

Fintech Files: Insights on TECH by BCG Platinion
BCG Platinion
How can Fintech contribute to building a better world? In Season 4 of Fintech Files, we’re turning our focus to where financial technology meets social impact. This season, we explore financial inclusion, sustainable investing, and decarbonization with some of the brightest minds in the industry. As financial services touch every aspect of our lives, the opportunity to drive positive change is enormous.
About Fintech Files:
Join us on Fintech Files from BCG Platinion as we explore the cutting-edge trends disrupting Fintech today. From NeoBanks to Digital Banking, we delve into the dynamic landscape of financial technology through insightful conversations with global disruptors. We’ll uncover the most groundbreaking trends shaping the future of Fintech and examine their impact on the financial world. Our episodes break down complex topics, with guests explaining everything in a way even their grandmas could understand. We focus on real-world examples, making financial technology relatable and accessible to both Fintech enthusiasts and professionals alike.
Meet the Hosts:
Hosted by Nora Hocke, a manager at BCG Platinion in Munich, and Annika Melchert, a principal currently based in the Middle East, our hosts bring expertise in tech transformations, platform architecture, and digital innovation. With a wealth of experience working with leading Fintechs, they offer unique insights into the evolving financial landscape. Joining them is Bianca Lopes, an entrepreneur and economist from Brazil, now based in Denmark, with a background in digital identity and biometrics. Having supported over 40 financial institutions and 8 governments, Bianca’s work reshapes technology, reimagines identity, and drives innovation.
We Want to Hear from You!
Reach out to us at fintech-podcast@bcgplatinion.com with your questions, guest suggestions, or topics you'd like us to explore. Or just drop in to say hi! Visit our website at https://bcgplatinion.com/insights/podcast-fi/ and follow us on social media for updates and additional content.
The digital future is now.
About Fintech Files:
Join us on Fintech Files from BCG Platinion as we explore the cutting-edge trends disrupting Fintech today. From NeoBanks to Digital Banking, we delve into the dynamic landscape of financial technology through insightful conversations with global disruptors. We’ll uncover the most groundbreaking trends shaping the future of Fintech and examine their impact on the financial world. Our episodes break down complex topics, with guests explaining everything in a way even their grandmas could understand. We focus on real-world examples, making financial technology relatable and accessible to both Fintech enthusiasts and professionals alike.
Meet the Hosts:
Hosted by Nora Hocke, a manager at BCG Platinion in Munich, and Annika Melchert, a principal currently based in the Middle East, our hosts bring expertise in tech transformations, platform architecture, and digital innovation. With a wealth of experience working with leading Fintechs, they offer unique insights into the evolving financial landscape. Joining them is Bianca Lopes, an entrepreneur and economist from Brazil, now based in Denmark, with a background in digital identity and biometrics. Having supported over 40 financial institutions and 8 governments, Bianca’s work reshapes technology, reimagines identity, and drives innovation.
We Want to Hear from You!
Reach out to us at fintech-podcast@bcgplatinion.com with your questions, guest suggestions, or topics you'd like us to explore. Or just drop in to say hi! Visit our website at https://bcgplatinion.com/insights/podcast-fi/ and follow us on social media for updates and additional content.
The digital future is now.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 2, 2022 • 43min
“Credit Meets Climate: The Role of Banks in Fighting Climate Change” with Hugh Shannon, Head of Sales & Customer Success at OakNorth
OakNorth has rethought credit decisioning with their data-centric credit intelligence platform. Even more interestingly, their first real-life reference was their own bank. Be it the bank or the software provider, both OakNorth companies share a common focus topic: climate change. Listen in to learn what banks can do to address this global matter now!

Aug 10, 2022 • 35min
"Modern Fintechs Are Born in the Cloud” with Anton Langbroek, General Manager DACH & CEE at Mambu
Hardly any other fintech is tied as strongly to the terms “next-gen core banking” and “cloud first” as the unicorn Mambu. Bringing in broad experience across the fintech and banking ecosystem, Mambu General Manager Anton Langbroek shares his views on modern versus traditional core banking systems. What are the implications of a modern core banking system on the customer experience but also operability? How can incumbent banks migrate from a traditional to a modern core banking system? And how can software as a service be realized if the regulator imposes restrictions in terms of hosting location? Listen in to find out!

Jun 29, 2022 • 39min
“Finding the Sweet Spot in B2B Payments: Mondu and Its ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Offering” with Philipp Povel and Malte Huffman, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of Mondu
While other “buy now, pay later” players are laying off employees to make up for increasingly pessimistic market expectations, the Berlin-based fintech Mondu just raised €40M in funding. We met with the two co-founders, Malte Huffman and Philipp Povel, and asked them about their secret recipe for building yet another successful start-up, the challenges of integrating into B2B ecosystems, and their approach to create a tech platform that caters to their ambitious growth plans. Listen in and find out what role our previous guest Raisin plays in the Mondu landscape and how Mondu differs from marketplace payments provider Payaut.

May 25, 2022 • 30min
“UpLyvt and Their Plan to Unlock Women’s Financial Health” with Alexa Cotiaux, Cofounder of UpLyvt
We invited Alexa Cotiaux, cofounder of UpLyvt to our first live recording session ever that took place during an internal women’s event! UpLyvt is an early-stage fintech from Berlin that focuses on female wealth management and financial well-being. We chatted with Alexa about UpLyvt’s purpose and product vision and what role a low-code platform plays in their product development approach. In addition, she shared with us her secrets of personal drive and some best practices for balancing parenthood and being a fintech founder.

May 11, 2022 • 29min
“Why API-First Is Not Only Relevant for Fintechs” with Ove Kreison, CTO and Co-founder of Tuum
What makes an Estonian fintech cooler than a Californian one? Probably not just the weather! It’s time to get to know Tuum and its mission to help banks stay in the current digital age. Listen in on this episode with Ove Kreison, CTO and Co-founder of Tuum—formerly known as Modularbank—about what characterizes a state-of-the-art core banking system and why modern APIs are even more important for incumbent banks.

Apr 27, 2022 • 29min
“The Art of Navigating a Company Through Rapid Growth and Post-Merger Integration”—with Michael Stephan, COO and Co-founder of Raisin
The Berlin-based fintech unicorn Raisin has written quite a success story of organic and inorganic growth since it was founded in 2012. Starting with a “savings-as-a-service” offering, it has massively expanded over the years both in functionality and in markets. Most recently, it merged with its former competitor Deposit Solutions to grow even stronger. Listen in to this episode to learn about Raisin’s evolution and the challenges they’ve overcome—both technical and operational—and hear about what lies ahead on their journey to become one of the biggest European open banking fintechs.

Apr 6, 2022 • 11min
About Your Favorite Fintech Podcast
A warm welcome to the Fintech and Digital Banking Podcast hosted by Annika, Manager, and Nora, Senior Consultant, from the BCG Platinion’s Financial Institutions Practice. Join us as we uncover the best-kept secrets of neobank and fintech experts and learn what’s hot and what’s next on the tech side of banking. Any questions? Reach out to us: fintech-podcast@bgcplatinion.com

Dec 8, 2021 • 41min
“Why Banking and Flawless Customer Experience Are Not Contrary to Each Other ” With Thomas Fuss (CTO) and Elliott Haralambous (Global Strategic Partnerships and Alliances Lead) from Backbase
While flawless customer experience seems to be more naturally aligned with new-grown Fintechs rather than incumbent banks, some solutions venture to bridge the gap between complex infrastructures and modern user-centric processes.
Join Annika and Nora in this episode with Thomas Fuss and Elliott Haralambous from Backbase, the frontrunner in the digital banking engagement platform space, on how to introduce modern customer journeys on top of legacy technology to fuel the ambition in architecting banking around the customers.

Nov 24, 2021 • 29min
“How to Build a Bank from Scratch” with Thomas Hilgendorff, CEO and Co-Founder of Yapeal
Personalized IBANs, biweekly feature releases, a special banking license just for Fintechs, a custom-developed core banking system, 100% cloud-native—what sounds like the future for most incumbent banks is already a reality for Yapeal, the rising star in the Swiss fintech market.
Join Annika and Nora on their talk with Thomas Hilgendorff, CEO and Co-Founder of Yapeal, about his story of how a group of 12 experienced bankers ventured to join the international competition of challenger banks. At Yapeal, they rethink what customer-centric banking can look like in the digital world of the future.

Nov 3, 2021 • 36min
„How to be at the Forefront of Innovation in the Institutional Crypto Space” – With Henrik Gebbing, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Finoa
When talking about the crypto market, there are similarities to the traditional finance one. However, it is barely a “the winner takes it all” market, which provides opportunities for everyone to grow. Nevertheless, ten years in the future, crypto native players will have outperformed traditional banks. Therefore trust is required for Fintechs such as Finoa, a regulated Digital Asset Platform for institutional investors, to scale and capture incumbents’ market share by building a relationship with the customers to provide professional services as a regulated financial institution. But how to target such an ambivalent and ambitious goal?
Listen to this episode with Henrik Gebbing, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Finoa, about how to combine being regulated, being trustworthy but still being at the forefront of innovation in the crypto space.


