Fintech Daydreaming
Between digital native customers demanding instant gratification and the ever increasing amount of regulation, financial institutions are between a rock and a hard place. The era of the fintech started after the 2008 financial crisis, challenging the status quo. More than a decade later banks haven't gone anywhere, yet fintech is more relevant than ever. In this podcast Pål Krogdahl & Ville Sointu pick one topic in every episode and try to look at it through the lens of fintech disruption - or lack thereof.
Episoder
Full Metal Card and Agents of M.C.P. | Nordic Fintech Highlights September 2026
Welcome back to another Nordic FinTech Highlights edition of FinTech Daydreaming! Ville takes the host's chair this week, fresh off his short vacation, to guide Pål and Janne through what has been the busiest month of the year for Nordic fintech news. After a quick a celebration of Pål’s new book hitting #10 on Amazon’s banking new releases, the trio dives into the biggest September headlines
The Duct Tape Ultimatum with Olaf Ransome and Liz Oakes (Recorded live at PostTrade 360)
Welcome to a special live edition of Fintech Daydreaming recorded live from the PostTrade360 conference stage in Stockholm! For this unique session the usual dynamic is completely inverted. Olaf Ransome steps into the host chair while Ville and Pål take the guest seats. They are joined by Liz Oakes who brings her extensive policy experience and payments expertise to the panel. After a quick penalt
The Cloud, The Branch, and The Algorithm | Nordic Fintech Highlights August 2026
Welcome back to another edition of Nordic FinTech Highlights! This month, Pål and Janne are joined by a heavily jet-lagged Ville, who is battling through Zoom technical gremlins after an eight-day trip to the US West Coast. Fresh off a stateside marathon of exceptional progressive house and trance music, Ville powers through to help cover the biggest August headlines across the Nordic fintech land
Do AI Agents Dream of Electric Bank Accounts? with Rolf Jensen from Lunar
Here at Fintech Daydreaming, we pride ourselves on the unedited, "live" feel of our recordings. Over the years, our listeners have been treated to everything from a hotel maid walking in on Ville, to New York police sirens, to Ville's automatic hydroponic garden sounding suspiciously like someone taking a bathroom break off-camera.This week however we successfully navigated the recor
Nordic Fintech Week Special: We're Gonna Need a Bigger Podcast
We are gearing up for Nordic Fintech Week with an exclusive, jam packed two guest episode! Ville and Pål sit down with two heavyweights of the European financial technology space to discuss everything from building challenger banks to the impending robot takeover. One thing we learned at least: we could’ve made this episode easily four hours long (but we didn’t, don’t worry).🚀 Ken Villum Klausen u
Digital Euro Pilots Take Off, Doomsday Banks & Finnish M&A | Nordic Fintech Highlights July 2026
July in the Nordics usually consists of out-of-office autoreplies and mosquito bites, but while we were all on vacation, the European Central Bank was busy clearing the table. Pål and Ville are back to the microphones alongside the ever-insightful Janne Salminen from Helsinki Fintech Farm, to unpack it all.Here is what we are dissecting in our Nordic Fintech Highlights season 14 return:🇪🇺 The Digi
Rip Out the Core, or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Build a Better Bank (Not Just a Better IT System)
We have somehow survived long enough to make it to Season 14, and to kick things off, Ville is putting his co-host Pål in the hot seat. Pål actually went and published a brand new book, Rip Out the Core, proving that at least one half of this podcast is capable of being productive.We start the episode with a vintage Pål joke about minting meme coins. We will not spoil the punchline here, but let&#
That's a wrap on Season 13 | Nordic Fintech Highlights Summer 2026
Your favorite fintech nerd hosts Pål Krogdahl and Ville Sointu are joined by Janne Salminen from Helsinki Fintech Farm to close out the season before heading off to their summer holidays. We skipped the standard news roundup this time to reflect on the season, make some bold predictions, and let Pål shamelessly plug his upcoming book.Here’s what the guys daydreamed about in our season finale:🤖 The
Legacy, Drones and Banking with Erik Åkesson
We finally did it. We recorded an episode about legacy and somehow ended up discussing drones, artillery, aviation safety culture, and why bankers apparently don’t need pockets in their suits.In this episode of Fintech Daydreaming, we’re joined by Erik Åkesson to unpack one of the most overused and misunderstood words in banking: legacy.Is it the root of all evil?Or is it actually the thing keepin
Live from the Nordic Fintech Summit | Nordic Fintech Highlights May 2026
We are out of the studio, trying our best to look respectable, and recording live in front of a real, breathing audience at the Nordic Fintech Summit right here in Helsinki! If you hear cheering, it’s probably for the free coffee, but we’ll pretend it’s for us.In this special live-stage episode, Pål and Ville manage not to trip over the stage wires while unpacking a massive lineup of regional heav
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 f
AI Agents, Bank Dinosaurs and Bluetooth Teeth | Nordic Fintech Highlights April 2026
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 millio
Tap, Merge, Repeat! with Baard Slaattelid from Vipps MobilePay
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
Buy Now, Panic Later, The Embedded B2B Edition | Nordic Fintech Highlights March 2026
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 quie
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
AI Everywhere, AML Under the Microscope & Banking That Delivers (Literally) | Nordic Fintech Highlights February 2026
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 pe
APIs, Grit and the Finnish Founder Mindset with Joonas Tomperi from Enable Banking
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.”
Klarna Moves Money, Lunar Loads the War Chest, Loomis Rewires the POS | Nordic Fintech Highlights January 2026
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 mo
Stablecoins, CBDCs, and Finland’s 1990s Warning Shot with Aleksi Grym
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-w
Welcome 2026 with Nordic Fintech Highlights | Nordic Fintech Highlights December 2025
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 intermediarie
Live from Nordic Banking Forum 2025
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
Aristotle Walks Into a Bank with Rik Coeckelbergs
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
AI Everywhere, Crypto Creeping Back, & Klarna Being Klarna | Nordic Fintech Highlights October 2025
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 Swi
Stablecoins, Africa, and a Locked Door with Hyung-Gon Paul Yoo
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,
The One We Forgot to Record (Twice) | Nordic Fintech Highlights September 2025
In what might be our most meta episode yet, Pål, Ville, and Janne sat down to unpack the biggest Nordic fintech stories of September — only to realize halfway through that we’d forgotten to hit record. So yes, this episode is technically the sequel to the lost masterpiece that no one will ever hear.Once we finally remembered to press the big red button, things got back on track (mostly). Ville’s v
Live in Copenhagen from Nordic Fintech Week
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
Emergency Episode - Nine Banks, One Stablecoin, Zero Chill
Forget the usual schedule — Ville and Pål hit the big red button and jumped on the mics less than 24 hours after nine European banks dropped their bombshell: a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin.Fresh off a late flight from Copenhagen (and still running on coffee and questionable airport snacks), we dive straight into the questions everyone’s asking:.- Do we actually need a bank-issued euro stablecoin
Where did all the FinTech action Go? | Nordic Fintech Highlights August 2025
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 st
From Hygge to Hype on The Road to Nordic Fintech Week
We’re going to Copenhagen! Fintech Daydreaming is an official podcasting partner of the Nordic Fintech Week, and to kick things off Ville and Pål are joined in this pre-event episode by David Grundy (COO, Copenhagen Fintech) and Marie Louise Roth (Head of Partnerships, Copenhagen Fintech) for a sneak peek at what’s brewing in the Danish capital. We talk key themes, the rise of Copenhagen as a fint
Nordic Fintech did not get the Holiday Memo! | Nordic Fintech Highlights July 2025
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 w
Hype, Hope, or the Spotify of Money with Tony McLaughlin
Season 12 blasts off with Tony McLaughlin – payments visionary, fintech provocateur, and freshly minted CEO of Ubyx.We go deep on stablecoins as the next general-purpose technology, why the legal wrapper matters more than the code, and how the industry’s plumbing – clearing, settlement, trust – will quietly decide the winners. Tony shares why permissionless networks aren’t the enemy of banks, how
Sandbanks, Stablecoins & Summer Breaks
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?📦 Embe
The Summer Fintech Slowdown | Nordic Fintech Highlights May 2025
Sun’s out, fines out! In this sizzling episode of Fintech Daydreaming and Helsinki Fintech Farm Nordic Fintech Highlights, Ville, Janne, and Pål serve up a refreshing mix of Nordic fintech news—with a splash of sarcasm and a shot of hydration advice.💳 Enfuce declares war on fraud with its bold Fortitude Pledge to eliminate financial crime. The gang debates whether 100% fraud prevention is ambitiou
Live from Nordic Fintech Summit 2025 – Buzzwords, Bankers & Banter
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 Fintec
Nordic Fintech + Coachella, what a rave! | Nordic Fintech Highlights April 2025
Nordic Fintech Highlights is back with Pål, Ville & JanneHold onto your wallets — it’s another round of Fintech Daydreaming’s Nordic Fintech Highlights! This month, the crew dives into:💸 Froda’s fresh funding round – Pål kicks things off with Froda’s impressive new investment and what it means for the embedded finance scene in the Nordics. Is Froda quietly becoming the Stripe of SME lending? O
Deep Dive into Alisa Bank's Big Ambitions with Sampsa Laine
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 finte
Offline Payments and Online Banter | Nordic Fintech Highlights March 2025
April's here, the snow is (mostly) gone, and the fintech news is blooming — sort of. In this episode, your favourite fintech trio Ville, Pål, and Janne return with a fresh batch of Nordic headlines, greetings from the Baltic Fintech Days, hot takes, and at least one minor existential crisis.Here’s what went down:Ville got us started with some light apocalyptic vibes, as we unpacked Sweden’s Ri
Fintech Daydreaming x Breaking Banks = The Crossover You Never Knew You Needed!
This one’s special! We joined forces with none other than Breaking Banks for a crossover episode featuring the legendary Brett King alongside Pål and Ville. In true fireside chat style, we dove deep into the biggest shifts shaping fintech today and what’s coming next.Topics? Oh, we covered it all, including but definitely not limited to:🔥 The Nordic fintech scene — what are the big names from the
The (Digital) Receipt for Success with Chris Moore
We can pay for everything digitally, so why are we still walking away with crumpled paper receipts? In this episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Pål and Ville sit down with Chris Moore, Director of International Business at ReceiptHero, to discuss the journey of bringing receipts into the digital age.Chris walks us through the challenges of transforming an underserved market, the practicalities of maki
Is Banking as a Service Dead? | Nordic Fintech Highlights February 2025
February may be short, but Nordic fintech didn’t hold back! In this Fintech Daydreaming episode, Pål, Ville, and Janne sit down for another round of Nordic Fintech Highlights. As always, we covered the biggest fintech news—but not before Janne cracked a joke so bad it nearly derailed the entire recording. (We survived… barely.)Here’s what we tackled this time:🚀 Lunar’s big BaaS bet – Pål took a de
Live from Stockholm Fintech Week 2025
Hot Takes, Cool Guests & The Best Kind of Fintech MayhemFor this special episode, we packed our mics, grabbed some strong coffee, and took Fintech Daydreaming on the road to Stockholm Fintech Week! 🎤🚀 Amidst the fintech frenzy, Pål and Ville caught up with some of the sharpest minds in the industry for rapid-fire chats, bold predictions, and a few fintech hot takes.Our all-star lineup included
Are we going Crypto Crazy again? | Nordic Fintech Highlights January 2025
We’re kicking off this episode of Fintech Daydreaming with something special—welcoming our new editor and producer, Femi Apanishile, to the team! 🎉 But after the celebrations, it’s straight back to business with another Nordic Fintech Highlights session.This time, things got... heated. Pål, Ville, and Janne dived into the latest fintech news, but the conversation quickly turned into a colorful ran
Beyond Resilience with Leda Glyptis
In this episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Ville and Pål welcome back the one and only Leda Glyptis, PhD—advisor, speaker, and author of Beyond Resilience and Bankers Like Us. Leda brings her sharp insights and candid humor to the mic as we explore her latest book and the patterns of success (and failure) shaping the fintech industry.
From debunking the myth of the "rockstar founder" to re
New Year, Same Tricks | Nordic Fintech Highlights December 2024
Welcome to 2025 and season 11 of Fintech Daydreaming! We’re back, well-caffeinated, and ready to dive into another year of fintech wonders. To kick things off, Pål, Ville, and Janne put on their trend-spotting hats and take a look at what’s buzzing in the Nordics and beyond. What’s hot? What’s not? And what might just surprise us all in 2025?
Of course, it wouldn’t be Fintech Daydreaming without
Christmas special: Wrapping up season ten
It’s that time of the year! In our Christmas special, Pål and Ville close out season ten of Fintech Daydreaming with a heartfelt reflection on five years and ten seasons of podcasting. What keeps the passion alive after all this time? Tune in to hear the co-hosts share their thoughts on the journey so far, what they’ve learned, and why the world of fintech podcasting continues to inspire us.
We a
From Policy to Banking with Jyrki Katainen
In this special episode of Fintech Daydreaming recorded live in Nordea headquarters in Helsinki, we sit down with Jyrki Katainen, Head of Public Relations at Nordea Bank and former Prime Minister of Finland, to explore his transition from politics to banking and what it means to lead public affairs for one of Europe’s largest financial institutions. Jyrki shares his reflections on moving from a c
Cracking the Compliance Code for Fintech with Eva-Lotta Hokkonen
This week, Pål and Ville dive into the regulatory labyrinth with Eva-Lotta Hokkonen, an attorney and senior associate at Dittmar & Indrenius, and a go-to expert on fintech compliance. If you’ve ever wondered why compliance feels like scaling Mount Everest for fintechs, we’re about to break it all down.
We dig into why compliance presents unique hurdles for fintechs compared to traditional ba
AI Assistants, Top 20 Lists, and Tap to Pay! | Nordic Fintech Highlights October 2024
We’re back with another Nordic Fintech Highlights episode, where Pål, Ville, and our regular guest co-host Janne Salminen from Helsinki Fintech Farm unpack the latest from the Nordics—and this week, it’s all about tech innovations, top fintech picks, and payment upgrades!
First up, Pål takes us through Lunar’s big news: they’re launching GenAI, Europe’s first AI-native voice assistant for bankin
Gender, Wealth, and the Aila Money Revolution with Elisabeth Prager
This week, Ville and Pål sit down with Elisabeth Prager, co-founder of Aila Money, to tackle a topic that deserves way more airtime—the gender wealth gap. Spoiler alert: it’s still very much a thing, and the numbers aren’t pretty.
But fear not, because Elisabeth and her team at Aila Money are stepping up to be part of the solution. We explore how Aila Money is empowering women financially, with
Cash, Crashes, and Callbacks | Nordic Fintech Highlights September 2024
We’re back with another Nordic Fintech Highlights episode, kicking things off with a nod to the Mobey Forum member meeting’s epic "Fight Club" debate earlier that week. Two of our former guests, Monika Liikamaa and Anders Olofsson, went head-to-head—and let’s just say, the fintech gloves were off!
As always, Pål and Ville are joined by Janne Salminen from Helsinki Fintech Farm to break down the
Everything Embedded with Jani Ristimäki
In this episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Pål and Ville are joined by Jani Ristimäki from BearingPoint to dive deep into one of the buzzwords of the moment—embedded finance. Spoiler alert: it’s already here, and it’s changing the game for banks, fintechs, and consumers alike.
From payments baked seamlessly into apps to financial services appearing in places you’d never expect, we break down what e
Swedish Fintech Takes Center Stage | Nordic Fintech Highlights August 2024
We’re back with another Nordic Fintech Highlights episode, and this time it’s practically drenched in pink, thanks to Klarna's dominant presence! Pål and Ville, along with the ever-insightful Janne Salminen from Helsinki Fintech Farm, dive into the latest Nordic fintech stories making waves.
First, Pål kicks off with IKEA’s intriguing foray into the second-hand market with IKEA Preowned. A ma
When Money Starts Thinking for You with Chris Skinner
Fintech Daydreaming continues season ten with an anticipated comeback —welcoming back Chris Skinner, the legendary fintech thinker, for the first time in five years! Pål and Ville sit down with Chris to dive into his latest book, “Intelligent Money: When Money Thinks for You.”
In true Skinner style, we’re exploring a future where money isn’t just a tool—it’s an intelligent partner, anticipating y
Nordic Fintech Highlights Reloaded | Nordic Fintech Highlights June/July 2024
After a well-deserved summer break, Fintech Daydreaming is back and ready to dive into the latest buzz from the Nordic fintech world! Pål and Ville, alongside our trusty guest co-host Janne Salminen from Helsinki Fintech Farm, are kicking off the new season with a roundup of stories that are making waves in the industry.
First up, Pål breaks down the exciting news of Gimi partnering with Nordea.
Summer Send-off | Nordic Fintech Highlights May 2024
As the Nordic sun lingers in the sky, signaling the start of summer, Fintech Daydreaming brings you a season finale packed with the latest and greatest from the financial technology front. Join Pål, Ville, and our beloved guest co-host Janne Salminen from Helsinki Fintech Farm for one last hurrah before we all take a well-deserved summer break.
In this episode, Pål dives into the fresh collabora
Will instant payment kill the cards business with Monika Liikamaa
Fintech enthusiasts, get ready to elevate your payments knowledge! We're joined by the brilliant Monika Liikamaa, co-CEO and co-founder of Enfuce, the company making card payments as seamless as a winter sport on ice.
Get ready to explore:
Monika's Transformation: Discover how she traded her corporate banking attire for a startup founder's toolkit. What sparked the change – a rogue
Behind the Curtains: The Nordic Fintech Summit Exposed!
Welcome back to “Fintech Daydreaming,” where we’re still decompressing from the high-octane thrill ride that was the Nordic Fintech Summit in Helsinki! Join Pål, Ville, and our special guests, Janne Salminen and Ola Sundell from Helsinki Fintech Farm, as they spill the beans on orchestrating this fintech fiesta.
We start with their fresh-off-the-press impressions—what popped, what flopped, and whi
Reinventing the Wheel, Again? | Nordic Fintech Highlights April 2024
Welcome back, fintech enthusiasts! This episode of Fintech Daydreaming takes you into the latest innovations stirring the financial fjords of the Nordics. Join Pål, Ville, and Janne as they round up some intriguing and occasionally perplexing news from the land of the midnight sun. This episode also serves as a warm-up for the upcoming Nordic Fintech Summit in Helsinki, where we look forward to me
The Heart of the Daydream: Unveiling the Origins of Fintech Daydreaming
In this very special episode of Fintech Daydreaming, Pål and Ville take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, answering the burning question that fans have pondered over countless episodes: Why did they start this podcast, and what fuels their fintech fires even after nearly four thrilling years? By popular demand, it's time to peel back the curtain on the backstory and ethos of your favorite fi
When Bankers Get Creative | Nordic Fintech Highlights March 2024
Strap in for a whirlwind tour of fintech's latest Nordic novelties in another riveting episode of Fintech Daydreaming. In this month’s edition of Nordic Fintech Highlights, our fearless trio Pål, Ville, and Janne don their explorer hats to dissect a smorgasbord of financial innovation that's as diverse as a Nordic buffet—and just as intriguing.
First up, Pål dives into the tech-marriage
Navigating the EU's Blockchain Policy Maze with Erwin Voloder
Get ready to dive headfirst into the blockchain rabbit hole with the latest episode of "Fintech Daydreaming," where the waters are murky, the regulations tangled, and the future as clear as mud. This time around, Pål and Ville are joined by none other than Erwin Voloder, who is the Head of Policy at the European Blockchain Association. EU's labyrinthine policy developments are a tal
Card payments and cloud core - game on or game over? | Nordic Fintech Highlights February 2024
Strap in for a fintech merry-go-round with the Fintech Daydreaming squad, where the latest episode cuts through the February frost with hot takes that could melt even the iciest Nordic winter. Janne, Pål, and Ville are at it again, dissecting the month's juiciest fintech drama from the comfort of their virtual studio.
First, Pål waxes poetic about TUUM's latest cash infusion. Because, ap
How to sell to the banks with Ewan MacLeod
Strap in, fintech enthusiasts! This episode of "Fintech Daydreaming" is tailored for every fintech startup wrestling with the age-old dilemma: How do we sell to banks? Whether it's peddling services, cutting-edge technology, or simply trying to get banks to sign you up as a customer, navigating the labyrinth to the decision-makers' hearts (and wallets) in banks is no small feat.
Is the digital lipstick a returning trend? | Nordic Fintech Highlights January 2024
Buckle up, fintech aficionados! Our monthly "Nordic Fintech Highlights" episode has arrived, and it's a whirlwind tour through January's most electrifying developments in the Nordic fintech scene. Our dynamic duo, Pål Krogdahl and Ville Sointu, are joined by the ever-insightful Janne Salminen, the mastermind CEO of Helsinki Fintech Farm and purveyor of many a bad joke, to unpack
Never lose an employee or customer again with Joey Coleman
🌟 Welcome to another episode of Fintech Daydreaming, where we navigate the winds of change in 2024! 🚀 This year like every year for many of us begins with a common theme of renewal and transitions, not just in personal lives but also in professional landscapes. As we've noticed, a significant shift happens every year at this time in job markets and career choices – but what's driving this
Nordic Fintech closed 2023 on a high | Nordic Fintech Highlights December 2023
Welcome to 2024 – a year promising fresh innovation and excitement in the fintech world! 🎉 We're thrilled to launch the new season of Fintech Daydreaming, and what better way to start than with a Nordic Fintech Highlights special, in collaboration with our good friends at Helsinki Fintech Farm?
📈 December 2023 was nothing short of extraordinary in the Nordics' fintech scene, brimming wit
Season End and Christmas Special
Many things are getting wrapped this Christmas week and one of them is season eight of Fintech Daydreaming. In our traditional end of season episode Pål and Ville reflect on season eight highlights and main takeaways from what we learned in 2023 overall.
As we look forward to 2024, questions are abound: Will the new year be a mere repeat of its predecessor, or are we going to see new themes in t
Fintech is getting slushy in the Nordic | Nordic Fintech Highlights November 2023
The holiday season is almost upon us, but that doesn’t mean that the world of Nordic fintech is slowing down - quite the opposite! The Slush conference swept through Helsinki just recently and with it came a lot of fintech goodness for us to discuss in this month’s edition of Nordic Fintech Highlights in collaboration with Helsinki Fintech Farm.
Stories we covered in this episode:
Enfuce secure
Unbundling the platform revolution with Sangeet Paul Choudary
In this episode of the Fintech Daydreaming podcast, co-hosts Ville and Pål are thrilled to host a distinguished guest, best-selling author Sangeet Paul Choudary, the insightful mind behind the book "Platform Revolution." Sangeet joins the conversation to delve into the seismic shifts that platform business models are inducing across the financial sector.
In the conversation, Sangeet id
From Hard Cash to Digital Cash and the future of Payments | Nordic Fintech Highlights October 2023
In this engaging second episode of our collaboration with Helsinki Fintech Farm, we journey once more through the bustling Nordic fintech landscape.
Though payments and venture funding may appear routine, the Nordic fintech sector always keeps us on our toes. This time around, we delve into the pivotal role of national infrastructure in fostering fintech adoption, and explore the impact of centra
Beyond Banking with Paul Staples
If embedded banking and finance are the future of financial institutions, will the role of banks become more critical, less significant, or simply transform? Paul Staples, Head of Corporate Embedded Banking at ClearBank, joins hosts Pål Krogdahl and Ville Sointu to delve into the shifting role of banks within digital ecosystems and its long-term implications.
From atrocious quantum jokes to insig
From Unicorns to Open Banking Innovations | Nordic Fintech Highlights September 2023
The first ever episode of Nordic Fintech Highlights is here! Pål and Ville join Janne from Helsinki Fintech Farm to discuss what’s hot (or not) in Nordic fintech this month. In this episode we discuss:
Alphasense becomes the first Finnish fintech biunicorn - AlphaSense, an AI-based market intel firm, snaps up $150M at a $2.5B valuation | TechCrunch
Enable Banking partners for pan-European open b
Cost of convenience with Marcus Ivarsson
Do you have children? If you do, here’s something to think about: your kids are probably multimillionaires before they ever get their hands on a real bank account. How is this, we hear you ask...
This is true because of most kids getting exposure to virtual worlds like games with their own digital economies. But this also creates a financial education challenge when bridging the gap from virtual
The culture of invisible banking with Sudip Khan
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast” is a phrase you hear quite often when talking about developing organisations towards sustainable growth. What happens when the development you need to get done is in a bank and the direction you are taking is invisible banking? How do you cultivate a culture that becomes an environment for innovation in a regulated banking environment?
Sudip Khan is the
Building the blocks of digital finance with Kelvin Tan from audax
Autumn is fast approaching and that means two things: more rain and a fresh new season of Fintech Daydreaming!
Season eight of our podcast kicks off on a high note as we welcome CEO of audax, Kelvin Tan for a discussion about the current and future digital banking landscape.
Building a digital banking platform in-house in a bank and then packaging it into a product is a journey that builds on th
Season 7 wrap-up: celebrating milestones and looking forward to season 8
Join hosts Pål and Ville in this episode of Fintech Daydreaming as they reflect on the exciting journey of Season 7 and share their plans for Season 8. Season 7 was filled with engaging discussions and insightful interviews, covering topics like ESG and embedded finance. The hosts express their gratitude for the continuous growth and support from their audience, with their LinkedIn page now reachi
The rise of the machines with Paul Bruckberger
“Everything in this world that can be connected, will be connected” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot. What many times gets less attention is how exactly will this massive connectivity of machines and things mean for ownership and value chains that are suddenly sources of a lot of very detailed usage data.
Linx4 is an Austrian fintech that saw this opportunity and ran with it. Paul Bruckb
Live at the Nordic Fintech Summit 2023
It’s that time of the year again: Pål and Ville took the show on the road and joined the Nordic Fintech Summit in Helsinki as the official podcast partner to bring you this special episode that was recorded live in our own temporary studio on site. Our hot seat was on high demand and we got to speak with a wide range of guests and exhibitors in the summit.
Join the fun as we talk to:
Janne Salmi
Cloud Exit with David Heinemeier Hansson
Stop the press 💥 Banks are late to the party and are just about to join as the cool kids are already heading for the exits 🚪🏃♀️ Sounds about right, but which party is it this time? The public cloud.
Join Pål and Ville in this episode of Fintech Daydreaming where we are joined by David Heinemeier Hansson, who is the CTO and co-founder of 37signals - the company that has brought you Basecamp. Davi
Bankers like us... right? with Leda Glyptis
We don't always have fintech superstars as guests, but when we do, they are shining bright. Leda Glyptis joined Pål Krogdahl and Ville Sointu to talk about her own journey in banking and fintech and how it inspired her to write her recently published book "Bankers like us."
Surgeon general warning: This episode might give you superpowers - especially if you're working in the tre
