Traditional financial service providers, as well as Fintechs, banking hubs, Regtechs, and other start-ups bring innovations to the market every day. It is not yet known whether traditional 'banks' will exist in ten years. To take advantage of digitization and maximum customer focus, established institutions must continuously challenge and reinvent their business models. With sound judgment and equal passion, we support and challenge incumbents on their path to disruption – the process of 'creative destruction in regulated markets.

Audit, risk, and compliance

One of the key success factors in digital finance is to enable free thinking – while ensuring structure and alignment. We help our Fintech clients always strike the right balance. Our service offering covers the full range of audit and assurance services for close banks, specialists, and fully licensed banking operations.

This includes statutory audits of financial statements, IT audits, and other assurance services, as well as web, cloud, and risk management certifications. For our start-up clients, we also provide external control and accounting services, as well as outsourcing of corporate functions (compliance, internal audit).

As auditors and advisors, we have been helping some of the most successful Fintechs for years. We have also built a sound track record with local subsidiaries and ventures of international Fintech investors. We support the 'two-person start-up' and the 'full-grow Neobank' with equal passion.

Fintech / M&A Growth Advisory, Fundraising & Venture Debt

Along with traditional fundraising and the development of digital (financial) ecosystems, strategic development and mergers and acquisitions are increasingly becoming the focus of Fintech considerations. The focus on the Croatian market may not bring the necessary growth in the medium term, or a successful B2C approach could have the potential for a B2B approach. In addition to strategic investors such as banks and insurance companies, larger and internationally oriented fintech are increasingly acquiring smaller competitors.

Our specialized Fintech Growth Advisory services range from strategic and regulatory advice, business modeling (integrated financial planning), and company valuation to comprehensive support of the entire transaction process (fundraising, M&A buy-side, M&A sale, merger). This includes equity story, pitch deck, investor pitch coaching, data room management, (vendor) due diligence as well as contract negotiation support. In the context of the further development of digital (financial) ecosystems, we advise strategic partnerships, joint ventures, or sales collaborations. If (venture) debt is required, we support structure as well as access to appropriate debt capital providers. Our services are adapted to the individual requirements of each start-up. Our broad international network enables us to target different investors and potential partners - be it for example from the environment of venture capital, strategic investors such as banks or insurance companies, as well as family offices and other institutional investors.

Crypto consulting

Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) is considered a central lever for the further development of the financial services industry. They create a multitude of new approaches to change existing business processes - and thus business models - or to allow them to emerge in the first place. Cost advantage, transparency, and increased efficiency are key objectives. Digital assets include, for example, digital cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, or even non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on illiquid assets. Applications in payments, commerce, settlement/processing, or supply chain management are just a few recent examples. New digital currencies may replace traditional fiat currencies in the medium to long term.

BDO's Crypto consulting supports the analysis of the impact on the existing business model, derives recommendations for action, and implements them. Our team of experts also provides support, for example, in the targeted search for qualified service providers or collaborative partners for the safe keeping of digital assets or the establishment of a suitable digital ecosystem, e.g. for the issuance of tokens.

Cyber ​​security

The protection of electronic business and personal data is increasingly important in connection with digital business models. It should be noted that one security measure does not achieve the same level of protection everywhere. Protective measures must be adapted to the business model and developed along with business processes. BDO assesses existing cyber risk management activities in assessments together with selected representatives of the bank/company. Cyber ​​risk assessment is not limited to technical risks. It also includes verification of additional activities, particularly cyber risk culture, selected internal controls (eg payment related permissions and monitoring), and cyber awareness training is undertaken. We also evaluate potential scenarios of cyberattacks that may pose a potential risk. BDO conducts what is known as penetration tests to get a realistic picture of the security measures implemented. In these tests, existing attack vectors are simulated. This indicates the actual resistance capability of the network and helps to detect any potential weak points.

Enterprise content management

Digital transformation leads to a transition from analog document processing to digital content management. With a holistic enterprise content management (ECM) strategy, financial institutions can capture, manage and organize all their documents and content across the enterprise to enable more efficient access to information, reduce manual processing time and ensure secure storage. Using the right ECM technologies can increase the efficiency of document-based business processes through increased automation, creating productivity and cost benefits. Compliance with relevant provisions of (supervisory) law and compliance guidelines must be ensured.