Episode 12

Innovation despite all odds. Growing a Lending SaaS FinTech during times of war | Svitlanka Sergiichuk Romaniuk, CEO & Co-founder, Neofin

My guest today is Svitlanka Sergiichuk Romaniuk, CEO & Co-founder at Neofin, a Lending SaaS FinTech. We had a ton of fun recording, we talk about how no code solutions are empowering companies to launch lending propositions faster.

Neofin started years ago in Ukraine, so we explore their founding story and their journey of losing all their Ukrainian bank customers one by one in a matter of days at the start of the war. They then had to make a very difficult decision to stop or adapt and continue. It is deep and inspiring.

Today Neofin has customers across the world, including the US, so we go deeper on the how to go about market expansion, specially in the US. And finally, Neofin has multiple awards, so Svitlanka shares with us her secrets to success, strength and perseverance.

If you enjoy this episode it would mean the world if you subscribe and give it a follow so that we can have more impact

Let’s dive into it!

👉 You can find Svitlanka here

👉 And you can find Monica here:

If you enjoy this pod, please follow and leave a 5 star rating on Spotify and a review on Apple podcasts


In this episode we cover:


(0:00:00) Full-scale war starts, and banks in Ukraine close their credit business

(0:01:10) Neofin decides to scale internationally to survive

(0:01:59) How no-code solutions empower faster lending propositions

(0:08:37) Neofin's customer promise: launch lending business 4x faster with zero delivery risk

(0:15:18) Neofin's founding story and journey through the war in Ukraine

(0:19:16) Neofin expands to Canada and the US

(0:28:33) Neofin simplifies the complex lending process with no-code solutions

(0:32:51) Neofin's advantages: optimal for institutions without technical teams, ease and flexibility

(0:37:10) Challenges of market expansion: regulatory landscape, local data, cultural differences

(0:46:08) Improve collaboration between FinTechs and financial institutions


—


Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email fintechwithmoni@gmail.com


Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Purpose Driven FinTech
Purpose Driven FinTech
Building & Growing FinTech Products With Customer & Commercial Impact

Listen for free

About your host

Profile picture for Monica Millares

Monica Millares

Monica advocates for financial safety for all. She is the Product Principal at BigPay, where she leads Product and Design. As part of the founding team, Monica led building BigPay’s product from zero to one, to multi product line, and international expansion. Her leadership shaped the culture and ways of working to grow from startup to scaleup. BigPay has over 1.4 million customers, and has presence in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Monica has almost 20 years’ experience in Financial Services. Prior to BigPay, she was one of the first joiners in UK’s challenger Tandem Bank, where she focused on building credit cards from scratch. Previously she worked in leading Financial Services brands like Visa, Barclays, and a Mexican Development Bank.

She sits on the Board of PayEd, and is recognised as Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech. She’s been multiple times speaker at the prestigious conference Money2020 and shared stage with JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Konsentus, and Money2020’s Rise Up. Her commitment to innovation and financial inclusion resonates in her podcast “Purpose Driven FinTech” where she explores how FinTech’s can have 10x more impact.

Monica has a background in Engineering and a Master’s Degree on Analysis, Design, and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.