The fintech industry is entering a new phase – one where payments vanish into the background, AI becomes your shopping assistant, and regional ecosystems punch above their weight. Few people have had a front-row seat to this evolution like Milan Gauder.
With over 20 years of experience in payments, banking, and leadership, Gauder has helped shape the landscape from inside the boardrooms of Mastercard to crafting innovation himself. After a successful corporate career, culminating as Global EVP for Card Acceptance at Mastercard, he’s now investing in the next generation of fintech disruptors as an angel investor and advisor.
In this conversation with IT Logs, he shares where fintech is heading next, from AI-driven experiences to the untapped potential of the Western Balkans, and why he believes Europe needs more risk-takers and fewer bureaucrats.
IT Logs: In your keynote you mentioned innovation, or rather the lack of it, in fintech. What’s next for Europe?
Milan Gauder: Banks are starting to realize that in order to compete, whether with each other or with non-European players like Revolut, they need to become faster and more agile. And they’re also beginning to understand they can’t do it all in-house. That’s why more banks will increasingly rely on fintechs to provide services and features that can be embedded into their own platforms.
Take the Revolut or Wise apps – there are hundreds of features baked into a single experience. Banks already partner with fintechs, but that collaboration is going to expand significantly. It will help the whole ecosystem grow stronger and more competitive.
In the Western Balkans, where some countries are still not part of the EU, things seem to move slowly. We only joined SEPA recently. What could help catalyze fintech growth in this region?
Milan Gauder: It’s interesting, if you look at the former Yugoslavia, there are over 20 million people who speak the same language. That’s quite unique in Central and Eastern Europe, where most countries have smaller language groups. It’s a big advantage for building scalable B2C or B2B solutions across the region.
And while being outside the EU might seem like a disadvantage, it’s not a deal-breaker. Look at countries like Nigeria or Ghana—there’s a thriving fintech scene and they’re not in the EU either. What really matters is building great products and speaking the global business language – English.
Nigeria is a great example – people pay by text messages. What emerging technologies do you think will shape the next generation of fintech?
Milan Gauder: I don’t think emerging technologies like AI will necessarily change payments, but they will dramatically change how we use them.
Today, if you want to book a cinema ticket, you go to the cinema’s website, type in your card number, authenticate with your phone, and so on. In the future, you’ll just tell your AI assistant, whether it’s Siri, GPT, or something else, “I want to see this movie tomorrow.” And it will handle the rest, including the payment, seamlessly in the background.
Payments will be embedded in the experience. You won’t think of it as a separate step anymore.
You’ve also spoken about China, where everything is integrated into super apps. How does that compare to Europe?
Milan Gauder: In China, people live inside super apps. You chat, shop, order services, and pay – all in one place. The payment is just a natural part of the experience. In Europe, everything is more fragmented, apps are siloed and payment is treated as a separate process. But that’s starting to change.
What about the global economic situation? Is it a major challenge for fintech in Europe?
Milan Gauder: I don’t think it’s a huge challenge. Economic growth at 1% or 2% doesn’t really decide the fate of fintech startups. Facebook didn’t grow because the global economy was booming – it grew because of network effects and a great product.
The same goes for fintech. What really matters is having passionate founders, good ideas, and access to capital. With those in place, everything else follows.
Are you seeing strong regional VC activity in fintech?
Milan Gauder: There’s still too much reliance on state funding, which often brings regulation and bureaucracy. I’m not a big fan of government money in startups.
What we need more of are angel investors and VC firms backed by wealthy individuals. That takes time to develop, but it’s the key to building a vibrant startup ecosystem.
