In this episode of The Connector Podcast, host Gunn interviews Kaito, the CEO and founder of Mifundo, a fintech aiming to eliminate the fragmentation of credit data across Europe. Kaito explains his background building a multi‑country bank and his involvement in fintech associations. He describes how, unlike the United States where a single credit reporting system follows borrowers across states, Europe’s credit information is siloed in national registries, making cross‑border lending difficult and leaving mobile consumers “invisible” to banks. The discussion identifies two layers of obstacles: regulatory rules that restrict data sharing to domestic banks, and a cultural mindset that distrusts foreign credit histories. Mifundo has tackled the first layer by aggregating credit bureaus from 17 European countries, covering about 70 % of the population, and is now onboarding banks in Spain, Greece, Romania, the Nordics, the Baltics, Germany and Belgium. The company’s goal is to create an ecosystem used by credit bureaus, banks, and consumers, positioning itself as “fintech for good” with a social‑impact mission. Regarding technology, Mifundo employs AI cautiously, emphasizing transparency and compliance with the EU AI Act, which classifies credit‑scoring AI as high‑risk. Kaito concludes with a vision of a single European market where credit flows as freely as people do, and invites listeners to contact him via LinkedIn or email.
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Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks, and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Koen Vanderhoydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
Welcome for another podcast here at DFS. And today I've got Kaito with me, Kaito from Mifundo.
Hello, Gunn.
Happy to be here.
Oh, likewise. So can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and also about the company?
Yeah, I'm Kaito, CEO and founder of Mifundo. Before founding Mifundo, I actually spent 15 years of my life in building up a bank which operates in 9 countries in Europe.
And we should do a separate podcast on that.
Yes.
But you know that on that moment, I was really naive at we have really one single market in Europe. And once you have banking license, it's very easy to build up lending operations all over Europe. And based on this, this being naive in that moment, that was the reason we built company called Mifundo.
That's an interesting one. And before we actually dive into what Mifundo does, I think you're also very active in the fintech association part, right?
Yeah, true. I'm also board member in Finance Estonia, which is fintech association in Estonia and also active in European Digital Finance Association as well.
Ah, ETFA. So now let's deep dive a little bit in Mifundo. What do you guys exactly solve?
We are solving the fragmentation of European credit data. Easy sample, like—
Let's go.
Let's go. For example, in US, it's extremely easy for American people to relocate from New York to California, to buy a new house, get a mortgage without any problems and hassles. Unfortunately, it's not the same in Europe. You might have brilliant credit history in your country, but once you're moving to any other country, you're nobody. Banks do not trust you. And why? Because in the US, they have one single mechanism used by the banks over the US, trusted by the banks over the US.
Mm-hmm.
In Europe, nothing like that. We have isolated autonomous systems in every single country, how to keep the credit records, how to use the credit records. And that's the reason you might move to another country, but your data is not moving with you, and you are invisible to the banks in other countries.
And would you say, so we, In essence, talking about cross-border credit.
Yes, cross-border credit, or also financial mobility. So it doesn't have to be mandatorily cross-border credit. It might be also domestic credit, but you as a borrower have citizenship from another country.
Yeah, no, I get the nuance. And I think the way you explain it actually makes it bigger than only cross-border credit.
Sure, there is an essential difference because usually cross-border credit is treated that you are lending money abroad to someone who is living abroad, but now the person is living in the same country where a bank is located in.
And what would you think are the reasons why we came up to such a situation?
I think it's purely historical situation in Europe. If you're looking backwards, we have— Europe has been like a continent of a wide range of tribes, if you can say so, different cultures. And honestly, that's the richness of Europe.
I totally agree. I totally agree.
Such kind of diversity, super brilliant. It's bringing like a great creativity, the best solutions. But what is missing, or what has, has been missing, this is harmonization. And I think credit vertical in financial sector, this is a field that the politicians in Europe have tried to fix for the last 20+ years, but they haven't been capable to do it.
So we're talking about regulatory hurdles. So what would you consider to be your biggest challenge today when it comes to regulations?
I would say we have had multiple challenges, and that's probably a reason why it has been pretty difficult to fix, because it's not that plain vanilla that you're solving one hurdle and then job is done. No, it's like an array of challenges. And first challenge while Mifunda started, actually, it was Accessing to the credit data. What what what do I mean is that usually, or not usually, but let's say quite often in some countries, the national law foresees that the credit registry data is shared only to the domestic banks in that particular country. But but this legislation was approved like a long time ago. Maybe people didn't even see that there is such kind of harmonization coming in future. And that's the reason that the banks in other EU member states are not accessing this information. So once a person is moving and bank in other country needs—
Are you saying it's a mechanic that doesn't exist because they don't want, or is it the fact that the regulation is still stringent and keeps it within the country that's holding you back as MiFondo?
I think there are actually both levels. One is regulations and second layer is mindset layer.
And you said there were multiple, so we're peeling off the onion here.
There are multiple hurdles, definitely. But what we have been capable to achieve, Mifunda has been capable to reach to a critical mass of credit bureaus. We are covering right now 17 countries in Europe and 70% of population. So it means whatever bank in European Union wants to access the credit data of their foreign customers, then 70% probability that they are getting it through Bifondo. So we have reached this point. So it's not number one hurdle anymore. And right now I would say that we have reached this mindset question, uh, what— because what I have seen, uh, It's not any like topic in one particular country, I would say.
It's a European topic.
It's everywhere, but typically, quite often people or banks, also supervisors, think that our citizens in our country, they are the best ones, good ones, but anyone who is from other EU member states, No, it's not as good.
But is it then the level of trust of the local systems and the assessments? Is that what you're saying?
I think it has 2 reasons. First reason is missing information. Of course, whatever kind of thing where you don't have information, it's higher risk, naturally. But if you don't know, You don't know. It's better to avoid. So, so simply—
You cannot mitigate if you don't know. You cannot mitigate.
Exactly. So this problem, I would say, is solved because data is flowing, data is moving, and Mifunda ensures the same equal level information to you, to your bank, as available for the banks in that other country the info is coming from. So, so you have access to information. So, and this is why we have reached to a second layer. It's just a mindset and cultural layer that it's like inertia that you have used to behave like that. But once you have access to this information, basically, there should be like a shift in a mindset that, okay, right now I have much bigger pool of information. Same about Same about the situation while Schengen was created. Okay, in the beginning, you had the chance to move freely in your own country, but once Schengen was established, you got the freedom to move freely.
Move around.
Yeah, in a wider range of countries. Schengen grew, so even more and more. And that was a shift of a mindset. And same about credit data.
Well, for me, the endgame is clear. So how would you— when would you think that endgame is happening? When is it unfolding? You wanted yesterday, but—
You said that you know very well what is the endgame, but what is the endgame? What is it? Then I can answer.
The endgame. Well, I think what you're describing is a world where banks understand that this is possible and that they also grant credits to people that are not necessarily in their own living in their own country. So you have much more freedom and flexibility to get a loan across Europe.
Yes.
I hope I described this correctly, but you tell me.
Yes, in that sense, true. But typically in Europe right now, there is no big difference if you're moving between 2 cities inside one country. Let's say Brussels, to, uh, Liege, like, no, no, no difference. But once you are moving to, uh, any other city outside of a country, like Lille to Brussels, it's trouble, probably.
Mm-hmm.
Like, because it's different country and we have so many situations, uh, in, uh, Europe that, uh, 2 cities very well connected to each other and, uh, and people are moving between these cities, but unfortunately country border between and, and, uh, And these people are not trusted as people which are moving between 2 cities inside the same country. So if we are reaching to the point that banks are actively using the credit data from other countries, basically there is no difference if a person is moving between Brussels and Liège or moving between Brussels and Lille. Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, no difference.
No. And that's why you were saying that they need to be the bank or the ones that's providing the credit that is making this possible, right? That has the willingness to actually take that as a product offering. I think that's, if I understood well, that is the biggest challenge at the moment. Or is there another bigger challenge?
Yes, we have, in the past, we have already achieved critical mass in the case of credit bureaus. I mentioned covering 70% of the population in Europe. Right now, we are onboarding the banks in different countries. We have got partnerships already with the banks in Spain, Greece, Romania, Scandinavia. Baltics, probably first one in Germany, first one in Belgium coming, but we are pretty close to this critical mass, another critical mass, that there is a network over Europe what is strong enough and it allows people to move and to be served with that banks.
Yeah, earlier you challenged me what was the end goal, but is this the end goal for you then, or is there more to come after when the critical mass is reached?
I would say that our end goal is to be a very good ecosystem, which is used by the credit bureaus, which is used by the banks, which is used by the consumers. So we are an ecosystem, and of course, what more the ecosystem is used, what more happy we are because we have created valuable solutions to the market.
Well, it brings me a little bit to my next question because very often Mifundo is framed as being fintech for good. Do you think that is well deserved?
Of course, I think it's a right description because this is what motivates all our team members, which triggers us because we believe that we are not just building a fintech solution. It's much wider. It has meaning. It has deeper meaning and It has impact. What triggers, what's the reason we are coming to work every morning?
Makes sense. I think it goes close hand in hand with the notion of an ecosystem, I would say.
Because our team wants to solve the problem these people have. We want to solve a problem banks have in Europe. We want to solve a problem European Union has, a systematic problem. And we want to use our knowledge experience to achieve such kind of impact to society.
And I hope you will be very successful with this. Moving a little bit away from the more product and human side, a more technical side, because you're here at an event where one of the topics is AI. Is Mifundo already using AI?
I think nowadays probably every company is using AI, just the question is in which extent, which use cases, etc. In our case, we are using, but we are cautious in that matter. Why? Because at first we have to understand that we are processing sensitive information, so, and once you're processing sensitive data, you have to be extra careful, uh, how do you process it. Second, um, talking about, uh, EU AI Act, which is classifying, uh, different kind of AI use cases into, uh, categories, credit scoring is classified as high-risk, uh, usage. So, uh, it's possible to use AI, but very, very, uh, strong diligence has to be in place. And anyway, what's the most important, uh, if, if, uh, introducing such kind of solution and to the banks, and while the banks are experiencing it, uh, studying it, it's, uh, transparency. So it means that, uh, definitely it's not possible to use any black box mechanism, uh, to, to passport the information, give a credit score, etc., because... no meaning there, even if there is any kind of statistical meaning. But banks want to get transparent information about that particular person in another country and put it together where cross-border data, domestic data, and full picture is achieved. And only after that, after this main information is very well Passport, it's understandable. On that moment, later on, it's possible to model different kind of scorings.
Kaito, since you're a serial entrepreneur but also very much attached to the fintech industry, I would like to ask you, pick your brain a little bit on what excites you the most on what's happening in our fintech landscape and how do you see it changing in the next few years?
If you're talking about Europe, then I'm most passionate about one single market and doesn't matter what kind of vertical we are talking about. So all these technologies or regulations impacting that. So I cannot say that I'm very enthusiastic about that technology or that technology, but more like Mission-driven.
Very mission-driven. So if anyone listening to this podcast has the mission to contact you, how do they have to do that?
It's very easy. Please find me on LinkedIn. You can contact me there or over email as well.
Perfect. And I'll make sure that the contact details are mentioned below in the podcast. So that's it. We're already at the end of this podcast. Kaito, thank you so much for this nice conversation. Thank you also to the audience, and please stay tuned. More news to come from this beautiful and majestic DFS 2025. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
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