On June 17-18 2025, the Oradea Fortress became the hub for financial innovation, hosting the fourth edition of UNCHAIN Festival: the event that brings together every year fintech, banks, insurers, payment providers, regulators, startups, investors, and tech leaders from across CEE, blending serious ideas with genuine human connection and creating a space where borders fade and collaborations take the centre stage.
Alexandra Pollack, Founder & CEO of UNCHAIN. “This year made it clear: the future of finance in CEE will be shaped not by individual players, but by ecosystems. Trust, speed, and shared purpose are the new infrastructure.”
In 2025 UNCHAIN Festival remained true to its mission: to interconnect the region’s finance leaders, foster authentic exchange, and turn conversations into action. With its unique blend of purpose and personality, UNCHAIN has become the most relevant fintech gathering in the CEE — and will be coming back in 2026 with even more practical insights, new partnerships, and the same spirit: authentic, connected, and ready for what’s next.
“As a committed strategic partner since the festival’s inception, Visa supports UNCHAIN’s vision of fostering regional resilience, bridging traditional and emerging financial sectors, and accelerating market growth. We look forward to continued collaboration as we build a more connected and innovative financial ecosystem across the region”, says Cătălin Crețu, General Manager for Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria at Visa.
STRATEGIC MOVE AND MARKET SIGNALS
As fintech maturity deepens across the region, industry leaders chose UNCHAIN to announce bold strategic moves that signal growth and a new phase of cross-market collaboration and innovation. Global Payments, Lendox, Visa joined forces in a strategic partnership to unlock SME lending in CEE using AI and payment data. The collaboration combines Lendox’s credit intelligence platform with Visa’s global infrastructure and Global Payments’ acquiring capabilities.
Over 60 sessions at UNCHAIN Festival tackled both breakthrough technologies and complex regulatory themes, reflecting the region’s appetite for action. From artificial intelligence to instant payments, discussions blended cutting-edge innovation with pressing questions about stablecoins, digital currencies, and how fintech is evolving differently in Central and Eastern Europe.
NEXT-GEN PAYMENTS ADVANCING & OPENING-UP OPPORTUNITIES
The payments ecosystem at UNCHAIN showcased how innovation is accelerating across Central and Eastern Europe, powered by real-time infrastructure and strategic collaborations. Visa Direct stood out by demonstrating how its push payment capabilities make money move faster, safer, and across borders, empowering fintech and banks alike to unlock new customer experiences. Regional companies revealed future-proof solutions in orchestration, embedded finance, and acquiring. From SIBS Romania’s smart POS-sharing model, reducing hardware clutter in multi-brand retail, to Payten Romania’s integration with Auchan for seamless omni-channel payments, and Worldline’s vision of open, secure, and interoperable systems, these innovations confirmed that CEE is not catching up, but actively shaping the future of finance.
FROM LEGACY TO LIGHTNING-SPEED: CLOUD, AI & THE DIGITAL BANKING LEAP
The Digital Transformation track at UNCHAIN proved that financial innovation in CEE is becoming infrastructure. Raiffeisen Bank illustrated the potential of cloud agility through its collaboration with Amazon Web Services, while Garanti BBVA demonstrated the power of conversational AI with GIA, its 24/7 virtual advisor tailored to customer needs. Banca Transilvania showcased together with Finshape how BT GO is setting new standards for mobile banking. The track also spotlighted modular thinking and next-gen banking experiences. Players like Natech and Snappi showed how lean, mobile-first platforms can challenge incumbents with user-centric design and flexibility. FORT brought cybersecurity to the forefront, calling for real-time resilience in increasingly interconnected systems, while Namirial emerged as a key enabler of digital onboarding and EUDI wallet adoption — bridging EU policy with scalable, local implementation.
FINTERSECTIONS: WHERE FINANCE MEETS THE REAL ECONOMY
New to UNCHAIN this year, the Fintersections concept explored one of the most exciting trends shaping finance today: the growing convergence of financial services, technology, and traditional industries. The conclusion: finance works best when it works where people work.
In the Fleet & Fuel vertical, companies like Eurowag, E100, and Global Payments explored how payments, insurance, tolling, and credit are being integrated into the driver journey — transforming logistics platforms into financial ecosystems. In Retail, BNPL continued to gain ground with Klarna and Twisto, while eMAG made waves with HeyBlu, stepping fully into fintech. Financial orchestration and loyalty innovation from players like Auchan and Pluxee revealed how payment strategy is becoming a core growth engine. In Agriculture, the focus was on unlocking access to finance for SMEs. Agricover and NHR Agro highlighted how personalized credit and precision farming must go hand in hand, while platforms like Lande are opening new channels for capital in one of the region’s most underfinanced sectors.
RISK, REWRITTEN: HOW INSURANCE GOT ITS GROOVE BACK AT UNCHAIN
Insurance emerged as one of the fastest-moving sectors, showcasing how technology and collaboration are rewriting the rules. From AI-powered claims automation and modular products to embedded distribution models with conversion rates up to 18%, the conversations made clear that CEE isn’t catching up, it’s leapfrogging. Players like FlowX.AI, InsurWiz, and Eazy Asigurări showed how insurtech is scaling, while leaders like RebelDot, Campion Broker and Hellas Direct explored how personalization and automation are already in motion. Regulatory shifts, including renewed debate around open insurance via the EU’s FiDA proposal, added momentum to a space that’s evolving fast. As Erik Barna UNCHAIN InsurTech industry expert noted, “distribution is rapidly moving from pilot to scale in markets like Romania and the Western Balkans, with embedded products unlocking access for previously uninsured populations”. The message was clear: insurance in CEE is growing from slow mover to a space of bold reinvention.
REGULATION & INVESTMENT: STEERING THE FUTURE OF FINANCE IN CEE
UNCHAIN 2025 highlighted how Central and Eastern Europe is shaping. Central banks from Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic demonstrated how they are actively building low-cost, instant payment systems and fostering inclusive innovation. Discussions extended to blockchain in capital markets, with leaders from Binance and Pekao Bank showing how regulation like MiCA enables real-world applications. Across asset management, fintech CEOs emphasized that trust, speed, and simplicity now define investor expectations. The message was clear: true progress comes when regulators, startups, and institutions work in sync — not in silos — unlocking capital, building resilient ecosystems, and creating a level playing field for cross-border innovation.
As Rik Coeckelbergs, author of The New Ethos in Banking, beautifully summed up: “Everyone says their event is relaxed and relevant. UNCHAIN delivers that rare mix of serious ideas and genuine connections.”
