The Thinner the Table, the Smarter the Bank with Riikka Laine-Tolonen from S-Pankki

In this episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Ville and Pål are joined by Riikka Laine-Tolonen, CEO of S-Pankki: a bank that started from grocery shopping and somehow ended up managing billions.Riikka walks us through the origin story of S-Pankki - born from a retail cooperative, supercharged by the famous S-bonus, and launched just in time for the 2008 financial crisis (great timing, obviously). Fast forward 18 years, and it’s now one of Finland’s fastest-growing banks with 3.4 million customers.We get into:.- Why building a bank on top of a loyalty program actually works.- The reality of being a “challenger” bank… with full regulatory baggage.- The Handelsbanken Finland acquisition and what it unlocked.- And how S-Pankki is quietly moving into wealth management and private bankingWhich raises the obvious question: can a “bonus bank” really win over high-net-worth clients?That leads us into:.- Whether S-Pankki is Finland’s closest thing to a super app.- Why combining banking, retail, and daily life might actually work here (and nowhere else).- And what happens when your future bank might be talking to your AI instead of youAlong the way, we also learn:.- That your importance as a banking customer can be measured by the thickness of the oak table in front of you.- That private banking might be less about fancy offices and more about smart digital advice.- And that worrying about “long answers” is… not a problem on this podcastIf you’ve ever wondered what happens when a loyalty program meets banking ambition, this is the episode for you.Listen now - and don’t forget to check your bonus balance.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/

Welcome back to another monthly Nordic Fintech Highlights episode of Fintech Daydreaming! In this one, your hosts start off by complaining about what a slow news month it was—only to be immediately corrected by Janne, who points out that April was actually buzzing with funding rounds.Here’s what we covered:The Agentic Economy: Pål highlights SolvaPay, a Swedish fintech that just secured 2.5 million in pre-seed funding to build payment infrastructure for AI agents. As payments shift from humans to machines, we ask the tough liability questions: if your AI agent is tasked to buy 12 eggs but buys 12 chickens instead, whose fault is it?Revolut vs. The Dinosaurs: Janne brings us the news of NoCFO integrating with Revolut Business. Pål gets characteristically bullish, calling this another "nail in the coffin" for traditional Nordic banks, warning that they are entirely too arrogant to notice Revolut slowly chewing away at their market share.Swedbank Pay & Klarna: Ville covers Swedbank Pay adding Klarna's payment options. He attempts to explain why this isn't Swedbank raising the white flag to a competitor, but rather a strategic play to maintain merchant stickiness against global giants.The Bluetooth Battle: Janne delivers a genuinely terrible joke about a payment terminal visiting the dentist because it "blew a tooth". This triggers a historically inaccurate ramble from Ville, forcing Pål to consult ChatGPT mid-episode just to prove that Ericsson and a 10th-century Danish king were involved.Come watch us live on stage at the Nordic Fintech Summit in Helsinki on May 21st, where we will be kicking off the day with a live recording! Also, look out for Pål’s new book on progressive modernisation, Rip Out the Core, dropping in late July.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 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 of Fintech Daydreaming, Ville and Pål are joined by Baard Slaattelid from Vipps MobilePay - a man who casually drops phrases like “closed-loop wallet,” “payment potato,” and “we accidentally enabled cross-border in five minutes” like it’s just another Tuesday in payments.We start where all great fintech podcasts begin: with bad jokes (courtesy of AI, no less), and a host who may or may not be running on too much travel and too little sleep.Baard takes us through the origin story of Vipps MobilePay featuring real-time competitive panic, strategic acquisitions, and the realization that maybe having three identical payment apps in a region of 27 million people isn’t a long-term strategy. Who knew?From there, we dive into:.- What a “wallet” actually means (spoiler: it’s not just a pretty UI on top of your bank account).- How Vipps MobilePay ended up with 12.5 million users across the Nordics.- The surprisingly brutal reality of merging two platforms (hint: stop doing “fun stuff” for a year).- Why Danes thought that the new app was worse and why that might just be human nature.- The economics of payments (or lack thereof), including why tapping your phone isn’t exactly a goldmine in itselfWe also get into the juicy stuff:.- NFC and the battle with Apple (and how Vipps became the first to break into iPhone tap-to-pay outside Apple Wallet).- Why they’re not trying to convert Apple Pay users but instead going after your mom who still taps plastic.- The subtle art of turning a payments app into something closer to a “lifestyle platform” (super app, but we’re not calling it that… yet)And of course, no Fintech Daydreaming episode would be complete without:.- A deeply philosophical discussion on whether the digital euro is a “solution looking for a problem” or a “problem looking for a solution”.- A buffet of topics we didn’t have time for (interoperability, we’re coming back for you)Oh - and the jokes. They’re bad. Impressively bad. Almost… on brand.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/

In this episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Ville, Pål, and Janne are back with another round of Nordic Fintech Highlights—recorded somewhere between back-to-back meetings, holiday travel plans, and at least one log cabin in the Finnish wilderness (buffering included).From there, we dive into what actually happened in Nordic fintech last month:Modest funding rounds, ongoing consolidation, and the quiet realization that scale still wins.And a quick detour into Revolut casually printing profits and eyeing the Nordics like it’s their next hobby.Then we get into the real meat:Ville brings a story that sounds boring… until it isn’t:.- DNB launching Buy Now Pay Later for businesses (yes, really).- 30-second onboarding, AI-powered credit decisions, and the ability to delay payments without paying interest..- Or, as Pål puts it: “a new and exciting way to bankrupt companies”Which leads to a surprisingly deep debate:.- Is BNPL actually useful for SMEs or just consumer debt in a suit?.- Are we solving cash flow problems or just moving them 90 days forward?.- And how this looks suspiciously like trade finance without the blockchain and the hypeJanne then doubles down on SME finance with:.- The rise of accounting platforms turning into neobanks.- Embedded finance quietly eating the value chain.- And the slightly uncomfortable truth that traditional banks are still barely showing upMeanwhile, somewhere in the background:.- French IBANs are powering Finnish businesses.- Local quirks are quietly breaking global fintech expansion strategies.- And Revolut might still have to learn that Finland is… not SwedenFinally, Pål brings it home with:.- Wolt entering the employee benefits game.- Taking on Epassi with zero merchant fees (at least for now).- And proving, once again, that every fintech eventually becomes a payments company and every payments company eventually wants to be everything elseIf you enjoy fintech analysis with a side of sarcasm, mild existential dread about business models, and the occasional log cabin Wi-Fi issue this one’s for you.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 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/