How Ukrainian Fintech can effectively enter European, Chinese and US markets. International Fintech Business Experience

Digital technologies are transforming the financial industry, displacing traditional transaction models. According to forecasts, by 2033, the global fintech market will grow at 15.8% annually, with its valuation reaching over $800 billion USD. At the same time, the rapid development of financial technologies is accompanied by the need for regulation and licensing. Without an experienced partner – legal or regulatory – these challenges can slow development or even block market entry.

International Fintech Business (IFB) provides comprehensive support for fintech projects at all stages – from jurisdiction selection to license acquisition. The company works with various types of licenses: banking, payment, cryptocurrency, brokerage, and investment. In an interview with Forbes BrandVoice, Vladislav Zaporozhchenko, co-owner of IFB, explained how their services help fintech startups overcome regulatory barriers and enter global markets.

Company overview

International Fintech Business is an international consulting company founded in 2022 through the merger of Qiuntex and Pearly Mount Consultants. It provides legal consulting in financial licensing (banks, EMI/SEMI, API/PI, SPI), support in selecting and selling ready-made financial institutions, integration with payment systems (Visa, Mastercard, SWIFT, SEPA), and implementation of software for online banking and mobile applications.

Today, IFB operates in 103 countries. The company works with clients in many jurisdictions, including EU countries, USA, Canada, as well as regions in Asia and Africa. In 2025, IFB opened a representative office in Japan, allowing it to license European business in Asian markets.

IFB founders are Vladislav Zaporozhchenko and Julia Raubishke.

Key services

What are the most common requests from Ukrainian fintech companies?

We specialize in comprehensive legal support for companies seeking to enter financial markets in Europe, Great Britain, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, Canada, USA, and Japan. Our services include licensing financial activities for our clients, forming authorized capital, complete compliance procedures and adherence to all regulatory requirements, as well as preparing and submitting applications to regulators in any of the 103 countries we work with.

We also handle integration with international payment systems – Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay, help with opening segregated and correspondent accounts, and provide opportunities to obtain principal membership – direct participant status in international payment systems. If direct membership is not feasible, we organize BIN sponsorship from providers, allowing companies to issue payment cards and conduct financial operations without direct membership.

Separately, we should highlight the direction of selling ready-made licensed financial institutions. We have a database of banks, payment institutions, and other financial companies that are already operating in the market but are looking for investors or buyers.

Does it mean that a company can approach you and purchase a ready-to-use license?

We only provide legal consulting and support in conducting such transactions – that is, we help conclude agreements between buyers and sellers of companies. For example, for sellers, we provide legal consulting and post information on our platform to find an investor or buyer. During cooperation, we conduct company valuation, help form the sale price, and perform compliance verification.

Types of licenses and conditions for obtaining them

What are the types of international licenses? How do they differ?

The main question to our client is what operations you plan to carry out, as this determines the choice of optimal license type and jurisdiction. The main difference is limits on money circulation and capital requirements. Thus, limited circulation licenses allow financial institutions to operate funds within certain limits – usually from 15 to 36 million euros per year. The simplest of these is Small Payment Institution (SPI). In some countries, it doesn’t require large authorized capital but has clear limitations. For example, in Poland, the monthly limit is 1.5 million euros, and one transaction is 1,000 euros. The next level is Payment Institution (PI) with a capital requirement of 125,000 euros, which allows larger turnovers and broader functionality.

Unlimited licenses require more capital, for example, obtaining a full Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license requires authorized capital of 350,000 euros, and for a Small Bank license it’s 2 million euros.

It’s worth noting that in some jurisdictions, capital requirements may be more lenient. For example, Money Service Business (MSB) licenses in Canada and the USA, as well as Money Service Operators (MSO) licenses in Hong Kong, do not have mandatory authorized capital requirements, making them attractive for startups at the initial stage.

What are the key conditions needed to obtain an international financial license?

When a company seeks to obtain a financial license, the international regulator checks three main factors (but not all). First, the source of shareholder capital origin – complete confirmation of fund legality and tax payment is required. Even crypto capital needs to be legalized. For “high-risk” clients, they may require increased authorized capital.

The second factor is the reputation and experience of the shareholder and team. The regulator checks CVs and work experience of key persons, absence of negative information and sanctions lists. Even old negative publications or complaints on the internet can delay the process or lead to rejection.

And the last one is IT infrastructure reliability. This is often the most complex part of verification. It’s critically important to choose an experienced provider who has proven experience integrating with major payment systems such as SWIFT, Visa, and Mastercard. Our success rate over the last 3 years is 94%. The secret is in pre-assessment – we spend 4-5 weeks auditing client readiness before submitting documents, which saves months of time and tens of thousands of euros.

Additionally, IFB as a modern company is already implementing artificial intelligence for pre-audit and client data verification, which significantly speeds up the due diligence process and improves analysis quality.

Which European jurisdictions are most attractive for obtaining licenses?

Everything depends on the license type. For example, today the Netherlands is a leader in obtaining EMI licenses – last year, out of our six applications, two were successfully approved there. Lithuania comes second, but its Central Bank is currently overloaded after Brexit from Great Britain, so we don’t recommend it. But Latvia demonstrates an active position: the country openly declares readiness to accept new investors and has ambitions to become the new fintech center of the Baltics.

Among other recommended countries are Spain, Portugal, and France. Poland mainly issues SPI licenses, but the regulator often revokes them due to non-compliance with requirements.

What is the cost of your license acquisition support services? How long does it take?

Service costs vary greatly depending on license type and jurisdiction, for example, Money Service Business (MSB) in Canada costs 15,000 euros, while an EMI license with pre-audit of shareholders and key team costs 120,000 euros with terms from 8 months in the Netherlands to 18 months in Lithuania and Great Britain. It’s important to understand that timelines depend not only on us but also on the client team’s readiness.

Often during the first consultation, it becomes clear that the client’s budget doesn’t match the capital requirements for the desired license – for example, EMI. According to our statistics, 73% of fintech startups underestimate licensing budgets by 1.5-2 times. That’s why we always start with budget analysis and planned operation types: whether it’s money transfers, acquiring, investment activities, or active fund management. This approach allows selecting the most realistic and effective licensing strategy for each business.

Path to European Standards

What’s the difference between Ukrainian and European fintech?

Ukrainian and European payment systems have differences in functionality and regulation. Ukrainian payment systems with money transfer licenses are limited to basic operations. They don’t have a regulatory framework for direct connection to international systems like Visa or Mastercard; this is only possible through a partner bank. Additionally, unlike European counterparts, segregated client accounts in Ukraine are not covered by the Deposit Guarantee Fund. In Europe, such accounts are protected by law: client funds are isolated from the company’s assets, and supervisory mechanisms ensure their safety even in crisis situations.

Moreover, European payment systems provide broader functionality. For example, this includes having your own account with multicurrency support (over 30 currencies), card issuance and processing, which allows issuing Visa/Mastercard cards, conducting SWIFT and SEPA transfers, processing payments, as well as access to international settlements and the ability to open correspondent accounts.

European payment systems also have more advanced client verification procedures, including biometric verification via video and photo documents, which allows quick and secure remote user identification to simplify onboarding of new clients.

What steps, in your opinion, should the National Bank of Ukraine take for financial sector development?

The National Bank of Ukraine and Verkhovna Rada committees on banking should create a working group and begin implementing European legislation into Ukrainian law. However, most importantly – transfer licensing powers from the NBU to an independent commission. Experience from developed countries shows that such an independent commission promotes rapid development of payment fintech business and the emergence of neobanks, small banks, and payment institutions with lower capital requirements.

What’s the situation with cryptocurrency regulation in Ukraine and Europe?

In Europe, until 2025, there was no unified approach to crypto-asset regulation, but the situation changed dramatically after the European Parliament adopted the MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) law. The law requires full licensing: having authorized capital, appointing an AML officer, and implementing internal policies and procedures. In fact, the market became fully regulated. In connection with this, we received over 100 requests this year for re-licensing companies from VASP to CASP, seeking to comply with new norms.

In Ukraine, regulation of this market is currently paused. Even before the full-scale war, there was fierce competition between regulators – the National Bank and the Securities Commission – for the right to regulate the crypto market. As a result, a law appeared that didn’t provide mechanisms for economic amnesty for crypto assets, which eliminated the possibility of their legalization and integration into the Ukrainian economy. The law was vetoed by the president and is still stuck on tax amendments.

How do you see the future for financial sector development in Ukraine and globally?

Ukraine needs to more quickly adopt European experience – implement its clearing systems (INSERT: smart “intermediaries” that optimize mutual settlements between financial market participants). A global transformation is happening worldwide: the outdated SWIFT system is no longer synonymous with fast payments, as transfers through it take 1-3 days and cost dearly. Instead, the future belongs to virtual and quasi-currencies based on blockchain technology. They allow instant transfers in seconds. It’s no surprise that even SWIFT and leading world banks are actively developing their own blockchain systems.

Parallel to blockchain, the financial sector is experiencing an artificial intelligence revolution. Leading world banks – from JPMorgan to HSBC – are already using AI to automate credit decisions, detect fraud, and manage risks. Goldman Sachs applies machine learning algorithms for trading, and Bank of America serves millions of clients through AI assistant Erica. Regulators are also adapting: the European Central Bank is developing AI systems for real-time supervision of financial institutions.

Our company is also keeping up and actively using AI-based solutions, and we’d like to announce that from July 1st, our clients will have access to a Telegram chatbot based on artificial intelligence, where they can directly get information about companies for sale in various jurisdictions, as well as receive instant answers to basic questions about licensing and regulatory requirements.

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