One Does Not Simply... Buy from Fintechs with Markus Niemi-Nikkola, Chief Procurement Officer, Savings Bank

In this episode, Pål and Ville sit down with Markus Niemi-Nikkola, Chief Procurement Officer at Savings Bank and quickly realise that procurement might be one of the most misunderstood (and critical) functions in banking.What starts as a conversation about sourcing and vendor management turns into a deeper look at how banks actually get things done behind the scenes: from navigating legacy systems and regulatory expectations to balancing cost, control, and innovation without breaking everything in the process.Markus shares:.- Why procurement in banking is far more strategic than most people think.- How vendor ecosystems shape what banks can (and can’t) build.- The real-world tension between innovation ambitions and procurement realities.- Why “just buy the best solution” is rarely that simple.- Why AI bots are not going to handle all sides of procurement anytime soon (if ever) in banking.Naturally, Pål and Ville do their part by poking at the usual pressure points of speed vs control, build vs buy, and whether procurement is enabling innovation or politely slowing it down for everyone’s safety.Somewhere along the way, it becomes clear that while fintech loves to talk about disruption, someone still has to sign the contracts, manage the risks, and make sure the whole thing doesn’t collapse under its own enthusiasm.As it turns out, procurement isn’t boring; it’s a fascinating topic hiding in plain sight.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

Another month, another set of headlines quietly orbiting the same big question:Where does AI actually change the game and where does it just sit on top of old problems?In this Nordic Fintech Highlights episode, Ville, Pål and Janne connect three very different stories through a familiar thread: automation is moving fast, but reality is still catching up.On the agenda:Janne: Lunar x Wolt.Banking perks meet delivery platforms as Lunar partners with Wolt across the Nordics. Beneath the lifestyle angle sits a bigger question: when financial services blend into daily apps, who owns the customer relationship and what happens when AI starts orchestrating those ecosystems behind the scenesPål: Swedbank AML probe.Sweden’s FSA takes a closer look at Swedbank’s AML compliance, reminding everyone that while AI promises smarter monitoring and better detection, financial crime still evolves faster than most dashboards. Regulation remains stubbornly human, even as the tooling gets smarter.Ville: Basware’s AI agents.Enterprise finance steps into the age of autonomous assistance, as Basware introduces AI agents into procurement and financial workflows. The discussion turns to what happens when machines stop just analysing data and start taking action and whether back-office functions are quietly becoming the most AI-disrupted part of finance.Along the way, we touch on AI as infrastructure rather than headline feature, the tension between automation and accountability, and the growing sense that fintech’s next battleground may be operational intelligence rather than customer-facing flash.Smart systems, messy reality: business as usual in fintech.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl, Ville Sointu & Janne SalminenEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

In this episode, Pål and Ville sit down with Joonas Tomperi, CEO and co-founder of Enable Banking — and quickly realise this is less about APIs and more about mindset.Yes, we talk open banking. Yes, PSD2 makes an appearance. But the real story is what it takes to build a fintech in a heavily regulated industry when half the market says “you’re too late” and the other half says “nothing works yet.”Joonas shares:.- Why starting a fintech at 35 (not 22) was a strength, not a weakness.- What it’s like launching into PSD2 when the APIs technically exist… but not really.- How to turn regulatory slowness and pandemic chaos into competitive advantage.- Why Enable Banking chose product over consulting — even when cash flow would have been easier the other way.- The uncomfortable truth about fundraising: it’s basically advanced dating, but with more spreadsheetsWe also get into founder psychology — risk vs opportunity, when to bring in stronger operators, and why the best CEOs are willing to replace themselves if it’s right for the company.And in true Nordic fashion, we ask the big question:Why doesn’t Finland have five fintech Nokias yet?Along the way, there’s flu, pirate eye patches, 90s bank servers covered in dust, and a gentle reminder that connecting to “thousands of APIs” is slightly harder than plugging in a phone charger abroad.If you care about open banking, founder grit, or building something meaningful in a market that moves slower than your pitch deck suggests — this one’s for you.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

January may have looked quiet on the surface, but the Nordic fintech engine was very much running.In this Nordic Fintech Highlights episode, Ville, Pål and Janne unpack what actually mattered beneath the seasonal slowdown — where peer-to-peer payments, SME banking, and the future of merchant acquiring all collide in very Nordic ways.On the agenda:.- Klarna goes P2P. From BNPL to bank to sending money between friends, Klarna steps into an already crowded wallet space — starting closed-loop, with bigger ambitions ahead. We dig into ecosystems, cross-border logic, and why P2P always ends up being about much more than just P2P..- Lunar raises €46m and doubles down on SMEs. Fresh capital, sharper focus on business banking, and Moonrise as a platform play. Underserved SMEs return to the spotlight — this time backed by a proper war chest..- Loomis Pay and Android POS. Cash heritage meets programmable terminals as Loomis pushes deeper into digital acquiring. We explore why open POS platforms matter, how new payment rails complicate acquiring, and why instant payments still give merchants plenty of operational headaches.Naturally, the conversation takes a few familiar side roads: embedded finance, platform economics, gig workers, AI agents as future bank customers — and a shared realization that merchant acquiring has become one of the most quietly complicated parts of fintech.A calm start to the year, a surprisingly busy news cycle, and just enough skepticism to keep everyone honest.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl, Ville Sointu & Janne SalminenEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

We’re back in central-bank territory with Aleksi Grym from the Bank of Finland, and once again manage to turn a perfectly sensible conversation into a deep dive on money, payments, and why nothing in this space is ever as straightforward as it sounds.Starting with what central banks actually do (spoiler: more than just printing money), we move into crypto, stablecoins, and why most of their real-world impact still happens inside the crypto ecosystem (or is it.a casino?) itself. Aleksi calmly explains why hype is cheap, plumbing is hard, and payments tend to break in very predictable ways.Naturally, we end up talking about the digital euro — not as a shiny new payment rail, but as a long-term infrastructure project. Less “instant innovation,” more “who controls the rails, and should Europe care?” Along the way, Finland’s 1990s Avant card makes a comeback, proving that many of today’s “new” problems have already been tried once — just with worse UX.We also touch on:.- Why merchant acceptance matters more than speed.- Why prefunding sounds logical until users meet it.- And why most people won’t care about payment sovereignty… until they suddenly have toIn short: the kind of episode where you learn something useful and still laugh a little at how we keep learning the same lessons over and over again.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

New year, new season, same format. Ville, Janne, and Pål are back with Nordic Fintech Highlights, opening the season by unpacking three stories that quietly say a lot about where Nordic and European fintech are heading.Ville starts with the ECB hiring up for the digital euro project, bringing in market infrastructure specialists to work on rulebooks, rollout planning, and the role of intermediaries. The takeaway: less theory, more plumbing — and another sign that the digital euro continues to move forward in the background - but at what cost?Janne follows with NOBA Bank Group’s acquisition of DBT Capital, strengthening its position in digital SME lending. The discussion focuses on scale, technology, and why acquiring a ready-made lending platform can be a faster and more predictable path than building everything in-house.Pål rounds things off with Enfuce’s expansion into Belgium and Luxembourg together with Monizze, which sparks a broader discussion about employee benefit cards, open-loop versus closed-loop systems, and why this model feels very familiar in a Nordic context. Parallels are quickly drawn to ePassi and other closed-loop benefit platforms, raising questions about distribution, user experience, and whether closed ecosystems still have an edge when regulation and interoperability keep pushing everything toward open networks.As always, the conversation is grounded in practical experience, dry (or is it just bad?) Nordic humour, and a shared sense that fintech progress is usually more evolutionary than revolutionary.A calm, thoughtful start to the season — and your regular reminder that the same payment ideas tend to come back, just with slightly different logos.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl, Ville Sointu & Janne SalminenEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

A Full House of Bank CEOs (and One Central Banker)We took Fintech Daydreaming on the road to the Nordic Banking Forum in Helsinki, and somehow ended up interviewing more CEOs in one day than we usually see in a year.In this special episode, Pål, Ville — and Janne, once we caught him mid–event sprint — sat down with:.-Prag Sharma (Citi) on agentic AI, future-of-finance vibes, and why 80–90% of bank data suddenly matters..-Janne Salminen (Helsinki Fintech Farm) pops in for a quick Nordic Fintech Highlights segment and shares the annual event-planner panic cycle with us..- Sampsa Laine (Alisa Bank) on SME banking, partner ecosystems, and why mortgages are still a “not yet.”.-Riikka Laine-Tolonen (S-Bank) on running a bank inside a retail empire, loyalty economics, and scaling to 3.4M customers..-Jarkko Mäensivu (Saldo Bank) on embedded finance, European expansion, and building a lean, credit-focused bank..-Aleksi Grym (Bank of Finland) on fraud in instant payments, CBDCs, and why Finland quietly invented half this stuff in the ’90s (and already shut it all down long time ago). Been there. Got the t-shirt. Wrote an excellent paper about it.With Citi, Alisa, S-Bank, Saldo Bank, and the actual central bank represented — plus Janne’s news segment — this turned into perhaps the most executive-heavy episode we’ve ever recorded.We celebrated:Zero vendor interferenceZero stablecoin panelsA rare concentration of bank CEOs voluntarily talking to usAnd the survival of an entire live recording day with minimal technical disasters (backdrop changes don’t count)And yes, we ended with a fintech dad joke. Naturally.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

In this episode, Pål and Ville sit down with Rik Coeckelbergs, founder of The Banking Scene and author of Ethos in Banking, for a surprisingly philosophical conversation. Yes, this is the first Fintech Daydreaming episode where we willingly tumble down an Aristotle-themed rabbit hole.Rik’s book dives into how the ancient trio of ethos, pathos, and logos can shape modern banking culture. Tturns out, these aren’t just concepts reserved for toga-wearing philosophers:.- Ethos: Banks need credibility that runs deeper than slogans and “purpose” posters..- Pathos: Customers want to feel understood — not just “KYC’d.”.- Logos: Logic and competence still matter (even if your strategy deck has far too many slides).As Rik unpacks how these pillars can help rebuild trust in the industry, we catch ourselves wondering things like, “Did Aristotle ever have to deal with compliance?” and whether all those countless hours spent in corporate value workshops were really time well spent.Together, we wander into questions such as:.- Can a large bank genuinely live its values without getting lost in the org-chart wilderness?.- Do customers actually want ethical banking, or just fewer fees and fewer headaches?.- And how do you build trust in an industry where most good decisions are the invisible ones?In summary: jokes, tangents, and at least one moment where someone wonders if Aristotle would’ve made a good fintech founder.(Consensus: he would’ve hated the pitch decks.)- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

October brought AI hype, digital euro déjà vu, and the shocking return of crypto — which means it was just another totally normal month in Nordic fintech.Pål, Ville, and Janne reunite to unpack the biggest stories from the Helsinki Fintech Farm newsletter. Spoiler: every startup is now an AI company. From automated compliance tools to AI-powered CFOs and even kiosks that buy your old phone via Swish — if it’s got electricity, someone’s calling it AI.Meanwhile, Klarna is back in the headlines with a new subscription model that makes Ville long for more gamified tiers, Pål rant about paying to breathe, and Janne quietly celebrate another strong month for dad jokes. The trio also tackle the ECB’s digital euro saga — now entering its “we promise it’s still happening” phase — and Nordea’s cautious dip into crypto trading, which Ville swears has absolutely nothing to do with his day job.Your biweekly dose of fintech group therapy is here — complete with skepticism, sarcasm, and just enough substance to make it count. In other words: business as usual at Fintech Daydreaming.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl, Ville Sointu & Janne SalminenEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/

This week, Ville and Pål are joined (once again) by Paul Yoo, CEO of Sukaa, who beamed in live from New York to talk about his newest venture — and somehow turned what was supposed to be a fintech chat into a masterclass on why Africa might just leapfrog the rest of us in digital finance.Paul walks us through his new startup’s mission to build a pan-African on-chain payments and lending platform, explains why the continent’s fragmentation is both the challenge and the opportunity, and delivers a few spicy takes on Europe’s new bank-backed stablecoin. (Spoiler: he’s not impressed.)We revisit old predictions, argue about what “self-settling” really means, and test the limits of how many times stablecoins can be mentioned in one episode before someone needs a lie-down. Somewhere in between, there’s a crypto joke, a Men in Black reference, and a minor real-world subplot involving a locked apartment door.It’s global, geeky, and a little chaotic — just another day at the virtual office of Fintech Daydreaming.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on [email protected] Fintech Daydreaming home page - https://www.FintechDaydreaming.com- Fintech Daydreaming on Twitter - https://twitter.com/FintechDaydream- Fintech Daydreaming on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintech-daydreaming- Pål Krogdahl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/krogdahl/- Ville Sointu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ville-sointu-54682b/