In this episode of The Connector Podcast, host Koen Vanderhoydonk interviews Hind, Head of Corporate and Government Affairs at Graydon/CreditSafe. Hind explains the company’s role as a strategic data partner for banks, insurers, leasing firms, and the public sector, emphasizing how the recent merger of CreditSafe and Graydon creates a global platform that combines deep local expertise with international reach. She describes the “magic sauce” that blends strict regulatory obligations (KYC, KYB, AML) with operational efficiency, allowing clients to embed large volumes of high‑quality, data‑driven insights into their workflows for seamless, invisible risk checks. The conversation moves to the concept of “FinTech for Good,” where Graydon/CreditSafe protects businesses from fraud, makes risk management understandable through uniform, readable reports, and enhances ecosystem transparency. Hind highlights the importance of empowering SMEs—the backbone of the Belgian economy—by giving them access to the same intelligence that large corporates enjoy, enabling quick credit and AML assessments with just a few clicks. The discussion also covers the firm’s collaborative ecosystem, citing partnerships with Harmony (data orchestration for AML/KYX) and Data Village (fraud prevention), and stresses that industry collaboration drives market evolution. The episode concludes with Hind sharing her contact channels (email, phone, LinkedIn) and an open‑door invitation for further collaboration.
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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 to another podcast. And here we are today, a little bit behind our DFS conference. But nevertheless, we have a nice conversation. I've got Hind with me, and Hind is working at Gradin Credit Safe. Can you please explain who you are and what you guys do?
Well, my name is Hind. I'm head of corporate and government affairs at Gradin Credit Safe. And in that role, I oversee our banking, insurance, leasing, and public sector portfolio. It's a very fascinating set. of highly regulated environments, and I genuinely enjoy working in them every single day.
Oh, nice.
So, Engrade and CreditSafe isn't just another fintech company. We are a very strategic partner in a world where data is becoming increasingly essential. I mean, data, data, data is everywhere. It's the foundation of everything we do. So whether it's about risk management or the need for a uniform scoring methodology or assessing AML risks, we evolve together with our customers.
And can I say there's a little bit of an elephant in the room, and that's maybe because I'm an older guy that's in the business for a long time. So there is Gradent CreditSafe. Can you explain us a bit more what's the marriage made in heaven?
Well, it's indeed a very happy marriage. A few years ago, CreditSafe acquired Creighton, and that merger has truly proven its value. By coming together, we've shown that everyone becomes stronger with a good marriage or a good marriage.
1 plus 1 makes 11.
Yeah, 1 plus 1, everyone is happy. It's, well, when you combine a player with a very deep local expertise with a fantastic international market leader, you get the best of all worlds. You have local depth, international reach, and all the advantages of a large global team filled with highly specialized subject matter experts. And it's a very wonderful environment to, well, to work in every day.
So interesting, but Since you work in a regulated environment, what is then the magic sauce between both of them?
Well, for us, the magic sauce or the right balance is really about combining all those regulatory obligations with operational efficiency. We know that not only financial institutions, but also corporates and even SMEs are facing an ever-growing list compliance requirements. When you look specifically at KYC, KYB, AML obligations, there are so many rules to follow. Yet no one, no one wants a process that becomes painfully slow or even prevents us from doing business. So that's where we focus on. We focus on empowering our clients by enabling them to integrate large volumes of high-quality data-driven insights into their workflows. So that way, these checks or screenings can route smoothly, efficiently, and almost invisibly in the background. So operational excellence does not have to suffer in order to stay risk-free or, or to have very good risk management in place, at least.
That makes a lot of sense. Now we are here, we are a few days after the Digital Finance Summit organized by FinTech Belgium, and one of the topics is FinTech for Good. And what does that mean for your organization?
Well, I have been asked this question so many times during the summits and also these days. And FinTech for Good is something we genuinely try to live. not just like to have it like a label. For us, it comes in several concrete ways. First of all, we help companies to protect themselves from risks without being— without their processes being very slow or without preventing them from business at all. We help companies to protect themselves against fraud by using fraud indicators that can predict certain behavior. And if you keep businesses safe, you keep the entire market healthy. So that's a very important one. Secondly, we make risk management understandable and accessible for everyone. With one clear, very uniform, and very readable report, you can make your conclusion. You don't need a specific degree in finance or accounting. So we're making complex topic, a very complex topic, available to a much broader audience. And thirdly, we help ecosystems to have a very— to have transparency within the ecosystem. The more visible and trustworthy business becomes, the more resilient the entire economy is. And there's even more. I mean, we ensure that decision-making isn't limited by fear or by what happens in the room on a Monday morning or on a Friday afternoon. We provide objective metrics.
Mm-hmm.
So that you take the same decision on Friday afternoon as you would on Monday morning based on that very uniform credit risk rating. Yeah, I wanted to just to emphasize that it's about impact. It's about protecting, empowering, including, enabling healthier business environments.
And how is that applicable, for example, for smaller organizations like the typical SMEs of this world?
Well, SMEs really are the backbone of the Belgian economy. They represent the majority of our economic activity today. They keep our regions vibrant, resilient. So making sure that they also have access to high-quality data-driven insights is absolutely essential. So by giving access to SMEs to the same level of intelligence that large corporates with big risk departments have, well, we're empowering thousands of SMEs to have a very steady and good risk management in place as well. And that matters. SMEs can, can now verify what 2 clicks if their business relationship is healthy, has a good credit risk rating. Most SMEs do not put AML screenings in place, but even if they would want to do that, with one click they would have an overview of AML risks as well. So we make sure that they have the tools to grow with confidence. They deserve that. For me, they are the economy.
Well, it's interesting that in this conversation we kind of went from financial institutions and large organizations to SMEs. But let's now talk about startups and let's be back in the fintech area. I know you guys have a lot of partnerships going on, and I'd love to hear a bit more about that collaboration within the industry.
Well, collaboration is truly at the heart of everything we do. And the Digital Finance Summit is the perfect example of an ecosystem where collaboration grows. It's a very vibrant ecosystem where organizations can easily find each other, can talk to each other, see what they can do for and with each other. And that's why I'm also very proud of our membership within this FinTech Belgium ecosystem. Because that community really embodies exactly what what I believe in— innovation, building bridges, and so on. We have a wide range of collaborations. To make it concrete and just name 2, we have a collaboration or partnership with Harmony where we join forces on data orchestration within the AML or KYX area, for instance. We also have a very interesting partnership with Data Village where we collaborate to give fraudsters no chance. Let's say it like that. Those are just 2 examples, but I think the future really is about collaboration. Every player, every fintech player brings a very unique strength. In our case, it's about international data-driven insights. When you bring strengths together, you get a lot of happy and good collaborations or happy marriages, if we want to call it like that. So when the industry collaborates, the whole market evolves and moves forward.
And I think on those wise words, I would like to sort of come to the end of this podcast with one last question. Since you brought up a lot of topics and you probably stirred some interest by the listeners, How can they contact you?
Well, they can contact me via email, via phone, via LinkedIn. There is no single door and no wrong door. Always happy to have a chat to see how we can collaborate.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Hind, having you in this podcast. Thank you also to the listeners, and please stay tuned. More news from our industry coming on this channel. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
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