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.

###

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.

Panel 1: AI & Banking – The Inevitable Integration

AI in Every Role – The New Normal
AI is no longer just an innovation; it’s becoming a necessity. In the coming years, every role in banking—from front desk to back office—will integrate AI to enhance efficiency, automate workflows, and redefine customer interactions. Are banks ready for this transformation?

Agentic AI & Automation – A Game-Changer for Banking Operations
Imagine an AI-driven ecosystem where risk assessments, compliance checks, and product launches happen seamlessly. The potential of agentic AI in banking is enormous, but how close are we to full-scale adoption? Experts discuss what’s possible today and what the future holds.

Panel 2: Fintech at the Crossroads – Regulation, AI & SME Lending

Regulation: A Blessing or a Curse for Fintechs?
Is regulation a catalyst for fintech growth or a roadblock to innovation? Compliance requirements are forcing fintechs to refine their processes, but does this come at the cost of agility? Leaders share real-world insights on navigating the regulatory landscape.

The AI Disruption – Will It Redefine Money Itself?
Financial services are evolving rapidly, but AI might push transformation even further than we imagine. Could we see a fundamental shift in how money functions, how transactions happen, and how compliance operates? The panel explores how AI is rewriting the rules of finance.

The SME Lending Gap – The Biggest Missed Opportunity?
Despite driving economic growth, SMEs struggle to access affordable financing. Traditional banks often overlook microloans due to high costs, but digital lending is changing the game. Could fintech finally unlock this untapped market and fuel SME expansion?

AI, regulation, and digital transformation are reshaping the future of banking and fintech in Romania and beyond. From enhancing operational efficiency to unlocking new opportunities in digital lending, the industry is evolving rapidly.

Don’t miss these insightful discussions on the key trends driving change. Watch now to stay informed on what’s next for Romania’s financial landscape!

But fintech doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The country’s financial sector, shaped by decades of transformation from a state-controlled system to a competitive market, has played an equally important role in paving the way for this growth.

While Romania benefits from a growing interest in digital transformation, it also navigates the challenges of a traditional financial market that has been slow to adapt to change. This blend of progress and conservatism makes Romania’s fintech story unique—a mix of ambition and caution that shapes the way the sector evolves.

Regulatory Landscape

Romania’s fintech regulations are still a work in progress, but they’re heading in the right direction. While there’s no specific legal framework just for fintechs, most activities fall under existing financial regulations, like those for payment services, electronic money, and anti-money laundering (AML). The regulatory approach focuses on what the business does, not the technology it uses—something called “technological neutrality.”

The National Bank of Romania (NBR) plays a major role here, overseeing payment services and electronic money institutions to ensure compliance with both local and EU regulations. Alongside NBR, the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) oversees non-banking financial markets, including capital markets, insurance, and private pensions, playing a key role in maintaining financial stability. More recently, ASF and NBR have been working together to develop a regulatory framework for digital assets, aiming to balance innovation with investor protection.

Romanian regulators have also introduced initiatives to make innovation easier. The NBR’s FinTech Innovation Hub provides fintech companies with a space to discuss compliance questions and navigate regulatory hurdles. Similarly, the ASF’s regulatory sandbox lets companies test new products in a controlled environment, giving them room to experiment while staying within the rules.

Aligning with EU Standards

Romania’s alignment with EU directives, such as PSD2 and the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, provides fintechs with a clear framework to operate. Recent amendments to AML rules, for instance, now allow electronic identification methods, making digital onboarding smoother and more accessible for companies. Additionally, new eIDAS 2 and 3 regulations are set to further standardize digital identification across Europe, ensuring fintechs can offer seamless authentication and electronic signature services across borders.

Cybersecurity and operational resilience are also under the spotlight with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which will introduce stricter security and risk management standards for financial institutions, including fintechs. The NBR joined by ASF and DNSC are overseeing its implementation, with banks in Romania already undergoing cybersecurity testing ahead of the regulation’s enforcement in January 2025.

 DORA focuses specifically on the financial sector, while something like the NIS2 Directive, implemented in Romania through OUG 155/2024, applies to a broader range of industries, including banking

One example of regulatory enforcement in action is TOKEN’s recent authorization as a payment institution by the NBR, allowing it to handle both online and in-store payments under PSD2 regulations. This approval highlights Romania’s ongoing efforts to support fintech innovation while ensuring compliance with European payment laws.

Still, navigating regulations remains a challenge for fintech companies. Romania does not yet have a dedicated regulatory framework tailored specifically for fintechs, meaning companies often operate within broader financial regulations that may not fully account for the nuances of emerging technologies. This can create areas of legal uncertainty, particularly for startups and firms working with new financial models. At the same time, fintechs must engage with multiple regulatory bodies, which can be a resource-intensive process.

The State of Banks, Neobanks, and Fintechs in Romania

Romania’s financial sector is evolving quickly, with banks, neobanks, and fintech companies adapting to meet changing consumer expectations. In recent years, the banking market has undergone significant consolidation, with major acquisitions reshaping the sector. Notable transactions include Banca Transilvania’s acquisition of OTP Bank România, UniCredit’s merger with Alpha Bank România, and Intesa Sanpaolo’s purchase of First Bank.

Beyond consolidation, Romania is home to some of the region’s most significant financial players. Banca Transilvania has grown into the largest bank in Southeast Europe, strengthening its position through acquisitions and digital transformation. Also, CEC Bank, a state-owned institution, remains a key player in the local financial system, and recent government initiatives are set to establish a third state-owned bank, Banca de Dezvoltare a României (BDR), to further support economic development.

Much of this evolution has taken place against a backdrop of relative financial stability, shaped in large part by the long-standing leadership of Mugur Isărescu at the National Bank of Romania (NBR). As the world’s longest-serving central bank governor, Isărescu has played a key role in maintaining economic balance, allowing the banking sector to modernize while ensuring stability during major economic shifts.

As of 2023, Romania’s fintech ecosystem consisted of approximately 84 companies, with digital payments leading the way as the dominant sector. That same year, the number of fintech users in Romania reached 10.1 million, with the majority actively using digital payment services. The total fintech revenue within the Romanian banking system peaked at around $74 million in 2023, including $10.9 million from digital investment.

Innovations in the Market

Traditional banks, such as Banca Transilvania are embracing digital transformation to streamline services and improve customer experiences. Many are adopting technologies like automation, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics, while open APIs are enabling better integration with fintech solutions.

A key example of this shift is George, Erste Bank’s digital banking platform, which has reached 10 million users across six countries—including 2.34 million in Romania alone. Romanian specialists have played a crucial role in its development, making up 25% of its engineering team. Similarly, Raiffeisen Bank Romania has doubled the number of digital loans issued, with four times more customers opening accounts directly from their phones, and digital wallet transactions up 87%. These trends indicate that digital banking is no longer just a feature of neobanks—it has become a core strategy for traditional banks as well.

But speaking of neobanks, they are definitely a contributor to reshaping the market, with Salt Bank leading the way as Romania’s first fully digital bank. Originally Idea::Bank, it was acquired by Banca Transilvania and later rebranded as Salt Bank. To power its neobank transformation, Salt partnered with Engine by Starling, the SaaS division of UK-based Starling Bank, launching its digital-first platform in 2024. Starling is a pioneer in the digital banking world and one of the first mobile-only banks built entirely in the cloud and on its own proprietary technology.

Prior to that, Revolut has rapidly expanded in Romania, making it the company’s second-largest retail market globally. With over 3 million users as of 2023, Revolut has strengthened its presence in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in Bucharest, which has the highest concentration of Revolut users in the EU. In December 2024, Revolut Bank UAB’s Romanian branch became officially active, granting the company full banking license status in the country. 

Digital payments are by far the largest segment in Romania’s fintech market. In 2022, the total transaction value reached approximately €8,041 million, and projections show this figure could nearly double to €15,860 million by 2027. This growth highlights how fintech companies are shaping consumer behavior and increasing adoption of digital financial tools.

Beyond standard market payments, Romania’s market has diversified with other payment options including digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay), Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions (TBI Pay, Mokka), and online payment processors (PayU, NETOPIA Payments, EuPlătesc). At the same time, more alternative payment methods like instant bank transfers and in-store QR code payments are gaining traction, reflecting an evolving digital financial landscape.

Visa has been a key driver of innovation in Romania’s payments sector. In 2020, it introduced Tap to Phone, a solution that enables merchants to accept contactless payments directly on Android devices with NFC, removing the need for additional hardware. This innovation gained traction, especially during the pandemic, as digital transactions surged.

Beyond private sector innovations, Romania’s banking ecosystem is also seeing advancements in state-backed digital payment solutions. In October 2024, RoPay was launched as a national instant payment system developed by TRANSFOND and the Romanian Banking Association, allowing users to transfer money instantly via mobile banking apps using QR codes, NFC, or phone numbers. 

At the same time, Ghișeul.ro, Romania’s official state-run online payment system, launched a mobile app enabling citizens to pay taxes, fines, and fees directly from their smartphones, further reinforcing the country’s shift toward digital financial solutions.

Fintech Market Expansion

Romania’s fintech ecosystem is evolving beyond local startups, with major international players entering the market and established fintechs consolidating their positions.

One of the latest entrants is Token Financial Technologies, which expanded into Romania in 2023 through its Odero brand, investing €7 million to modernize in-store payments and support merchant adoption of digital transactions. Another major development came with the National Bank of Romania authorizing BLIK, Poland’s instant payment system, which is now integrating with local banks to offer seamless mobile transactions. These moves highlight the growing interest in Romania’s digital finance landscape, particularly in the payments sector.

Beyond new market entrants, the fintech sector is also seeing consolidation. In December 2024, PragmaGo completed its acquisition of Telecredit, strengthening Romania’s alternative lending market and improving digital financing options for SMEs. Meanwhile, FintechOS, a company with hopes to become the next local unicorn after UiPath, continues its global expansion. It leverages its low-code solutions to help banks and insurers accelerate their digital transformation, further positioning itself as one of Romania’s most promising fintech scale-ups.

Challenges in the Sector

While Romania’s fintech sector has grown significantly, it still faces structural and market challenges that shape its future trajectory. Compared to Western European markets, financial infrastructure in Romania and across the broader CEE region is still evolving, leaving room for both development and innovation.

One of the biggest opportunities for growth is financial inclusion. While digital banking adoption is high in urban areas, access to financial services in rural regions remains uneven. This gap represents both a challenge and an untapped market, with fintech companies and traditional banks working to expand financial accessibility through digital-first solutions.

At the same time, cybersecurity risks are increasing as digital services expand, making security and fraud prevention a top priority for financial institutions. Regulatory frameworks such as DORA aim to strengthen operational resilience, but ensuring compliance and customer protection remains a continuous effort.

Despite these challenges, Romania stands out as one of the most digitally progressive markets in the region. Romanians have proven to be early adopters of financial technology, as seen in Revolut’s rapid expansion and the success of digital banking solutions like George. The country’s strong IT workforce has also played a key role in driving innovation, with many global fintech platforms tapping into Romanian talent for development and expansion.

Startups & Investments 

Romania’s fintech sector is rapidly growing, with an increasing number of innovative companies entering the market each year. Overall, the country is home to more than 1,600 active tech startups across various industries, with the fintech segment contributing significantly to a total startup valuation of around €19 billion.

The booming IT sector has been a major factor in this growth, helping to position Romania as a key player in Europe’s startup ecosystem. In fact, Romania is ranked 8th in Eastern Europe and 44th globally when it comes to startup ecosystems. On average, startups here raise about $7 million each, which is no small feat.

Startups to Watch

Several Romanian fintech startups have been distinguishing themselves both locally and internationally, reflecting the sector’s increasing maturity. Instant Factoring, already a key player in SME financing, expanded into Spain in May 2024, following strong performance in Romania and Serbia. 

Similarly, Pago, a popular bill payment and subscription management platform, secured €2.3 million in Series A funding in October 2024, fueling its expansion into five European countries, including Italy, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Pluridio, a rising fintech in lending solutions, is also scaling its operations beyond Romania.

Another standout is FlowX.AI, a Romanian fintech focused on modernizing banking infrastructure through AI-driven solutions. In 2023, the company secured a record-breaking $35 million Series A investment, the largest of its kind for a Romanian startup. This funding, backed by investors such as Dawn Capital, is fueling FlowX.AI’s expansion as it helps banks accelerate their digital transformation.

Beyond that, here are other notable names in the startup fintech sector:

• Prime Dash: Financial analytics and forecasting for smarter business decisions.
• Symphopay: Point-of-sale payment integration with analytics and loyalty tools.
• Lendrise: Fintech enabling digital identity & creditworthiness globally.
• Bankata: Financial comparison tools and personalized banking insights.
• Lendox: Lending platform that streamlines loan processing and credit risk assessment.

Challenges in the Ecosystem

That said, it’s not all smooth sailing. Many fintech startups still struggle to secure the funding they need to grow. While the appetite for innovation is definitely there, accessing investment remains a challenge, especially for early-stage companies trying to scale in a competitive market. Building relationships with investors and convincing them of long-term value often takes significant time and effort.

Investment Trends and Market Size

The investment landscape in Romania has been picking up steam. In the second half of 2024 alone, angel investors in the TechAngels network poured €2.76 million into tech startups. Platforms like SeedBlink have also played a big role in connecting early-stage companies with funding opportunities, mobilizing over €145 million in startup investments by 2022. 

Romania’s fintech sector has also drawn increasing attention from international investors. FlowX.AI’s record-breaking $35 million Series A round in 2023, but beyond international interest, local investment networks are also driving fintech growth. Transylvania Angels Network (T.A.N.), one of Romania’s leading angel investor groups, has facilitated over €3.5 million in investments across 30+ startups, including fintech companies like iFactor.

At the same time, larger funds are reinforcing Romania’s position in the CEE fintech landscape. In early 2024, GapMinder Ventures launched an €80 million venture fund, the largest of its kind in Romania, backed by investors like the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The fund prioritizes early-stage B2B startups across Romania and neighboring countries, with a focus on fintech, cybersecurity, enterprise automation, and data analytics.

Digital investment platforms are also gaining traction, with the market expected to grow by 11.66% annually, reaching $4 billion by 2028. These trends suggest that while challenges exist, there’s a lot of room for optimism as more investors start to back Romanian startups.

Associations and Support 

Romania’s fintech scene isn’t just about startups and big players—it’s also supported by key associations and institutions working behind the scenes to drive growth and collaboration. Here’s a look at who’s helping the ecosystem thrive:

RoFintech – The Romanian Fintech Association

Founded in 2020, RoFintech is the go-to organization for fintech companies in Romania. It helps startups navigate regulations, connects them with resources, and advocates for the industry at both national and European levels. The association is all about fostering collaboration and opening doors for Romanian fintechs to expand internationally.

Romanian Banking Association (ARB)

Founded in 1991, the Romanian Banking Association (ARB) represents the interests of the banking sector, promoting a stable and competitive financial environment. ARB plays a critical role in facilitating dialogue between banks, regulatory bodies, and stakeholders while working to align Romania’s financial sector with international standards.

Romanian Treasurers’ Association (ATR)

Established in 2015, the Romanian Treasurers’ Association (ATR) is a non-profit professional organization supporting specialists in corporate treasury, financial markets, and corporate finance. ATR fosters collaboration and knowledge-sharing among its members while advocating for a more mature and competitive financial market in Romania. The association also organizes training sessions and events to strengthen industry expertise.

Accelerators & Incubators 

Beyond regulatory support, Romania’s fintech ecosystem benefits from dedicated accelerators and incubators that help startups scale, secure funding, and expand internationally.

• InnovX– One of the leading fintech accelerators in Romania, helping early-stage and scale-up startups connect with investors, corporate partners, and global markets.
• Techcelerator – Next FinTech – A program selecting top fintech and SaaS startups, offering support for product development and access to venture capital networks.
• RoFintech Incubator – A planned initiative aimed at fostering the next generation of Romanian fintechs, providing mentorship, networking, and early-stage guidance.

These programs play a crucial role in bridging the gap between startups and investment, ensuring that fintech innovators in Romania have the resources and support needed to grow.

Challenges and Opportunities

Romania’s fintech sector is expanding rapidly, but growth comes with its share of challenges. One of the biggest challenges remains political instability, with frequent government changes and unexpected legislative shifts that impact the business environment. Recent policies, such as the so-called “Ordonanța Trenuleț,” have raised concerns among companies about the predictability of regulations. 

At the same time, regional geopolitical tensions—including the ongoing war in Ukraine—continue to affect investor confidence, although local economic instability often outweighs external factors in shaping market uncertainty.

Another challenge is the lack of specialization in fintech. While Romania has a strong IT industry and a booming SaaS sector, fintech expertise remains relatively scarce. Many developers and entrepreneurs have experience in general tech but not in the complex regulatory and financial aspects required for scaling fintech solutions. This gap makes it harder for startups to find the right talent and expertise needed to compete in an increasingly sophisticated market.

To address this, Romania’s academic sector and financial institutions have launched initiatives to train the next generation of fintech professionals. Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, in partnership with Banca Transilvania, now offers a “Data Science for Industry and Society” master’s program, equipping students with financial data analysis skills. EximBank collaborates with ASE Bucharest on internship programs, providing students with practical exposure to banking and fintech operations. Meanwhile, Banca Transilvania’s EU-cofinanced education projects support professional training and help students transition into the workforce, fostering a stronger pipeline of fintech professionals.

Despite obstacles, Romania’s fintech ecosystem presents enormous growth opportunities. The country has a growing appetite for digital financial solutions, with high adoption rates for digital banking, instant payments, and contactless transactions. The rise of unicorns and soonicorns in the tech space has created a ripple effect, inspiring new fintech startups and attracting global investors who see Romania as a strong emerging player in the sector.

Romania is also becoming a key market for fintech, payment, and infrastructure providers. Many international fintechs looking to expand in the CEE region see Romania as a natural next step due to its strong consumer base and tech-savvy population. Established players like Visa, Revolut, and PayU already have a significant presence, while other companies are actively eyeing Romania for expansion. The bigger question for Romania now is how fast it can catch up to other countries like Poland and establish itself as a true financial powerhouse in Central and Eastern Europe.

Conclusion

Romanians have a saying: Românul se naște poet (the Romanian is born a poet), a nod to the nation’s creativity and ability to find solutions where others see obstacles. The same applies to the country’s fintech sector, where ambition and adaptability are driving growth despite obstacles. The real challenge now is scaling beyond national borders. With the right tools, collaborations, and a bit of that signature Romanian ingenuity, local fintechs have the potential to make a mark on the global stage.

For those looking to dive deeper into Romania’s fintech evolution, UNCHAIN’s Fintech Tour is making its next stop in Romania on March 6, 2025. It’s the perfect opportunity to connect with industry leaders, explore emerging trends, and see firsthand how Romania is shaping the future of fintech in the region.

Card Replacement Timeline

All Raiffeisen cards will transition to Visa:

• Credit Cards: From July 15 to October 31, 2024
• Debit Cards: From August 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025

The new Visa cards will feature a modern design and be made from 99% recycled plastic. Additionally, they will include Braille information for visually impaired customers. Despite the switch, customers will retain all existing benefits and functionalities of their cards.

Our clients will have the same benefits, and nothing changes regarding the functionality of the cards. The new Raiffeisen cards have Braille information for the benefit of visually impaired clients.

Vladimir Kalinov, Vice President of Raiffeisen Bank

The Yellow Card initiative supports positive community causes. For every transaction made with this card, Raiffeisen Bank will donate to the Asociația Dăruiește Viață, contributing to the development of a new medical campus. 

The bank expects approximately 100 million transactions with the new card, leading to an estimated donation of 200,000 euros on top of an initial one million euros.

Digitalization has always been a priority for Visa as it helps consumers and companies adapt to a rapidly changing global economy with faster, simpler, and more secure transactions. Raiffeisen Bank has been with us for over three decades in building the local payment ecosystem, and our new exclusive partnership, issuing all cards under the Visa brand, is a milestone in the Romanian market, allowing us to accelerate the innovation process needed in the payments sector.

Cătălin Crețu, General Manager for Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovenia at Visa

Napier AI’s platform, deployed in a cloud environment, will manage hundreds of millions of transactions for Salt Bank. Key features include:

• User-friendly interface with customizable workflows
• Sandbox environment for optimizing screening configurations
• Configurable dashboards with no-code rule building and AI insights

Salt Bank, known for its fully digital banking services, aims to transform Romanian banking by providing a seamless online experience. The partnership with Napier AI supports this vision by integrating AML tools that meet evolving regulatory standards and customer demands.

We chose the Napier AI platform because it offered NextGen technology which enables us to strengthen our financial crime controls and matches our drive to offer clients a seamless digital experience, within a robust regulatory compliant environment. It is part of our amazing project to disrupt the Romanian banking sector as its first 100% digital bank Made in Romania. Napier’s cloud-native platform was deployed at speed, delivering us tangible results for financial crime tools when launching as a neobank.

Gabriela Nistor, CEO of Salt Bank

This partnership is expected to set a new benchmark for banking and financial crime compliance in Romania, helping Salt Bank to efficiently address consumer demands and regulatory requirements while maintaining high standards of security.

Napier AI’s industry-leading Transaction Screening solution is set to help Salt Bank succeed in setting a new standard for banking in Romania. It is an exciting time for the industry and market, and I am excited to see how we work together to bring best-in-class financial crime compliance to the next generation of digital banking users. 

Greg Watson, CEO, Napier AI

Bringing AI to Everyday Banking

The “Libra Voice” feature is designed to understand and respond to user commands given in Romanian, making the banking experience smoother and more intuitive. Users can ask about their account balances, recent transactions, loan details, and more, receiving both audio and textual responses. This integration of AI aims to streamline how customers interact with their bank, moving away from traditional navigation and towards a more conversational interface.

Apart from basic inquiries, “Libra Voice” can perform complex tasks like analyzing transaction histories, summarizing expenditures, or even identifying spending patterns. This tool is particularly useful for users who want to manage their finances more effectively and gain insights into their spending habits.

We’re proud to pioneer this technology in Romania and offer a level of digital banking service that sets new industry standards. ‘Libra Voice’ was entirely developed by our own specialists, reflecting our commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions tailored to our customers’ needs.

Cristina Mahika-Voiconi, General Manager of Libra Internet Bank

Initially available to all individual account holders in a beta phase, “Libra Voice” can be activated simply by tapping the microphone icon on the app’s home screen. This easy access encourages users to engage more actively with their financial data, promoting better financial management practices through enhanced accessibility and convenience.