Fintech Narvi co-founder and CFO Neil Ambikar: 'Our dream of building our own licensed neobank and creating a superior product in the market is fulfilled'

Boasting between 1,000 and 2,000 corporate clients, Narvi, a Finland-based fintech providing digital business banking solutions with a focus on secure IBAN accounts and international payments (SEPA & SWIFT), offers a fast, user-friendly onboarding process and an innovative banking experience for digital businesses, startups, e-commerce companies, and Web3 projects, enabling seamless global transactions. 

“With a strong presence in the Nordics and Baltics, Narvi stands out by building its technology in-house, ensuring fast integration of new payment methods and top-tier security features like hardware authentication and advanced fraud prevention,” Neil Ambikar, Co-Founder and CFO at Narvi, told The Baltic Times.

What was the start of Narvi?

So, the thing about Narvi is that all three of us founders have been in the fintech space for many, many years. I’ve built multiple fintech companies over the last 10 years. One of the other founders has worked extensively in compliance and licensing for various fintechs, and our CTO has built core banking solutions and banking technology for many fintechs and even crypto exchanges.

We always had the dream of building our own licensed neobank and creating a superior product in the market. So, we decided to come together, obtain an EMI license in Finland, and launch Narvi.

What sets Narvi apart from other payment platforms?

I think there are about three or four key differentiators. First, we made the decision to build everything in-house from scratch—our core banking solution, payment rails, onboarding process—everything is developed by our own team.

After working in fintech for so many years, we’ve become obsessive about user experience and continuous improvement. We’ve seen many solutions from banks and neobanks that we didn’t like. Our technology gives us a competitive edge, and I’d break it down into three main aspects:

User experience. When a company joins us, the online onboarding takes just 10 to 15 minutes.

Banking application. We’ve worked with so many platforms that didn’t meet our expectations, so we built a business banking experience tailored to customer needs. When we receive feedback, we can implement valuable changes within weeks, whereas traditional banks often take years.

Global payments. The financial landscape is evolving beyond bank transfers and card payments. Payment methods like PIX in Brazil, Faster Payments in the UK, direct-to-card payments, and even crypto transactions are growing. Our technology enables us to integrate these methods quickly—often within a few months—while traditional banks with legacy systems either can’t provide them or take years to implement them.

When businesses choose Narvi, they not only get a great user experience with extensive functionality but also access to a constantly evolving global payment ecosystem—something traditional banks struggle to offer.

Do you operate in the Nordics and Baltic countries only?

It’s a major market for us, but as a digital business bank, we attract companies from all over. Many discover us through word of mouth or social media, and it’s always fascinating to see where our clients come from—sometimes even we’re surprised by how they found us.

That said, the Finnish, Swedish, and Baltic markets are very important to us. A key customer segment includes digital nomads, e-commerce companies, startups, and tech-driven businesses. The Baltics, in particular, are leading in digital innovation and regulatory advancements. Estonia, for example, is well known for its digital-first approach, and many European digital nomads set up their companies there. These businesses often seek modern banking solutions like Narvi, as traditional banks don’t always meet their needs.

Does Narvi specialize in providing secure bank accounts and international payments (SEPA & SWIFT) only for legal entities, or do you cater to natural persons too?

In all, 99% of our clients are businesses. Technically, our solution works for both businesses and individuals, but we’ve always focused on business clients for strategic reasons—they are easier to support, and as a small team, we can better serve their needs.

While we don’t actively market to individuals, they can still open accounts with us. Often, company directors or shareholders using our platform request personal accounts, and we accommodate them. However, our primary focus remains on business clients.

How does it work?

It’s a straightforward process. Go to narvi.com and click Open Account.

Create a user profile and submit your company information—this takes about 10 minutes.

Complete a face recognition scan for verification.

Our compliance team reviews your application, which typically takes a few days to a week.

Once approved, you get access to your IBAN account through your dashboard. You can add users, create multiple IBANs, and integrate with our API to automate transactions. As a client, you also gain access to all our services.

How long does it take to receive payments?

It depends on the payment type. SEPA Instant – Currently around 5 minutes. With new payment directive mandates coming next year, we expect this to be reduced to just a few seconds.

SWIFT & SEPA Credit – typically 1-2 days. Crypto Transactions – near-instant.

Is your platform safe?

Yes, security is a top priority for us. We take extensive measures to secure our platform at both the backend and frontend levels.

For authentication, we offer: two-factor authentication (2FA). We provide multiple options beyond SMS verification, including Google Authenticator, hardware security keys (Ledger, Trezor, YubiKey), and passkeys.

Account protection – users cannot change their phone number or email without redoing face recognition with their ID. This prevents account takeovers by hackers.

We continuously develop innovative security solutions to combat fraud and account breaches, often exceeding the security standards seen in traditional banking.

Can you speak about your clients in terms of numbers and geographies?

We currently have between 1,000 and 2,000 corporate clients, plus a smaller number of individual users.

About 80-90% of our clients come from the European Union, and most are digital businesses, including digital nomads, e-commerce companies, startups, and crypto/Web3 projects. These companies prefer digital-first banking solutions like Narvi over traditional banking options.

How are the local economies doing from your standpoint?

It’s difficult to make broad economic judgments based solely on our client base, but from what we see, digital businesses are thriving despite economic challenges in Europe.

We expected major disruptions given recent events, but most of our clients continue to grow. This aligns with global trends—while traditional industries like retail and manufacturing struggle, digital businesses, tech companies, and online services are booming.

What will determine the financial markets in 2025?

2025 will be an interesting year for Europe, with several key factors in play:

Interest rates & inflation. After years of money printing, we saw inflation spike and interest rates rise. Now, rates are expected to decrease, but the big question is: will this reignite inflation and start another cycle?

Europe’s competitiveness. Compared to the US, Europe faces challenges like market fragmentation, bureaucracy, and slower innovation. The key question is whether Europe will take steps to improve its business environment to compete with American and Asian companies.

Regulatory changes. New financial regulations and payment mandates will impact how businesses operate, particularly in fintech and digital banking.

The new year will reveal whether Europe can address these challenges and foster a more competitive financial landscape.