is also working with private clients. Porsche Finance Group Bulgaria now uses Evrotrust to digitise internal workflows.

Beyond banks and neobanks, Bulgaria also has a handful of heavyweight fintechs that are powering much of the ecosystem’s infrastructure:

• BORICA, a state-backed payment infrastructure provider, runs the Blink instant payment system, launched in 2021 for 24/7 transfers in BGN. It later added person-to-person transfers via phone number, and is now being linked with the ECB’s TIPS platform for euro instant payments.
  
• Paynetics is a licensed e-money institution that operates across the EU and UK, offering card issuing, embedded finance infrastructure, and payment solutions to fintechs and merchants.
  
• iCard is one of the oldest fintech names in Bulgaria. Its digital wallet app supports IBAN accounts, P2P transfers, foreign exchange, and even crypto/metal investments. The company now serves 1.8+ million clients in 30+ countries.
  
• And EasyPay, while sometimes flying under the radar, is one of the most widespread hybrid payment platforms in Bulgaria, combining physical cash-in/cash-out points with digital services and integrations into the national payments infrastructure.

Fintech Startups & Investment Beyond Unicorns

For a long time, Bulgaria’s fintech scene flew under the radar. That changed in 2022, when Payhawk raised a $100 million Series B extension led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, officially becoming Bulgaria’s first unicorn.

But Payhawk isn’t the only company making a difference. Over the past five years, Bulgaria has quietly grown a dense network of fintech startups, more than 150 by 2022. Most of them are SMEs based in Sofia, but their ambitions are regional, and sometimes global.

Take Iris Solutions, one of the first licensed open banking providers in Southeast Europe. They offer infrastructure for banks and fintechs to launch PSD2-compliant services. Or Boleron, an insurtech startup building a fully digital insurance platform. In 2023, it raised €2.1 million to expand into Greece and Romania, showing that regional investors are now looking at fintech through a wider lens.

So, what’s fueling all this? A mix of local and international capital. Funds like LAUNCHub Ventures and Eleven Ventures have backed some of the biggest names in the market, including early rounds for Payhawk and Nexo. LAUNCHub has also invested in Nexo’s early stages and continues to raise fresh capital for fintech and deeptech bets across the region.

Meanwhile, foreign investors are getting in earlier than they used to. Payhawk’s $100M round brought in Lightspeed, Greenoaks, and Earlybird. Even crypto startups like Nexo, though they’ve had a bumpy regulatory ride, drew global capital during the boom years. Some startups like Phos, a SoftPOS provider that turns Android phones into card readers, even got acquired by big names (Ingenico picked them up in 2023).

What’s also interesting is how established players like Paynetics are acting like platforms for others. Besides offering embedded finance infrastructure, Paynetics has actively supported fintech entrepreneurs, partnered with startups like Phyre, and even acquired UK neobank Novus to expand its digital reach.

From a macro perspective, Bulgaria still isn’t a massive funding market. But it still performs beyond expectations. In 2023, over €260 million in startup funding was raised in Bulgaria across all verticals, and fintech remained one of the strongest categories. According to StartupBlink, Bulgaria ranked 37th globally in the Startup Ecosystem Index, with Sofia acting as the central hub for innovation.

So while the unicorn headlines matter, the real story is about ecosystem depth. A growing number of fintech startups, VC funds with regional reach, and a few high-profile exits have created momentum. And if Payhawk’s rise is any indication, Bulgaria’s next breakout fintech might already be in the works.

Associations & Support: Who’s Holding Up the Fintech Scene

Behind the startups, funding rounds, and flashy exits, there’s a surprisingly solid support system helping Bulgaria’s fintech ecosystem grow. And for a relatively small country, it’s got a few things going for it that others don’t.

The Bulgarian Fintech Association (BFA) is probably the loudest voice in the room. Since 2018, they’ve been the go-to group for research, advocacy, and general ecosystem-building.  Then there’s the Visa Innovation Program, which Bulgaria helped launch and now co-leads through Eleven Ventures. 

What started as a local accelerator has turned into a regional platform connecting fintech startups across Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria, with Sofia acting as a central hub. Startups in the program run pilots with Visa’s corporate partners and banks, which is a big deal when you’re trying to validate a product in a conservative industry.

And it’s not just Visa. A few years back, Raiffeisen Bank’s Elevator Lab also ran a chapter in Bulgaria to scout for fintech partnerships. One notable graduate was actually Phos, the SoftPOS startup that eventually got acquired by Ingenico. It’s a good example of how these programs can bring real value. 

Add to that startup hubs like Campus X, where fintech founders work out of the same building as VCs and tech mentors, and you get an ecosystem that’s tight-knit, not siloed. Some of the Visa program activity even took place there.

So while there’s no formal regulatory sandbox (yet), the combination of active associations, corporate-led programs, and VC-accelerator overlap has created a pretty functional support structure. It’s not flashy, but it works. And it helps explain why a country with just 7 million people keeps putting interesting fintechs on the regional map.

Conclusion: Early Days, Big Signals

Bulgaria’s financial sector has undergone major shifts in recent years, from the consolidation and digitalization of traditional banks to the rise of a growing fintech startup scene. It’s not the largest market in the region, but it’s moving fast and making itself hard to ignore.

What stands out in a Central and Eastern European context is the density and profitability of its fintech ecosystem. Bulgaria actually outpaces Romania in both the number of fintech companies and sector performance, and while it hasn’t positioned itself as a licensing magnet like Lithuania, it stands out for its engineering talent, strong infrastructure, and cost-effective environment. 

The sector is still in early stages, but it’s vibrant, well-networked, and building from solid fundamentals. With active associations, cross-border accelerators, and a healthy mix of local and foreign investment, the conditions are right for entrepreneurs to scale.

In the larger context of CEE, Bulgaria has positioned itself as both a collaborator and a competitor, collaborating to build regional fintech synergies while competing by offering a highly skilled yet cost-effective environment for financial services development. 

The country’s first fintech unicorn and successful exits signal the coming of age of the ecosystem. Going forward, the continued inflow of EU funds, the prospect of euro adoption, and sustained tech innovation are poised to further integrate and advance Bulgaria’s financial market

There are now over 400 fintech companies in Poland, with most clustered around payments, lending, insurtech, regtech, and wealth management. The sector’s grown in lockstep with a young, tech-savvy population and high internet penetration (around 84%), not to mention a mobile-first mindset that’s made Poland one of the continent’s top adopters of digital banking.

Domestic players like BLIK, Przelewy24, and mBank lead the charge with widely used payment solutions and innovative banking platforms. Meanwhile, global challengers like Revolut have found plenty of room to grow. Add in strong EU-aligned regulations, widespread PSD2 adoption, and an increasingly active VC scene, and you get a fintech market with a clear direction: ever forward. 

Regulation and Oversight in Poland’s Fintech Ecosystem

Poland’s fintech sector owes a lot to how its institutions have handled regulation over the years: firm when needed, but generally supportive of innovation. The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) has been the main regulatory force behind fintech developments, while the National Bank of Poland (NBP) plays more of a macro role. 

The NBP focuses on monetary policy, currency stability, and overall financial system oversight. It’s KNF, not NBP, that directly regulates financial institutions and fintech startups. Alongside them, the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) has worked to promote the local ecosystem abroad and draw foreign players into the Polish market.

KNF has taken a pretty hands-on but open approach, launching initiatives like the Innovation Hub to help fintechs navigate legal requirements, and setting up a virtual sandbox for startups to safely test open banking solutions. There’s even a blockchain sandbox, developed in partnership with KDPW, that gives tech innovators room to experiment without immediate regulatory pressure.

The rollout of PSD2 was a major inflection point. Banks were required to open their APIs to third-party providers, which opened the door for a whole wave of fintech innovation. KNF helped shape the rules, backing projects like the national Polish API standard to keep things streamlined. Around the same time, a simplified license model (the Small Payment Institution) made it easier for early-stage fintechs to operate without the burden of full licensing.

Poland also follows the usual EU regulations (GDPR, anti-money laundering directives, and upcoming frameworks like DORA and MiCA) but what makes it stand out is how it balances compliance with flexibility. Startups still have room to build.

The FinTech Poland Foundation has been another key player, organizing working groups and creating a space where regulators, startups, and banks can collaborate, rather than just coexist.

All in all, Poland’s fintech regulation is a well-established framework. It’s not frictionless, but it works. And it’s one of the reasons why the sector has kept moving forward, not just in size, but in maturity.

A Hybrid Ecosystem: Banks, Fintechs, and the Tech Behind Them

Poland’s financial ecosystem doesn’t fit neatly into one category. It’s a hybrid space where traditional institutions go all-in on digital, neobanks and fintechs compete on user experience, and tech providers quietly power it all behind the scenes.

Commercial Banks and Neobanks: Digital by Design

Poland’s banking sector is dominated by a handful of large domestic banks, which have grown steadily from 2018 to 2025. With total banking assets reaching €564 billion in 2021, the country leads the CEE region by a wide margin, nearly doubling the value held by the second-ranked Czech Republic.

Names like PKO Bank Polski, mBank, and ING Bank Śląski consistently rank among the most digitalized in Europe. By mid-2024, 25.5 million Poles were actively using mobile banking apps, with PKO’s IKO app alone boasting over 6 million users, and mBank and Pekao close behind at around 3.3 to 3.4 million users each. Mobile banking has even overtaken traditional banking in usage.

PKO Bank Polski made headlines for implementing what it claims is the largest consumer-facing blockchain application in global banking, using it to verify documents and streamline customer interactions. Meanwhile, mBank is also investing in tech other than its own. The bank set aside €50 million to partner with and fund fintech startups, aiming to blend its institutional backbone with startup innovation.

On the other hand, neobanks like Revolut and Monzo saw Poland as a promising market early on, and they weren’t wrong. By late 2023, Revolut had nearly 3 million users in Poland, making it its second-largest EU market after Romania. It grew 48% year-over-year and recently integrated with the local BLIK payment system to better serve Polish users.

But it’s not just international players grabbing attention. Polish banks themselves have responded by ramping up their digital platforms and features to rival the user experience of these challengers. ZEN.com, sometimes dubbed “the Polish Revolut,” offers multi-currency accounts, cashback perks, and shopping protections (backed by a Lithuanian banking license).

And new players keep emerging. Aion Bank introduced a flat-fee subscription banking model, while platforms like N26, Monese, and Wise continue to appeal to Poland’s mobile-first, borderless banking generation. It’s a crowded field, but one that’s giving consumers real choice.

Fintechs and Tech Provers: A Diverse and Growing Crowd

Poland’s fintech scene has become one of the most dynamic in the region. From payments and wealthtech to insurtech and lending, it’s a mixed crowd – one that keeps growing in both number and maturity.

BLIK, the homegrown mobile payment system, is now baked into everyday life (from splitting a bill with friends to paying for groceries). Add in near-universal internet access and a population that’s deeply comfortable with digital banking, and it’s clear why fintech adoption is so high. Over 22 million people use online banking, and mobile banking apps from major players like PKO and mBank have millions of active users each.

Meanwhile, the country’s crypto ecosystem remains active, even if the rules are strict. Poland has taken a relatively cautious stance. Crypto platforms operate under heavy AML and licensing obligations, but they’re still part of the broader fintech mix.

On the technology side, Poland isn’t just producing consumer-facing fintechs. Established firms like Asseco and Comarch provide the core infrastructure used by banks and fintechs alike. But even on the bleeding edge, there’s momentum.

Blockchain is a great example. Poland became the first country where banking records were stored on blockchain at scale, thanks to an initiative led by the Polish Credit Office (BIK).

AI is also gaining traction. Polish fintechs are applying artificial intelligence in areas like fraud prevention and credit scoring, especially to serve customers who wouldn’t qualify under traditional risk models.

A Fintech Startup Scene Backed by Capital and Momentum

Poland’s fintech ecosystem has come a long way in a short time. Just a few years ago, it was mostly dominated by payment processors and a handful of digital innovators. Now, it’s home to over 400 fintech startups spread across verticals like payments, lending, insurtech, wealthtech, and crypto (and that number keeps growing). Between 2018 and 2022 alone, the sector nearly doubled in size, going from 167 companies to 299, and momentum hasn’t slowed since.

Payments remain the strongest segment. Poland is a regional leader in mobile and contactless payments, with nearly 100% of POS terminals supporting contactless transactions and over 93% of all cards being contactless-enabled.

PayPo, for example, helped Poland become a regional leader in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services. In 2022, Polish BNPL platforms financed over $515 million worth of purchases, with PayPo offering a 30-day deferral at no cost.

But beyond payments, the startup landscape is a lot more diverse. Platforms like Kontomatik, one of Poland’s earliest open banking players, now provide data aggregation and credit scoring APIs to both banks and fintechs. Przelewy24 and Blue Media continue to dominate as e-commerce payment gateways, integrating instant bank transfers and pay-by-link services that are widely used in Polish online shopping.

On the crypto and blockchain front, platforms like Ramp have taken things global. Based in Warsaw and London, Ramp raised $123 million across two rounds and built an API that lets users buy crypto directly inside apps (a solution that’s already gained serious traction in global markets).

There’s also Nethone, a fraud prevention startup that uses AI to detect high-risk behavior in real-time. It was acquired by French fintech MANGOPAY in 2022, marking a rare but notable Polish fintech exit.

Investment & Funding

The funding scene has caught up with the talent. Polish fintechs are now attracting attention from both domestic and global investors, with more funding going toward companies that are not only building cool tech but actually monetizing and scaling.

As mentioned, Ramp’s $123 million, PayPo’s rapid BNPL growth, and Nethone’s exit are all signs of momentum. Add to that ZEN.com’s early-stage backing and it’s clear the ecosystem is no longer just a playground, it’s a market.

Another funding channel picking up speed is equity crowdfunding. Platforms like Beesfund and Crowdway helped raise over $70 million in 2021 alone, up from just $5 million in 2018. Retail investors are showing growing interest in getting in early, especially with fintechs that already have visible traction.

Venture capital activity is also strong. Local firms like Inovo Venture Partners, Market One Capital, and Tar Heel Capital are actively backing fintech startups. PFR Ventures, a government-backed fund-of-funds, continues to channel EU and national money into early-stage rounds, while accelerators like MIT Enterprise Forum CEE and Huge Thing are still some of the best launchpads in the region.

Then there’s the public money. Between the EU’s Digital Poland program, the EFDD fund, and $149 billion unlocked in early 2024 under the National Reconstruction Plan, there’s a huge push to make Poland’s digital transformation happen, with fintech playing a central role.

Accelerators, Associations & Ecosystem Builders

Poland’s fintech boom didn’t happen just because of good talent and timing. It also had the right support system behind the scenes. A handful of accelerators, think tanks and public-private partnerships have pushed the ecosystem forward over the past decade.

The FinTech Poland Foundation is one of the key players in that space. Launched back in 2015, it acts like a central nervous system for the entire ecosystem. From research and events to bridging the gap between startups, banks, and policymakers, FinTech Poland has been instrumental in shaping fintech’s trajectory. It also helped launch Fintech Hub Polska, which aligns closely with public sector efforts to make Warsaw a next-gen financial center.

On the acceleration front, MIT Enterprise Forum CEE and Huge Thing are two of the most important names. Both are known for supporting early-stage fintechs through structured programs, mentoring, and access to pilot opportunities. Huge Thing often works with corporate partners and VCs, helping startups prepare for scale, while MIT Enterprise Forum CEE connects companies with international markets and enterprise clients.

Meanwhile, banks are contributing too. Alior Bank’s RBL_Start  accelerator has scouted fintechs working on things like payments, biometrics, and open banking. It offers access to test environments and real partnership potential. PKO Bank Polski, the country’s largest bank, has its own initiative called “Let’s Fintech with PKO”, where startups can co-develop and pilot their tools. This program has already led to live implementations, including a blockchain-based document verification system and streamlined mortgage processes.

Global networks have also taken notice. Polish startups have made it into cohorts of the Mastercard Start Path and Visa Innovation Program, giving them access to mentorship, exposure, and the kind of connections that matter when expanding abroad. Add to that Google for Startups Campus Warsaw, which provides workspace, workshops, and networking events, and you’ve got a pretty healthy startup launchpad.

There’s also Startup Poland, a founder-focused non-profit that works more on the advocacy side. It publishes detailed reports on startup trends, regulatory bottlenecks, and funding gaps, and acts as a voice for early-stage companies when it comes to shaping policy.

Support also exists at the city level. The City of Warsaw has actively collaborated with fintech firms to modernize services, like enabling contactless payments across public transport. Warsaw actually ranks 10th in the European Fintech Occupier Index, in front of bigger cities specialized in the sector, such as Munich and Milan.

In short, the fintech ecosystem in Poland hasn’t grown in a vacuum. It’s been carefully nurtured by a mix of local champions, global programs, and open-door collaboration with both public and private institutions. That support is a big reason why Polish fintechs stick around and scale.

Poland’s Ecosystem: Still Growing, Still Shifting

Poland’s fintech ecosystem has created a unique identity for itself, one shaped by collaboration, not just disruption. Traditional banks have embraced digital with surprising speed. Local startups have built successful products, not just MVPs. And foreign players haven’t taken over but simply added to the competition.

But the momentum doesn’t come without friction. Regulatory caution, especially around crypto and blockchain, can slow things down. And the competition between banks and fintechs (once complementary) is getting tighter as both sides fight for the same user base.

Still, the outlook remains strong. Digital payments are only going to get faster. Neobanking and embedded finance are warming up and with open banking and AI-powered services on the rise, the lines between bank, app, and infrastructure will keep blurring. Even blockchain, which has been more cautiously explored here than in some other markets, could see deeper integration.

In short, Poland isn’t just keeping pace with the rest of the CEE ecosystem. In more ways than one, it’s an important player in the race. And the fintech story here is far from over.

UNCHAIN CEE Fintech Tour – Poland, Wed, 16th of April

Next stop: Poland. On April 16th, the UNCHAIN CEE Fintech Tour turns its focus to one of the region’s most resilient markets. Join fintech experts, investors, banks, and policymakers as we unpack Poland’s financial transformation.Register now to be part of the conversation. And if you can’t attend, no worries—subscribe to our newsletter for the post-event recap.

• Digital Transformation in Crisis: Discover how Ukrainian fintechs have adapted to war conditions, with solutions like AI-powered banking to enhance customer experience and maintain security during tough times.
• Cybersecurity & Resilience: Leading experts shared how fintechs in Ukraine are using cutting-edge cybersecurity measures to stay secure even amidst the crisis, ensuring continuous operation.
• Financial Innovation Amidst Adversity: Get inspired by stories of fintechs leading digital finance evolution in challenging conditions, from innovating in digital identity to contactless payments under war conditions.
• Collaborations that Matter: Hear about exciting cross-border collaborations and partnerships helping businesses stay agile and grow despite the odds.

Catch these fascinating discussions now – an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the future of fintech and digital transformation in the CEE region!

Territorially, Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe, and with a population similar to Poland’s and nearly double Romania’s, you’d expect some scale. And you’d be right. The fintech space includes more than 170 players across payments, neobanking, lending, insurtech, crypto, and more. Payments lead the way, but there’s a healthy mix of startups and infrastructure providers popping up across the board.

Sure, the pace of innovation hasn’t always been lightning-fast. Outdated regulations, limited capital, low income levels—all of these have made growth harder. But despite the friction, the sector hasn’t stalled. Quite the opposite. Neobank transactions have exploded in recent years (87x since 2018), and 46% of digital asset revenue now comes from crypto. 

Despite the war, banks kept their doors open. Not to mention that Ukraine’s IT ecosystem is one of the strongest in Europe, and that backbone helped keep fintech operations running when it mattered most.

It’s a tough environment, marked by turmoil and distress. But the fintech ecosystem in Ukraine is adapting and quietly proving just how resilient a digital-first economy can be.

The National Bank and Regulation: A Foundation

When it comes to Ukraine’s financial ecosystem, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) is a main driver of innovation. Even in times of uncertainty, the NBU has stayed focused on modernizing the system, launching reforms and partnerships that keep the fintech space moving forward.

Back in 2020, the NBU rolled out its Fintech Development Strategy through 2025—a roadmap to build a full-fledged, modern fintech ecosystem in Ukraine. Now, with the finish line in sight, we’re seeing the results take shape. Open banking is in progress. Digital literacy is actively promoted. Crypto is slowly moving from gray zone to green light.

As part of this strategy, Ukraine adopted the Law on Payment Services in 2021, which came into force in August 2022. Despite not being an EU member, the law was modeled closely on the EU’s PSD2 directive, introducing open banking principles, new categories of payment service providers, and the foundation for secure third-party access to financial data via APIs by 2025.

In the past year alone, the NBU approved a new Open Banking Concept—setting the stage for third-party APIs and more fluid data sharing between banks and fintechs. It also pushed ahead with a digital Register of Non-Resident Accounts built on blockchain (Hyperledger Fabric, to be exact), launched an online credit register info service, and simplified the way documents are exchanged between banks and state registries. Step by step, the friction is being removed.

On top of that, the central bank signed multiple memorandums with international partners—from cybersecurity cooperation with the U.S. Treasury, to financial inclusion and war veteran support with the EBRD, to boosting institutional capacity alongside the Swiss government. It’s not all talk either: the NBU also launched a financial literacy platform called “Okay,” and co-signed an education partnership with Aflatoun International to improve financial awareness among youth.

The National Securities and Stock Market Commission registered Ukraine’s first credit notes and gave the green light for U.S. and German debt securities to be traded locally—small but symbolic steps for the future capital market growth. They also introduced a draft law to help regulate the crypto sector and signed cooperation deals with both the EBRD and the Warsaw Stock Exchange to help rebuild the market after the war.

Add to that partnerships with Mastercard, which has worked with the NBU and government stakeholders for over 25 years to expand access to digital payments—even under crisis conditions—and a fresh collaboration between the IFC and NBU to strengthen SME’s access to finance and you’ve got a picture of a regulatory system that isn’t just reactive. It’s proactive.

The NBU is even exploring the launch of a digital hryvnia (e-hryvnia), a central bank digital currency (CBDC) concept that could further modernize the payment system and support both retail and cross-border use cases. It’s still early days, but it signals how far the regulator is willing to go to stay ahead.

Commercial Banks, Fintechs, and Their Blurring Boundaries

In Ukraine, the banking landscape is a mix of state-owned giants, international players, and a growing wave of digital-first challengers. But despite the variety, state-owned banks still dominate everyday banking for most Ukrainians.

According to OpenDataBot’s 2025 index, PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, and Ukrgasbank—all state-owned—are at the top, both in customer volume and total assets. The biggest of them all, PrivatBank, holds more than double the assets of its closest competitor, with around ₴466 billion vs ₴186 billion (equivalent of €10.41 billion vs €4.15 billion) for Oschadbank back in 2021—and the gap hasn’t narrowed much since. As of 2024, Ukraine’s top 20 banks reported a 14% income increase, showing that even during wartime, the sector isn’t just surviving—it’s growing.

Still, foreign-owned banks have carved out their niches. UKRSIBBANK, backed by BNP Paribas (60%) and the EBRD (40%), is one of the largest banks with international capital. It’s especially active in Ukraine’s IT sector, partnering with local clusters and supporting tech communities. Other key foreign players include OTP Bank (Hungarian), Credit Agricole (French), and Raiffeisen Bank (Austrian).

Competition isn’t the main story here: cooperation is. Most Ukrainian banks work closely with fintech companies to roll out new features, from salary advance services to insurance-backed lending products. In fact, 71% of the fintech companies say they actively collaborate with banks, and 40% name them as their main business partners.

Not to mention that over the last few years, neobanks like Monobank raised the bar for user experience, pushing traditional players to catch up fast. Banks like Sense Bank, PUMB, and A-Bank redesigned their mobile apps, added remote onboarding, streamlined lending flows, and made mobile-first service the norm.

Digitally speaking, Ukraine goes far above its weight. Opening a bank account takes under 10 minutes, thanks to remote verification and digital ID integration. Ukraine leads the region in contactless and mobile wallet adoption, with 44 banks supporting Apple Pay and Google Pay as early as 2021. In fact, contactless transactions surpassed chip-and-PIN and even became the default for public transit in many cities. A big reason for that is how aggressively banks have embraced tech. PrivatBank’s Tap to Pay, Sense Bank’s salary advance features, and Oschadbank’s veteran-focused products are just a few examples.

When the full-scale war began in 2022, digitization became a lifeline. Despite the chaos, all 69 banks stayed operational, thanks in part to emergency measures like the Power Banking network (2,300+ branches with backup power and connectivity) and cloud backups that moved critical banking data to servers in the EU, US, and Canada. Even during blackouts, card payments kept working—and in some cases, cashless transactions actually increased.

On the fintech side, Ukraine’s ecosystem is growing alongside this evolution. There are now more than 100 fintech companies in the market, many of them focused on retail financial self-service—digital wallets, consumer lending apps, embedded payments, and more. And they’re not just building for Ukraine. Many are also targeting international markets, or working behind the scenes as white-label tech providers.

The crypto-fintech connection is still developing, but Ukraine made headlines back in 2020 when Binance opened an account at IBOX Bank—its first ever partnership of this kind—with the Ministry of Digital Transformation involved in making it happen. The government’s been bullish ever since, predicting that by 2024, half the population could be using virtual assets, and Ukraine could break into the top 10 global crypto adoption rankings.

That being said, not everything runs the way it should. In early 2025, Revolut announced services for Ukrainian residents, including donations to the war effort and special edition cards. But within days, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a statement saying Revolut is not licensed to operate locally and is effectively offering services illegally. It’s a reminder that while the market is open to innovation, there are still rules.

Startups and Investment Landscape: Fortitude in Action

For a country at war, Ukraine’s startup ecosystem is doing more than just holding on. In 2024, it was ranked among the top three fastest-growing ecosystems in Central and Eastern Europe and is now the fourth largest in CEE by ecosystem value, right after Poland, Estonia, and Czechia. This ranking was determined through a combination of key metrics such as growth trajectory, startup valuations, venture funding raised, and ecosystem maturity, with Ukraine’s resilience and adaptability during the ongoing conflict contributing to its rapid development and international recognition.

One of the pillars of this growth is Ukraine’s deep and battle-tested IT sector. Even before the war, Ukrainian tech startups were already playing on a global stage. Post-2022, they’ve become even more agile, building products remotely, relocating when needed, and adapting fast.

However, the part that really sets Ukraine apart is that founders here build lean. According to UAFIC, 68% of fintech startups have already reached break-even or profitability, and 66% are entirely self-funded by their founders. That bootstrapping culture means Ukrainian startups are used to working with constraints, which came in handy when the war made venture capital harder to access.

Crypto also plays a unique role here. Ukraine ranked first globally in crypto adoption in 2021, and when war broke out, over $100 million in donations flowed in through crypto rails, facilitated by local players like Kuna and WhiteBIT. That same ecosystem has since expanded to offer crypto wallets, exchanges, and donation tools, many of which were launched or improved under wartime conditions.

Key Startup Players

A handful of early-stage startups are helping shape Ukraine’s fintech future:

• Fintech Farm – Founded by the creators of Monobank, it’s now exporting neobank models globally while developing new digital banking products at home.
  
• FinMap – A personal finance tool launched in 2019, helping individuals and SMEs to manage cash flow more effectively.
  
• Allpass.ai – A compliance startup offering automated identity verification. It received seed funding in 2022 and targets financial institutions.
  
• Trustee Wallet – A crypto wallet app designed for mobile users, first launched in 2019, and geared toward everyday crypto transactions.

The Investment Scene

On the investment side, the local support is solid. The Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF) was named “Best Seed Fund for Fintech” in 2023, recognized for backing startups during wartime and accelerating innovation when most countries would be in freeze mode. Seed grants, pitch events, and connections to investors have kept many teams afloat and building.

Speaking of investors, Ukraine’s fintech founders have long dealt with one major headache: getting bank accounts abroad. Even now, many report that EU and U.S. banks restrict access or delay onboarding, which complicates things when you’re trying to raise from international VCs or operate globally. But despite these obstacles, the investor pool is slowly widening. According to Vestbee, key funds like SMRK VC, TA Ventures, AVentures, and Horizon Capital continue to back Ukrainian startups, while diaspora-backed and regional VCs are also stepping up.

Government-backed programs have also been crucial in keeping the lights on. In 2022, Google launched a $5M Ukraine Support Fund for startups. Local initiatives like Seeds of Bravery, competitions via USF and UAFIC, and regional partnerships helped fill the gap while traditional VC pulled back.

Looking back, it’s worth noting how far things have come. In 2019, the Ukraine Fintech Ecosystem Mapping Report listed chronic underfunding, weak investor networks, and the absence of support programs as major challenges. Fast forward to today, and most of those gaps have been patched. Public–private support systems, accelerators, and specialized programs are everywhere, and Ukraine is getting better at telling its own startup success story.

Despite blackouts, displacement, and risk-averse capital flows, Ukrainian fintech startups are still launching, raising, and scaling. Not because it’s easy, but because the infrastructure, talent, and support systems are strong enough to make it possible. And that’s exactly what makes Ukraine one of the most interesting ecosystems to watch in the next few years.

Associations and Support: The Network Behind the Growth

Behind every solid fintech ecosystem is a network of institutions that do the less glamorous, but absolutely essential work: connecting startups, running events, pushing for policy change, and keeping the lights on (especially when those lights literally go out). In Ukraine, that role is filled by a mix of industry associations, accelerators, and international programs.

One of the bigger names is the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovation Companies (UAFIC). Since 2018, it’s become the central voice of the fintech community, with over 80 members that range from banks to blockchain startups. It does a bit of everything: advocacy, research, education, and events. They host the UAFin.Tech conference (the biggest fintech event in Eastern Europe) and partner with regulators to shape policy on everything from PSD2 alignment to virtual assets regulation.

During the war, UAFIC pivoted fast. It offered relocation support, tracked the operational status of member companies, and even launched new initiatives to keep Ukrainian fintechs connected with international partners.

On the funding side, the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF) continues to lead at the seed stage. In addition to grants and pitch competitions, USF launched educational initiatives like the USF Guide and helped local startups plug into global networks. In 2023, it partnered with UAFIC for fintech-specific challenges and was named Best Seed Fund for Fintech for keeping the ecosystem alive during the toughest times.

On the accelerator side, Unit.City continues to be one of Kyiv’s main tech hubs, with fintech startups among its most active residents. Their Ninja acceleration program provides early-stage startups with tailored mentorship, market access, and even legal aid—much needed when operating across wartime borders.

There’s also the Startup Wise Guys, the Estonia-based accelerator that went all-in on Ukraine. Their Growth Ukraine program, launched in 2023, brought selected startups (including fintechs) into an intensive 5-month program to prepare for expansion and fundraising. They called it a signal that “all eyes are on Ukraine”—and judging by the participation from global mentors and VCs, they weren’t wrong.

Meanwhile, some Ukrainian fintechs have made it into top-tier programs abroad. Y Combinator accepted startups like Fintech Farm (parent of Neobank)—a clear sign that global VCs see opportunity in Ukraine despite the challenges.

Multinational companies are also doing their part. Mastercard Start Path Ukraine, launched specifically for Ukrainian fintechs, offers product development support and mentorship—part of Mastercard’s broader push to help Ukraine rebuild digitally. Meanwhile, the Catapult Inclusion Ukraine program focuses on fintechs addressing financial inclusion, with grants and training for impact-driven ventures.

If you’re a Ukrainian startup looking for UK connections, there’s also the UK-Ukraine Tech Bridge, an initiative linking Ukrainian founders with UK investors, accelerators, and corporate partners. It’s designed to help startups scale internationally even while headquartered in a conflict zone. 

In short, Ukraine’s fintech growth isn’t just the product of clever founders. It’s also the result of an ecosystem that knows how to collaborate, adapt, and keep moving even in hard times.

Conclusion: Relentless, Prevailing, Moving Forward

Before 2022, Ukraine’s financial ecosystem was already in motion. Years of regulatory reform, digital innovation, and rising fintech adoption have set the stage for a modern, competitive market. The war could have derailed that, but instead, it revealed just how resilient this system really is.

Yes, what happened in the last years brought massive disruption. Investment slowed, physical infrastructure was hit, teams were displaced, and risks multiplied. But instead of collapsing, the ecosystem adapted. Startups switched to survival mode, banks activated continuity plans, regulators introduced wartime frameworks, and digital services filled the gaps when traditional ones couldn’t.

Now, more than two years in, what we’re seeing is recovery and reinvention. Today, Ukraine’s financial sector is both battle-hardened and forward-looking. 

Neobanks kept growing, fintechs kept building, and institutions like the National Bank and Ministry of Digital Transformation stayed on track with open banking, crypto regulation, and cross-border partnerships. Meanwhile, accelerators, VCs, and global companies didn’t pull back, but instead, they leaned in.

Naturally, challenges remain. Access to international banking for startups is still hard to get. Investment volumes haven’t returned to pre-war levels. And long-term uncertainty makes planning difficult for everyone. But the foundations—tech talent, regulatory openness, a collaborative culture—are still there. 

There’s still a long road ahead. Rebuilding trust, capital, and infrastructure takes time. As the geopolitical conflict eventually abates and reconstruction begins, Ukraine’s regulators and financial institutions will likely double down on innovation. Trends even suggest that Ukraine’s financial sector can not only recover but potentially emerge more modernized and competitive than before. 

UNCHAIN CEE Fintech Tour – Ukraine, 3rd of April

Next stop: Ukraine. On April 3rd, the UNCHAIN CEE Fintech Tour turns its focus to one of the region’s most resilient markets. Join fintech experts, investors, banks, and policymakers as we unpack Ukraine’s financial transformation.Register now to be part of the conversation. And if you can’t attend, no worries—subscribe to our newsletter for the post-event recap.

The Evolving Consumer Landscape: Understanding the Banking Preferences of Digital Generations 

Key highlights of the discussion:

AI is reshaping the banking industry by providing personalized solutions, improving decision-making, and enhancing customer experiences. As banks integrate AI, they can offer tailored financial products and services, making them more competitive in an increasingly digital world.

Alongside these advancements, regulatory challenges are becoming more critical. As AI usage in banking grows, new regulations are needed to protect consumer safety and privacy. These regulations must evolve quickly to keep pace with technological innovations and ensure responsible AI deployment.

The generational shift is also driving change in the industry. Younger generations, accustomed to digital-first interactions and influenced by platforms like TikTok, are shaping banking expectations. They demand fast, interactive, and mobile-centric services, pushing banks to adapt their operations to meet these new digital standards.

Key Fintech Investment and M&A Activity: Implications for Market Growth

Key highlights of the discussion:

Hungary’s fintech ecosystem faces a challenge in terms of groundbreaking innovation, with many startups more focused on following trends rather than creating truly disruptive technologies. This stands in contrast to more dynamic markets like the Baltics, where innovation is driving the sector forward.

While Hungary presents significant potential for testing fintech solutions, its small market size limits startups’ ability to scale. Entrepreneurs often need to expand into larger markets like Central Eastern Europe or the US to grow, which presents unique challenges in adapting to diverse market conditions.

AI is transforming the fintech landscape by reducing capital requirements, particularly in software development. AI-driven solutions can automate complex tasks, decreasing human resource costs and accelerating development. International investors are increasingly interested in the Hungarian fintech market, with new forms of funding allowing smaller investors to support the sector’s growth.