During Fintech Day in Lithuania, we had the chance to catch up with Taavi Tamkivi, CEO and Founder of Salv. Taavi expressed his enthusiasm for the event, noting Lithuania’s significant role in Salv’s business as their second-biggest market and a hub for many of their colleagues and customers. Reflecting on the vibrant fintech ecosystem in Lithuania, Taavi highlighted the regional appeal that attracts participants from across Europe, acknowledging a sense of healthy competition and admiration for the local fintech scene. Salv specializes in providing advanced AML (Anti-Money Laundering) technologies, including sanction screening, transaction monitoring, and particularly, collaborative crime fighting.
This innovative approach allows financial institutions across Europe to share data points from their in-house monitoring systems to better detect and combat financial crimes collaboratively. Taavi discussed the challenge of integrating GDPR compliance with the need for data sharing among financial institutions. He explained that GDPR provides a framework that enables secure and compliant data exchange, essential for collaborative efforts in identifying and preventing financial crimes. With regulations evolving in the UK, EU, and specific initiatives like PSD3 on the horizon, Salv and similar companies are positioned at the forefront of modernizing AML compliance tools through enhanced collaboration and data sharing.
Highlighting a recent milestone, Taavi shared that Salv received a pioneering regulatory technology license from the Latvian data protection authority, marking a significant achievement not only for Salv but for the RegTech industry as a whole. This license, which designates Salv as a licensed KYC (Know Your Customer) utility provider, is a step towards clarifying the regulatory landscape for RegTech companies and potentially making such licenses portable across Europe. Taavi emphasized the unique entrepreneurial spirit within the Baltic fintech community, driven by individuals with significant experience in globally influential fintech companies. This environment, coupled with supportive governmental policies, fosters a dynamic ecosystem where public and private sectors work collaboratively towards common goals.
