Each year the UNCHAIN Fintech Festival draws together the fintech, banking, startup, investment, and wider tech communities of Central and Eastern Europe. The annual event, now in its further year, is fast becoming the nexus for the financial industry and financial technology providers to come together. This year, like each year, Verita HR will be represented at the Fintech Festival. Will we see you there too?
UNCHAIN is made up of several stages that provide the content delegates are interested in. These are the Main Stage, Focus Stage, Roundtables Stage, and the Innovation Stage. Of these the Main Stage is positioned in the heart of the courtyard of the Oradea fortress. And, whilst the Main Stage may provide much of the content, it’s not the only attraction.
Why the Focus Stage is the One to Watch
Newcomers to the UNCHAIN Fintech Festival may not know this, but over the years the Focus Stage, or Content Stage in the past, has had its fair share of outstanding speakers and panellists. One such speaker is Dr. Vasile Alecsandru Strat of Bucharest Business School who won delegates over in 2023 with his insights about how academia can help in shaping fintech’s future.
In 2024 Dr. Strat again spoke at the festival, but a new trend lit up the Focus Stage too. It became a platform for collaboration between Central and Eastern Europe’s Fintech associations. The Czech, Polish, Romanian, Slovakian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian Fintech associations were all represented. Their individual leaders each discussed the strengths and challenges of their individual fintech markets. It was the first discussion of its kind in Europe. Memorandums of understanding between individual associations were also put in place during the event.
The Focus Stage has also hosted workshops in the past. One of these was led by the charismatic Alina Catalina Banuleasa, CEO & Founder of Idea Morph. Alina shared with attendees the amazing success story of Salt Bank in Romania. Romania’s first neobank attracted 100,000 customers in its first few days of operating in April 2024. Revolut is already a big player in the Romanian market, but it’s the local players like Salt Bank and Banca Transilvania that are the ones driving fintech innovation in the country. Banca Transilvania gained almost 130,000 new customers in the first three months of 2025. Romania is a very exciting market. It is no accident that UNCHAIN takes place there.
What to Expect at this Year’s Focus Stage
The most important topics at this year’s Focus Stage include the recent Cybersecurity in times of war, Digital Identity, AI in Finance, Neobanking Innovations, Open Banking, Sustainability, Green Finance, Academia, and Fintech Ecosystem. Some of the panels will be supported by Klaudia Archimowicz, Head of Growth at Verita HR.
One of the other distinguished moderators supporting the Focus Stage will be Erik Barna, Co-Founder of FaraGrija.ro. Erik is also active in the dynamic CLUJ IT Cluster, a cluster management entity, built on the quadruple helix model of the IT value chain (companies, universities and research institutes, authorities and other catalyst organizations and the community).
Who Will Represent Poland at This Year’s UNCHAIN?
Over the years many companies from Poland have attended the UNCHAIN Fintech Festival. At last year’s event Poland was the highest represented country after Romania.
Companies from Poland who support the event include ITCard, Alior Bank, blik, Fintech Poland, Santander Bank, VISA, Forvis Mazars, AutoPay, GFT Technologies, Fenige, Algolytics, Adyen, Biuro Informacji Kredytowej S.A., Denario, E100 Group, EFTLab, FAIRTRAIN, Fenige SA, Getpin, Invest in Pomerania, LENDI, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Loando Group, Mochi System, monobank, Pulse Capital, Speednet, TransferGo, Twisto payments, Veroly and many more.
Poland has a pivotal role to play in the CEE region, as many of the decision makers are based in the Polish capital, Warsaw. The fact that so many Polish financial institutions and financial technology companies are participating in this year’s event is testimony to how important it has become. Additionally, this year the renowned Polish payment system, blik, joins as a Gold Partner to the event.
Why You Should Get Involved
UNCHAIN is becoming a truly representative forum where the future of financial services and innovation emerging from the CEE region can be discussed. UNCHAIN delves into topics such as AI in Finance, Decentralized Finance, Digital Currencies, Payments 3.0, Insurtech, Emerging Technologies, Tokenization of Assets and the Future of Banking.
Not only that, but the Fintech Fortress concept makes the story that much more compelling. Oradea has a large part to play in the history of Central Eastern Europe. For instance, in the spring of 1849 the Polish General Józef Bem met the Hungarian President at the time, Lajos Kossuth, in the Oradea Fortress. Today Polish, Hungarian, and other regional leaders are meeting there again. Continuing a tradition that stretches back centuries.
One such leader today is Csaba Balint, Board Member at the National Bank of Romania, who is originally from Oradea with Hungarian roots. Csaba is a long-term supporter of the UNCHAIN festival and has traditionally been a keynote speaker each year.
You might now be able to guess why this is our favourite slogan from the event:
Join Verita HR at the Fintech Fortress in Oradea and be part of the Future of Fintech in Central Eastern Europe. Tickets are still available here.
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