Interview with: CEO Sergei Astafjev and COO Dmitri Logvinenko

 

Financial technology company Wallester helps businesses to have an absolute new approach to companies’ expense management and optimization. 

 

Wallester creates a unique product for everyone who wants to keep up with the times and get the most out of innovative developments. Our fintech solutions can be implemented in just minutes, moving you away from the restrictive regulations of legacy banks and giving you a new kind of financial freedom. Empower your Business Today with Wallester and start speaking with us in the same language — the language of VISA!

 

Visit Wallester

1. What can you tell us about Wallester?

Wallester is a fintech company based in Tallinn, Estonia. We are an official Visa partner, Visa FinTech Fast Track Member, and Principal member, issuing physical and virtual business cards for companies within the EEA and UK. We offer personalized products tailored to individual business needs, including a free service package.

In addition, our clients can benefit from a feature-rich and easy-to-use cost monitoring and management platform. But most importantly, Wallester is a close-knit team of like-minded professionals who do what they love and do it perfectly. Our goal is to make innovative technologies accessible and as useful as possible for all modern businesses.

 

2. Please describe your key partners

The range of actual and potential partners of Wallester is wide. It includes advertising agencies, media buying teams, GIG economy companies, E-commerce platforms, travel agencies, and other businesses of any size looking for an effective way to manage their corporate expenses. We are always open to new partnerships with companies from various modern business sectors. We can offer practical solutions to bring any project to a new level.

 

3. What are the strengths of Wallester?

The main strength of Wallester is our team, which takes on a new challenge every day and can cope with tasks of any complexity. Another strength is our solutions and products that successfully help businesses achieve their goals. And finally, we offer the fastest onboarding process with a personal approach to the client’s needs, a modern API for easy integration, an all-in-one platform for managing and controlling expenses, and other innovative features that traditional banks cannot provide.

 

4. Fintech companies like EMIs are usually scared of integrating with complex third parties. How can that be solved?

Wallester is a regulated company, holding a financial license from the Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority, and is an official Visa partner, which makes us a reliable associate at all levels. Our ability to provide services in an integrated way allows us not to involve any third-party contractors. In addition, the integration process via the REST API with Wallester is straightforward and convenient. When turning to us, each client can count on an exclusively individual approach to solving their problems.

 

5. What can you tell us about card payments and usage starting during the 2020 Covid situation?

The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted financial inclusion, significantly increasing digital payments and creating new opportunities for modern businesses. For our part, we note a significant increase in demand for the issuance of corporate cards, including virtual cards for remote employees. We are proud that we successfully met the increased demand for our products and services during a rather difficult period.

 

6. Regulation – how does Wallester cope with regulations?

Being a VISA partner and having the status of a principal member obliges us to comply with all requirements applicable to European financial institutions strictly. Wallester is a PCI DSS-compliant company. It means that we fully meet the 12 detailed requirements for ensuring the security of transmitted, stored, and processed data about payment card holders. Each of our numerous partners and future clients can rest assured that we offer the highest level of security for their transitions and total protection of their confidential data.

 

7. What are your latest developments?

We are trying to create the best fintech solutions that meet clients’ needs. Our latest and most promising product is the Wallester Business program, which optimizes the financial processes of modern businesses of any scale and profile. With the help of Wallester Business, you can issue virtual and physical corporate cards with an IBAN account and simplify a company’s entire cycle of financial processes. The best recognition of our work is to see how the implemented solutions prove their effectiveness in practice.

 

8. How do you approach cryptocurrency as a payment method?

That’s an excellent option for active crypto users! We are about to launch a white-label card solution in cooperation with KuCoin from the top-5 cryptocurrency exchanges. Very soon, many current and future KuCoin customers will receive much more than a positive user experience! It’s fantastic when exchange platforms allow users to withdraw their crypto funds directly to their exchange cards.

 

9. What direction is the card industry going in regarding growth after the increase in companies entering the market in the last few years?

Undoubtedly, VISA card products are expected to be even more popular than they are now. The more companies enter various branches of modern business, the more corporate cards their employees need. This fact most directly concerns the services of Wallester. Regarding the trends of the coming years, we should expect a noticeable predominance of contactless payments and a significant increase in the number of virtual card users.

 

10. Can you describe the three main opportunities in the banking industry in Europe?

When any industry is undergoing a qualitative transformation, its members usually have new opportunities and perspectives, not just challenges. As for the prospects for European financial institutions, firstly, the close integration with blockchain technologies, then the cross-border nature of all services provided, and, finally, the digitalisation of the whole banking sector.

 

Visit Wallester

 

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