Fintech Daydreaming

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 Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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 Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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 Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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/

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 Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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 Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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 Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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 year Pål and Ville set up shop in the official backstage of the event venue – meaning our little “studio” has probably seen more rock stars, comedians, and magicians than fintech podcasters. But for two days, it was home to us… and the now famous podcast couch.On that couch we hosted a parade of fintech’s brightest people – founders, authors, bankers, thinkers – all crammed into one room with us, the noise of the conference bleeding through the walls, and way too little coffee. The result? The longest Fintech Daydreaming episode ever recorded – nearly two hours of conversations, debates, and jokes that we just couldn’t cut down. (Turns out once you get fintech people comfortable on a couch, they don’t want to leave.)Across those two hours, you’ll hear from:.- Thomas Hahn-Petersen (Copenhagen Fintech) on why Copenhagen is buzzing..- Philippe Höij (DFRNT) on shaking up investing..- Jakob Lage Hansen (DoLand) and Ulrik Koefoed Johnsen (Giv Effektivt) on impact and giving..- Kim Norbye (Nexi Group) and Paolo Sironi (IBM) on future rails of finance..- Leda Glyptis with her trademark truth bombs..- Panagiotis Kriaris (Unzer) and Lotta Domonkos (Fimento AB) on payments and platforms..- Daniel Alter (Enfuce), Ronit Ghose (Citi), and Rune Kallehauge (Mastercard) bringing the global view..- Christie H. Kristensen (Danske Bank), Veikko Koski (FinanceKey), and.- Wassa Camara (Copenhagen Fintech) closing out the Nordic perspectives.It’s raw, it’s noisy, it’s almost two hours long – but if you want to get into the buzz of Nordic Fintech Week this does it better than any LinkedIn highlight reel you saw before.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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/

August in Nordic fintech felt like a Christopher Nolan script: confusing, overlong, occasionally brilliant. Coop Norge’s core banking migration, Visma’s latest acquisitions, and Swedbank buying out Barclays in Entercard all unfolded like plot points you only understand after the credits roll.We argue about whether it was the quietest fintech month of the year, make questionable jokes about beef stroganoff, and somehow get lost in a time loop about Copenhagen.And here’s the twist: read this description backwards and it still makes sense.Because in August, Nordic fintech really did move forward and backward at the same time — and no one was entirely sure what just happened.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville Sointu & Janne SalminenEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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 Nordic Fintech Highlights episode, Ville, Pål, and Janne trade beach stories for headlines as we unpack a surprisingly busy July and August. On the menu: Nordic banks snapping up fintechs like they’re on summer sale, Zimpler’s shiny new ID+ passkey (is it the future or just another password we’ll forget?), and Nordea teaming up with Mynt to finally give SMEs the attention they deserve.We wrestle with whether banks are genuinely innovating or just panic-buying talent, what Sweden’s latest investment platform deal really signals, and how identity and payments keep crashing each other’s parties.And of course, there’s the obligatory bad joke — which, let’s be honest, might actually be funnier than some of our analysis.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Fintech Daydreaming- Email us on Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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 laid-back wrap-up to the season, Ville and Pål ditch the guests and go full retrospective—sharing their favorite episodes, personal fintech frustrations, and just how close we are to needing a crank-powered POS terminal.🎙️ Highlights include:🏆 Top guest moments: from Brett King to Sampsa from Alisa Bank (finally!)💸 Is Revolut the fintech iceberg about to sink the Nordic cruise ships?📦 Embedded finance, offline payments, and the unstoppable spread of… digital receipts🔮 Predictions for the rest of 2025: stablecoins, CBDCs, and geopolitical “fun”🧠 AI hype vs. actual progress: spoiler alert—ChatGPT still can’t unpack your groceriesPlus: summer vacation plans, a banking advisor who had to Google Revolut (seriously), and perhaps the worst fintech joke in podcast history.☀️ Pack your bags, charge your devices, stash some emergency cash, and join us as we sign off for summer.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Femi Apanishile- Email us on Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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/- Femi Apanishile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/femi-apanishile-935a74a1/

This week, Fintech Daydreaming goes live from the heart of Helsinki for a special episode recorded at the 2025 Nordic Fintech Summit! With espresso (and later some beers) in hand and mics at the ready, Pål and Ville roamed the event to capture the freshest insights, boldest predictions, and too many slightly questionable karaoke references.We caught up with:• Janne Salminen, CEO of Helsinki Fintech Farm and event mastermind, on what makes this year’s summit bigger, better, and even more Nordic.• Christie H. Kristensen from Danske Bank, on whether open banking is finally living up to the hype.• Taru Möller from Nordea, who explains how strategy and reality sometimes even get along.• David Cunningham from Citi, dropping hard truths (and soft predictions) on the future of digital assets.• Lars Markull, founder of Embedded Finance Review, decoding what “embedded finance” actually means in 2025.• Kristian Sørensen from IN Groupe, holding up the Mobey Forum banner high and making digital identity sound both exciting and at the same time making us slightly worried that many of our predictions from over ten years ago are becoming reality.It’s fintech in the field: unfiltered, slightly chaotic, and packed with sharp takes from some of the smartest minds in the industry. Tune in and get a front-row seat—minus the lanyard.Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Femi Apanishile- Email us on Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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/- Femi Apanishile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/femi-apanishile-935a74a1/

In this highly anticipated episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Ville and Pål sit down with Sampsa Laine, CEO of Alisa Bank, to uncover the story behind one of Finland’s most interesting digital banks. From its fintech roots to securing a full banking license, Alisa Bank has been on quite the journey—and Sampsa takes us behind the scenes.We dig into:🏦 How Alisa Bank came to be and how it balances fintech agility with full banking capabilities📈 The bank’s sharp focus on SME banking, embedded finance, and banking-as-a-service🤖 Why going fully digital (without branches!) is a winning strategy in today’s market🌍 Alisa’s expansion plans—could new markets be on the horizon?Sampsa also shares insights on navigating regulation, the challenges of running a publicly listed bank, and what’s next for Alisa. Plus, we managed to squeeze in a fintech joke (because traditions matter).If you’re curious about the future of digital banking and how challenger banks are shaking up the industry, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!Episode hosted by Pål Krogdahl & Ville SointuEpisode produced and edited by Femi Apanishile- Email us on Hello@FintechDaydreaming.com- 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/- Femi Apanishile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/femi-apanishile-935a74a1/