Scaling fintech across Europe: hurdles and next steps

Finextra and Visa Direct will host an online webinar to discuss findings from the 2026 State of Fintech in Europe report and the practical challenges fintech firms face when expanding across European markets. The event will bring together industry and product leaders to review expansion strategies for neobanks and specialist fintechs in payments, wealth management and lending.

Speakers confirmed for the panel include Olga Ovchinnikova, VP and Head of Visa Direct Europe at Visa; Benjamin Kruk, Executive Director and Global Head of Product & Client Solutions at Bitpanda Enterprise; Liam Gray, Head of Customer Relationships for UK & Europe at Plaid. Scott Hamilton of Finextra will moderate the session.

Panel discussion will cover structural barriers to cross-border growth, including fragmented national markets, differing regulatory regimes and uneven payments and banking infrastructure. The session will contrast incremental local expansion approaches with hub-and-spoke models that centralize some functions while integrating local partners. Topics will include licensing, compliance operations and establishing local banking relationships, and how each affects time to market for payments, wealth and lending products.

The report cited in the webinar uses industry data, including growth projections from Finch Capital that estimate the European fintech market at $85.52 billion in 2025 and $94.14 billion in 2026. The webinar will map which markets and business models are recording growth within those segments.

Technology themes on the agenda include the use of artificial intelligence for customer onboarding and risk management, upgrades to payments rails to support instant settlement, and the integration of digital assets into products. Panelists will discuss whether these technologies create standard integration solutions across borders or require separate technical and regulatory work on a country-by-country basis.

Partnerships between fintechs and card networks, infrastructure providers, incumbent banks and compliance specialists will be examined as mechanisms to lower costs and regulatory exposure during expansion. Wealth and lending firms are expected to discuss reliance on data and identity partners to construct compliant customer journeys across multiple jurisdictions.

The webinar will compare sector-specific issues: neobanks’ differing deposit-protection and distribution rules; payments businesses reconciling local clearing and instant-pay rails; wealth platforms operating under varied investor protections and tax regimes; and lenders navigating diverse credit reporting and debt collection frameworks. The session will present examples of operational models and collaborative arrangements used by firms pursuing wider European footprints.

The organisers present the event as a forum for executives and product leaders to review practical approaches to cross-border scale and to link those discussions back to the findings in the 2026 State of Fintech in Europe report.