Meet Andréa Toucinho, Director of Studies, Prospective and Training at Partelya Consulting — one of Europe's most established voices on payments and innovative financial services.

She is Country Ambassador for France at the European Women Payments Network (EWPN), France Representative of AEFI Spain and AFIP Portugal, and co-author of The PAYTech Book (Wiley, 2020).

She publishes an annual whitepaper on European payments and regularly contributes to industry forums on regulation, instant payments, open banking, and European sovereignty.

In this episode, Andréa maps where European payments are today: a market moving from accumulated legislation to operational execution, from political ambition to concrete infrastructure. The conversation covers three concurrent evolutions — technology, regulation, and sovereignty — and what each means for banks, fintechs, and operators building in the European ecosystem.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Digital euro is not crypto. It is digital cash, with Rainer Olt | Fintech Garden Podcast 145: https://youtu.be/nF3zZ1BCVMo

Timestamps:

01:42 – Where European payments are today: three concurrent evolutions

06:00 – Why collaboration across stakeholders is now structural

11:00 – Beyond cards: instant payments as the "new normal"

14:00 – Wero, EuroPA, and the rise of European wallets

17:00 – SEPA Direct Debit and country-by-country trust differences

22:00 – Country-specific fraud patterns and the role of AI

25:00 – DORA and operational resilience

30:00 – PSD3, open banking harmonization, and the path to open finance

33:00 – Can Europe deliver? Sovereignty as execution

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts and guest:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Andréa Toucinho https://www.linkedin.com/in/andr%C3%A9a-toucinho-95102597/

Meet Anna Nyvelt and Noemi Molnar, who are the co-founders of BeHive, a company that integrates behavioral science, data, and AI to drive meaningful behavior change. Working with leading financial institutions, BeHive tackles complex challenges at the intersection of human decision-making and technology. As Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees, they are empowering the financial industry to better understand and influence how people engage with money in an increasingly digital world.

In this episode, the conversation moves from the foundations of behavioral science to the specific reasons it has become decisive in fintech: digital money is more abstract, payment journeys are more frictionless, and the unconscious drivers behind 35,000 daily decisions now sit at the center of how products convert, retain, and either help or harm their users.

Anna and Noemi unpack the perceived value framework, psychographic segmentation in banking, the COM-B model, the Save More Tomorrow program, the Monzo and Revolut case studies, and where embedded finance crosses from elegant design into dark pattern territory.

If you build, fund, regulate, or market financial products, this is one of the most practical episodes we've recorded on what behavioral science actually changes inside a product team.

Product vs Engineering: The Hidden Bottleneck in Fintech Teams | Fintech Garden Podcast 152: https://youtu.be/iUuqZkRpals

Fintechs sell products. Banks absorb responsibility, with Ronel David | Fintech Garden Podcast 148: https://youtu.be/jq6QuFP7Az8

Timestamps:

01:07 – What behavioral science actually is, and why it matters now

05:12 – What traditional product thinking misses

11:27 – Why financial services is uniquely sensitive to behavioral influence

14:48 – Designing for the unconscious: Monzo, Save More Tomorrow, gamification

18:22 – Beyond demographics: the COM-B model and psychographic segmentation

20:59 – The Revolut case: control, perception, and translation

26:41 – Embedded finance and the pain of payment

29:26 – Strategic friction, dark patterns, and the regulatory lag

31:42 – Where product and engineering teams should start

33:19 – Closing thoughts on trust and long-term thinking

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, CEO of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Connect with our guests:

Anna Nyvelt https://www.linkedin.com/in/annanyvelt/

Noemi Orsolya Molna https://www.linkedin.com/in/noemiorsolyamolnar/

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter. 👉 https://fintech.garden

What really slows down fintech products?

In this episode of the Fintech Garden Podcast, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea discuss one of the most common bottlenecks in fintech product development: when teams build without a shared understanding of value, risk, feasibility, and ownership.

They break down why engineering without product direction rarely creates a strong business model, why product without engineering cannot turn ideas into working systems, and why compliance is not a side function in fintech — it is part of the product architecture.

The conversation covers speed vs quality, who should have veto power, how teams should approve features before development, and why “move fast” can become dangerous when money, regulation, fraud, and customer trust are involved.

If you are building a fintech product, managing delivery, or trying to align product, engineering, and compliance teams, this episode gives a practical look at where the real friction starts.

Fintechs sell products. Banks absorb responsibility, with Ronel David | Fintech Garden Podcast 148: https://youtu.be/jq6QuFP7Az8

Agentic payments explained: the next fintech shift already started | Fintech Garden Podcast 151 https://youtu.be/ImMCSpvEI9M

Timestamps

00:30 – Product vs engineering: where the tension starts

01:04 – What engineering means in digital products

02:50 – What product teams actually own

03:25 – Can engineering work without product?

07:24 – Roles vs responsibilities in fintech teams

10:11 – What defines product success

14:30 – Why compliance cannot be treated as optional

15:33 – What “know your customer” means in practice

20:30 – When speed creates risk

23:50 – A two-stage approval model

27:10 – How to diagnose misalignment inside teams

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, CEO of Novafin. All conversations explore how fintech products are built, how teams make decisions, and what it takes to scale in a regulated market.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

👉 Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter: https://fintech.garden

What if payments no longer required humans in the loop?

In this episode, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea break down one of the most talked-about emerging topics in fintech: agentic payments.

This isn’t about AI making suggestions — it’s about systems that can initiate and execute payments autonomously based on rules, goals, and context. From machine-to-machine payments and API monetization to treasury automation and subscription management, agentic payments introduce a new layer of financial infrastructure.

We explore how this differs from traditional automation, what’s already happening in the market, and why trust, regulation, and user behavior will define whether this model actually scales.

The fintech shift nobody's talking about, with Ezequiel Canestrari | Fintech Garden Podcast 150: https://youtu.be/kd7xZyzdvrI

Why merchant leaders ignore 90% of fintech trends, with David Parker | FG Podcast x MPE 2026: https://youtu.be/XPebDDKS8ys

Timestamps:00:20 – What are agentic payments?

01:25 – Agency vs automation

04:15 – Machine-to-machine payments explained

07:00 – Agentic vs automated payments

08:00 – What made agentic payments possible

12:03 – SCA and regulatory challenges

14:29 – Can banks support agentic payments?

17:33 – Cost optimization and routing

18:29 – Trust as the main barrier

22:00 – Existing protocols and early players

24:00 – How this market will evolve

26:20 – “Concrete” analogy for payments future

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin.All conversations explore how fintech products are built, how infrastructure evolves, and where the market is heading next.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

👉 Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter: https://fintech.garden

Meet Ezequiel Canestrari, COO at ClearBank Europe — a clearing and embedded banking platform at the intersection of fintechs, payment rails, and regulation.

In this episode, we go beyond the surface of Banking-as-a-Service and embedded banking to unpack what actually drives success in modern fintech infrastructure. From the trade-off between speed and trust to why operational readiness matters more than ever, this conversation explores how fintech has evolved from “build fast” to “build right.”

We also dive into how regulation (DORA, SEPA Instant, MiCA) is shaping innovation in Europe, why resilience and uptime are becoming core product features, and how embedded banking changes the relationship between fintechs and banks.If you’re building or scaling fintech products — this is a must-watch.

ClearBank is a purpose-built, technology-enabled clearing and embedded banking platform. Through its banking licence and intelligent, robust technology solutions, ClearBank enables its clients to offer real-time payment and innovative banking services to their customers.ClearBank https://clear.bank/

AI systems do not hallucinate. Humans hallucinate, with Tony Fish | Fintech Garden Podcast 146: https://youtu.be/xJTZ2avYiNk

Fintechs sell products. Banks absorb responsibility, with Ronel David | Fintech Garden Podcast 148: https://youtu.be/jq6QuFP7Az8

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro

01:12 – BaaS is more than APIs

03:54 – Why speed is no longer enough

05:19 – Market shift: from growth to stability

07:24 – Operational readiness explained

12:32 – What embedded banking really is

20:54 – The future of embedded finance

24:17 – ‘Trust as the new commodity’

27:18 – Building with regulation in mind

30:13 – Why regulation enables innovation

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest:

Ezequiel Canestrari https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecanestrari/

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

DashDevs founder and CEO, Igor Tomych, alongside Novafin founder Dumitru Condrea, are back with another episode of Planted Wrong. The executives use this format to discuss some of the biggest failures in fintech.

Finn by Chase was a digital-only mobile banking service launched by JPMorgan Chase in 2018, targeting millennials with no-fee, smartphone-based checking and savings accounts. It focused on spending control and savings, but was shut down in August 2019 due to low demand and a shift toward integrating its features into the main Chase app.

How Tally’s Mission Struggled to Take Root | Planted Wrong №1: https://youtu.be/s9Pkd_Jczzg

AI in fraud is no longer offense vs defense, with Andre Isoni | Fintech Garden Podcast 149: https://youtu.be/oQcgLFY_cK8

Revolut record profit and customers? AI in PayPal & G7 currency stablecoins | Weekly Harvest: https://youtu.be/Y_T5oF_G5Jo

Timestamps:

​​0:00 – Why Chase’s Finn failed (Intro)

0:45 – The bold idea behind Finn by Chase

1:40 – The neobank boom Chase tried to copy

2:30 – Why big banks struggle to innovate

3:20 – Finn’s hybrid model explained

4:10 – The fatal assumption Chase made

5:00 – Why the US wasn’t ready for Finn

5:50 – The UX mistake that killed the product

6:40 – Copying old banking into a new app

7:30 – Why Revolut worked (and Finn didn’t)

8:20 – “Digital ≠ better” in fintech

9:10 – The missing value proposition

10:00 – The wrong target audience

10:50 – Why users saw no difference

11:40 – The myth of generational behavior

12:20 – Tech is not your advantage

13:10 – Growth vs retention: the real problem

14:00 – Same product, new branding = failure

14:50 – Was Finn doomed from the start?

15:40 – What Chase actually learned

16:30 – Was this an intentional experiment?

17:20 – Finn vs Chase: scale comparison

18:10 – Finn vs Revolut: key differences

19:00 – Biggest lesson for fintech founders

20:00 – Final takeaway: what really matters

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Meet Andre Isoni, Chief AI Officer at AI Technologies, a company specializing in machine learning and data-related problems. Andre is also the author of 'Machine Learning for the Web'. With a background spanning cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise consulting, he focuses on turning AI from a technical capability into a scalable, ROI-driven business solution.

His work cuts across industries, including financial services, defense, and the public sector, where he leads AI project design, deployment, and governance. Alongside his executive role, he contributes to global AI standards through his involvement with ISO and advises on AI investments, bringing a practical, security-first perspective to how organizations adopt and manage emerging technologies.

AI will change how businesses operate, with Juan José López Murphy | FG Podcast х MoneyLive 2026: https://youtu.be/AKD98V6U660

AI systems do not hallucinate. Humans hallucinate, with Tony Fish | Fintech Garden Podcast 146: https://youtu.be/xJTZ2avYiNk

The magic of AI will really open up, with Norman Tambach | FG x Finovate Europe 2026: https://youtu.be/tWcevDDxaQA

Timestamps:

00:04 – Intro

01:28 – AI vs CTO: responsibilities and project success

03:39 – AI in fintech fraud: offense vs defense

05:13 – Cybercrime evolution and AI adoption

07:45 – Shift to smaller, more powerful AI models

09:59 – Why smaller models increase security risks

10:49 – Deepfakes, identity fraud, and malware evolution

12:35 – Code morphing and detection challenges

13:37 – Prompt injection and AI vulnerabilities

14:28 – AI risks in KYC and identity verification

15:27 – Why human oversight is still critical

18:59 – Static vs dynamic fraud prevention

20:08 – Why AI detection tools are not enough

22:11 – No “silver bullet” in fraud prevention

23:04 – Data, behavior, and fraud detection systems

27:25 – AI economics: cost, efficiency, and security

28:30 – Regulation, open-source AI, and risk

29:31 – Outro

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guests:

Andre Isoni https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaisoni20/

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Meet Ronel David, independent non-executive board member at PayInc. Ronel is a strategic commercial leader with 20+ years of experience in banking, fintech, and technology, helping businesses scale at pivotal inflection points. Her career has been defined by driving growth, market expansion, and transformation across international markets, with a consistent focus on client outcomes and people-first leadership.

Timestamps:

00:04 – Intro

01:04 – Fintech vs bank cultural gap

02:50 – Ecosystem shift and Brex example

06:02 – Strategy: customers, competition, and market shifts

08:01 – How banks evaluate fintech partnerships

10:07 – API example: different perspectives

11:14 – Internal decision-making complexity

13:35 – AI impact on financial services

14:30 – AI and human “placement”

16:23 – Accountability in AI systems

18:41 – Talent shifts and ex-bankers

20:18 – Institutional knowledge gap

23:03 – Experience vs disruption

24:01 – Brex and resilience lessons

26:24 – Inclusion in fintech today

28:39 – Structural bias and retention

33:21 – Advice for fintechs working with banks

35:10 – Co-creation and partnerships

36:05 – Outro

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest:

Ronel David https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronel-david/

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Meet Greg Palmer, the VP of Strategy and host of Finovate, a fast-paced, demo-first showcase of the latest innovations in financial and banking technology from across the globe. 15 years with Finovate have given Greg a unique, bird’s-eye view of the Fintech industry as it has exploded into prominence, allowing him to watch not only individual innovations as they gain traction, but also the high-level trends that continue to shape the industry. Greg is also a seasoned demo and speaking coach in addition to his own work as an emcee and speaker.

Previous episode with Tony Fish: https://youtu.be/xJTZ2avYiNk

Finovate Spring: https://informaconnect.com/finovatespring/

Finovate Fall: https://informaconnect.com/finovatefall/

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

03:17 – Are fintech founders actually successful?

06:16 – What matters to a fintech founder

08:53 – Creating products that the market actually needs

11:13 – Success beyond funding

15:07 – Timing and gatekeepers

21:43 – Fintech Success in 2026

22:08 – How to keep up with market changes

28:05 – Is it getting harder to succeed in B2C?

34:17 – Outro

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest:

Greg Palmer https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Meet Tony Fish, author of Decision Making In Uncertain Times. A self-described strategic sense-maker who helps directors and C-suite leadership ask questions they didn't know they had to ask. Tony boasts 30 years of navigating uncertainty as a serial entrepreneur, bringing cross-sectoral foresight that has positioned him ahead of multiple technical revolutions. Tony challenges conventional wisdom through systems thinking and complexity.

AI vs Fraud: Inside Device Fingerprinting with Catherine Woneis: https://youtu.be/TiPQQItHgQk

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

01:11 – AI & Data Governance

02:36 – How AI is changing how we think of things

05:44 – AI in fintech

10:07 – AI hallucinations

18:17 – Compliance is a grey zone

21:43 – Explainability in AI

26:01 – 20% of your company needs to break the rules

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Where to find us

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Watch TIkTok: tiktok.com/@fintechgarden

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Where to find Tony:

Tony Fish https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyfish/

Newsletter https://opengovernance.net/