Ep.72The Rise of Icelandic Fintech: Heroism and Entrepreneurship at the Edge of the Habitable World - Gunnlaugur Jonsson, CEO & Founder of the Fintech Cluster

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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