Scaling fintech across Europe

Finextra and Visa Direct will host an upcoming online webinar to examine how fintech firms can expand across Europe. The session is organised around Finextra’s forthcoming 2026 State of Fintech in Europe report, produced with Visa Direct. Organisers cite a Finch Capital projection that the European fintech market will grow from $85.52 billion in 2025 to $94.14 billion in 2026 and say expansion faces obstacles including fragmented markets, varied regulation and uneven infrastructure.

Speakers on the panel include Olga Ovchinnikova, vice president and head of Visa Direct Europe at Visa; Benjamin Kruk, executive director and global head of product & client solutions at Bitpanda Enterprise; and Liam Gray, head of customer relationships for the UK and Europe at Plaid. Scott Hamilton, contributing editor at Finextra and a global payments and liquidity expert, will moderate.

The webinar will discuss expansion playbooks for neobanks and fintechs in payments, wealth and lending. Neobanks must address differing licensing regimes, capital requirements and consumer protection rules across countries. Payments firms face varied clearing and settlement systems and local rails. Wealth platforms encounter inconsistent suitability rules and adviser regulations. Lenders deal with different credit reporting standards, insolvency rules and funding markets.

Speakers will also examine how new technologies affect cross-border growth. Topics listed by organisers include artificial intelligence, upgrades to payments infrastructure and adoption of digital assets. The discussion will consider whether such technologies can help firms standardise processes and reduce friction when entering new jurisdictions, and what operational controls are needed to meet compliance and customer protection requirements.

Panelists will address partnership strategies for market entry, including alliances with banks, payment processors, local fintechs and infrastructure providers. Visa Direct’s role in the event aligns with industry interest in faster cross-border payment solutions and their integration into merchant, payroll and consumer services. The session will also consider limits to partnerships where regulatory or infrastructure gaps remain.

Organisers invite industry professionals and fintech founders to register for the webinar. The discussion will feed into Finextra’s 2026 State of Fintech in Europe report, which maps trends, barriers and opportunities across the continent.