On December 12, Kyiv hosted UAFIN.TECH, an annual conference that is Ukraine’s main fintech event. This year, UAFIK brought together leading industry experts to discuss how embedded finance technologies are transforming business models, e-commerce, mobile applications, logistics services, and creating a new level of customer experience.
The conference brought together 400+ offline participants and 50+ speakers for more than 9 hours of active dialogue between representatives of the banking sector, the fintech ecosystem, technology companies, startups, regulatory bodies, and international experts.
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Top speakers included representatives of the IFC and World Bank Group: Zarina Odinaeva, Ismail Chaib, and Margarit Nzuki; Andriy Podderyogin (NBU); representatives of Mastercard: Angela Kashperuk, Vadym Polishchuk, Andriy Kostenko; Emmanuel Papadachi-Stefano, Vice-President Fintech Observatory; Lyudmila Andreeva (DG Fisma); Peter Penze (National Bank of Slovakia) and many others.
Lisa Kestner, Head of the IFC Representative Office in Ukraine, World Bank Group, delivered a welcoming speech. She noted that we should be proud of the resilience of the Ukrainian financial sector and thanked the representatives of institutions, organizations, and banks present at the conference who ensure the stability of financial services in Ukraine. “The main reason why the IFC supports this event is the importance of expanding access to finance for an even larger part of Ukraine’s population. We know that digital finance is one of the key tools for this. Here we can explore opportunities for integrating financial services into other services, such as online commerce or transportation, so that even more businesses and people can access finance.”
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Anatoliy Ostapenko, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Protection of Veterans’ Rights of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans’ Rights, and Angela Kashperuk, Vice President of Business Development at Mastercard in Ukraine and Moldova, also joined in the welcoming remarks.
Embedded Finance – the path to sustainability and success
“Fintech has become a bridge that connects business, government, and society through embedded finance, enabling development even in the most challenging conditions, despite war, uncertainty, and constant challenges. Embedded finance today is not a trend, but an infrastructure of sustainability that supports the economy, business scaling, and rapid access to financial services for people. Digital finance has a real impact: it has become the basis for operational support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, volunteer and humanitarian initiatives, providing fast payments, online fundraising, and transparent financial mechanisms.
That is why the development of fintech today is not only about innovation, but also about the country’s ability to hold on, act, and win,” said Rostislav Dyuk, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovative Companies.
Embedded finance — a trend or a new reality?
Embedded finance is not just a new trend, but one of the fundamental changes in the financial market that is already reshaping the competitive landscape and rules of the game for business. Financial services are moving beyond banks and financial institutions and becoming a natural part of the products, platforms, and digital ecosystems that people use every day.
“Today, Ukraine is undergoing rapid digital transformation. In the payment market, more than 60% of Mastercard payments in physical retail are already made using NFC-enabled smartphones, and one in six Mastercard payments is made in e-commerce. For Ukrainian consumers, embedded finance is a natural extension of their digital choices and adaptability to new technological solutions. The integration of financial products into non-financial platforms and services using APIs allows for the creation of a holistic experience and a more comprehensive product for the user.
According to research, 47% of non-bank online and e-commerce players plan to integrate embedded finance into their platforms. Mastercard supports the development of embedded finance by offering comprehensive solutions for banks, service providers, and merchants—from payment acceptance and loyalty programs to risk management, fraud prevention, and cybersecurity solutions,” said Angela Kashperuk, Vice President of Business Development at Mastercard in Ukraine and Moldova.
This model changes the very logic of interaction with finance: payments, loans, insurance, and financing become “invisible,” simple, and accessible precisely when needed. For companies, this means new sources of income, a deeper understanding of customers, and a rethinking of competition—now it is not individual products that compete, but entire ecosystems and partnerships.
According to market analysts, the global embedded finance market will grow by an average of 33% annually until 2030. This was discussed in particular during his speech by Vadym Polishchuk, Vice President of Business Development at Mastercard Services in Ukraine and Moldova.
According to him, the transition of financial services to non-financial platforms is driven by competition between banks, Big Tech, and e-commerce for the opportunity to become the main point of interaction with customers who expect the most personalized and seamless customer experience. The development of open banking and agent artificial intelligence is accelerating this transformation, opening up additional opportunities for fintechs and neobanks to create innovative and disruptive solutions.
Embedded finance is one of the fundamental changes in the market that will reshape the competitive landscape and change how we interact with finance. It is a major systemic transformation that is happening before our very eyes.
Investing in financial services infrastructure: risk or success
During the Future of Finance panel discussion, the key topic was the need for systemic investment in financial services infrastructure as the basis for long-term market competitiveness. The participants in the discussion emphasized that the experience of recent years has significantly changed the behavior of customers in the mass segment: consumers are becoming less sensitive to price and more demanding in terms of service quality.
“We need to increase investment in infrastructure. The experience of recent years shows that customers in the mass segment are becoming less price-sensitive, i.e., the quality of service, its seamlessness and stability, take precedence over price. Therefore, we see a need to invest in order to maintain and strengthen our position in the market,” said Volodymyr Ponomariov, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Ukrgasbank.
However, the main thesis was not one-sided. Zarina Odinaeva, Program Lead IFC, World Bank Group, noted: “In partnership models, dependence on the core infrastructure provided by one key participant is one of the main risks we see in the markets, and Ukrainian participants should take this into account.”
It is infrastructure maturity that allows you to quickly launch new products, integrate partners, and meet the expectations of customers for whom financial services should be simple, reliable, and almost invisible.
Serhii Makarenko, Head of Trade Solutions at PrivatBank, summed up: “We started working with the concept of embedded finance back in the 2010s — solutions such as payment in installments and our other services have long been organically embedded in our partners’ business processes. Today, we are going further: we are rethinking existing processes that partners already use as embedded finance, and creating new ones. Our focus is to show how these solutions can generate additional value, increase operational efficiency, and strengthen our partners’ business results.”
The conference was held with the support of the IFC, World Bank Group in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). Mastercard became the general partner of UAFIN.TECH 2025, Activitis became the official partner, NovaPay became the fintech partner, and Moneyveo became the innovative fintech partner. Done and MBKI were strategic partners, SHERIFF was the security partner, Vivid Fusion was the art partner, and DowithUA was the ecosystem partner. Kyiv Post was the general media partner.
Media support was provided by Fintech Insider, Scroll media, Kyiv IT Cluster, SPEKA, Marketer, KOSHT-media, and ua.news, while NABU, MTIBU, kyivmaps, and Kharkiv IT Cluster served as information partners for the event.
UAFIN.TECH 2025 confirmed its status as the key fintech event of the year, becoming a platform for in-depth discussion about the Future of Embedded Finance. The conference brought together banks, fintech companies, regulators, IT companies, and international experts to discuss practical cases, strategic partnerships, and real business solutions. The focus was on embedded finance as a driver of new monetization models, customer experience, and the stability of Ukraine’s financial system. The main conclusion of the event was that the future of finance is seamless, collaborative, and built on trust, technology, and data.
