Recorded live at Baltic Fintech Days in Riga, this conversation with Valdis Siksnis, CEO of Indexo Bank, is one you do not want to skip. Valdis led the charge to build Latvia’s first locally capitalised bank in 20 years, and what he went through to make it happen is nothing short of extraordinary.
In this episode, Valdis breaks down the brutal reality of securing a banking licence through the ECB, where you must have your entire team, IT infrastructure, and risk frameworks in place before anyone even reads your application. He shares how Indexo had already burned through nearly five million euros before receiving a single yes or no from regulators.
You will also hear why Valdis left a senior role at Nordea to prove what he could do without a head office in Helsinki telling him what products Latvia does not need. The contrast between running a subsidiary of a Nordic banking giant and building your own challenger bank from scratch is raw and honest.
On top of that, Valdis reveals Indexo’s latest milestone, the group’s first ever profitable quarter, why the bank is on track to reach operating breakeven by year end, and the surprising challenge of converting curious app downloaders into genuinely active banking customers.
If you are building in fintech, thinking about a banking licence, or just want to understand what real financial innovation looks like in emerging European markets, this episode is essential viewing.