Fintech companies are rapidly shaping the financial industry, but they often find themselves lacking the structured discipline that traditional banks mastered long ago. Having walked the tightrope as a founder of multiple bootstrapped startups, I’ve learned first-hand how certain habits from established banks can fortify business operations and, in some cases, be life-saving during audits or funding crunches.
Learning from traditional banking operates on more than just theoretical benefits. These habits offer fintech founders practical ways to maintain trust with regulators, meet investor expectations, and scale sustainably. After all, as much as “moving fast” may seem appealing, what good is it if you crash before reaching your goal?
Why Adopt Bank Habits?
At their core, banks are designed to withstand scrutiny. Fintech startups, in contrast, often focus on innovation at the expense of core risk processes. This imbalance can lead to regulatory fines, loss of investor confidence, or even shutdowns. Having successfully secured multiple EU and national grants for my businesses, I’ve learned that borrowing certain habits isn’t just about survival, it’s about long-term scaling with confidence.
Let’s unpack the three bank-inspired habits you need to adopt today.
1. Risk Culture Should Be Mandatory
Banks foster an all-hands accountability approach to handling risk. No one in a bank, from the cleaning crew to the CEO, operates outside of defined risk protocols. Fintech players often lack this depth, focusing more on product features than robust risk frameworks.
As a founder, what can you do?
- Start documenting potential risk scenarios that could arise in your business.
- Run monthly risk evaluations across technical systems, partnerships, and financial operations.
- Share these findings openly within your team, risk awareness isn’t just the CFO’s job.
Why it matters: Regulators are focused on whether your fintech can withstand shocks, whether those are tech glitches, customer disputes, or potential fraud. Start treating risk as a shared priority, not just something you address for compliance checklists.
2. Implement Process Hygiene
When banks get audited, they don't scramble, they already maintain clean processes, updated logs, and systematic reconciliations. Fintech startups often make the mistake of adding these controls reactively, when they’re scrambling to find missing files for regulators or investors.
If you’ve ever looked down at messy contracts or incomplete data histories during an audit (I have, it’s a nightmare!), you know this process discipline matters.
How to go about it:
- Create incident logs even for minor errors or bugs. This means documenting both the problem and the fix.
- Maintain a clear audit trail for every financial transaction. This includes who approved it, any changes made, and crucial timestamps.
Mistake to avoid: Thinking that the system is too small to need robust processes. Scale breaks everything, including technical systems. Start building process hygiene today, or the cracks will cost you later.
3. Ensure AI and Technical Governance
One of the most forward-looking habits banks hold is technical governance. That includes rigorous code review processes, permissions for deployments, and even stress-testing systems before they touch customer data. With AI playing a larger role in fintech platforms, this governance will directly impact your business’s credibility.
For example, digital lenders Klarna started publishing detailed AI model cards explaining data inputs and testing results because regulators began demanding transparency over algorithm-based decisions. These practices shouldn’t just be reserved for massive platforms, they’re standards all fintech startups must meet.
How you could replicate this:
- Invest time into code reviews and documentation. Once your business scales, these records make audits much less painful.
- Implement regular stress tests on tech systems, especially if they touch customer data or payments infrastructure.
Why AI governance makes sense: EU regulations, such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), now include operational testing as a compliance requirement for fintech companies handling critical systems.
Lessons Learned for Female Entrepreneurs
Being an entrepreneur in Europe, particularly a female one, comes with nuanced challenges. There's a double burden of proving both competence and credibility, despite having the skills. Added to this, funding becomes harder to secure without a constant display of reliability and transparency. It becomes your responsibility to show that your business, no matter how youthful, operates as professionally as a well-rooted bank.
What’s your takeaway here?
- Adopt these habits proactively because scrutiny arrives faster than you think.
- Maintain investor trust by showing robust operational control, particularly from the Series B stage onwards.
- For women founders, appearing “too entrepreneurial” without showing discipline can sometimes hurt perception, leaning on structured habits will rebalance this.
When Should You Start?
To avoid getting caught unprepared, it’s better to introduce these habits early, even before your startup grows larger. Whether you’re preparing for an audit next year or chasing funding rounds, these habits save you from scattered processes.
Final Thought
Borrowing ideas from traditional banks isn’t about becoming boring, it’s about becoming resilient. In the fintech world, you need to combine flexibility with discipline. If you manage to do both, you’ll have a winning formula. We bootstrappers understand the weight of every decision. By adapting these habits to suit our fintech teams, we also ensure our businesses, which we’ve poured endless hours into building, can survive and thrive no matter what regulatory hurdles come next.
For more details on maintaining compliance, explore this detailed guide on regulatory scrutiny for fintech startups. Trust me, it’s easier to get ahead of regulatory audits than recover once mistakes pile up.
FAQ
1. Why is it important for fintechs to adopt risk management habits from traditional banks?
Regulators prioritize fintechs’ ability to withstand risks such as technical failures, fraud, or customer disputes. Adopting robust risk culture ensures compliance, operational stability, and trust with investors. Learn more about risk culture in fintech compliance
2. What does “process hygiene” mean for fintech startups?
Process hygiene refers to maintaining clean, systematic records and audit trails for all operations, financial transactions, and technical issues. This avoids scrambling during audits or funding rounds. Explore process hygiene benefits
3. How can fintechs improve their technical governance with respect to AI?
Fintechs must implement robust AI governance by documenting code reviews, testing models for fairness, and maintaining transparency in customer-facing algorithms. Klarna and Monzo offer examples of model cards for regulatory compliance. Learn more about AI governance in fintech
4. How does the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) affect fintechs?
DORA, effective January 2025, requires fintechs handling financial infrastructure to meet resilience standards through incident reporting, system testing, and operational audits. Understand DORA’s impact
5. Why is risk awareness a team-wide priority in fintechs?
Traditional banks engage everyone, regardless of position, in risk protocols. Fintechs should emulate this by openly sharing risk assessments and mitigation plans across teams. Discover risk strategies for fintechs
6. At what stage should fintechs start applying structured habits borrowed from banks?
Fintechs must introduce bank-inspired habits early, ideally before scaling, as unpreparedness can lead to operational breakdowns or costly recovery post audits. Read more about scaling fintech startups
7. How do fintechs address anti-money laundering (AML) compliance?
Fintechs must adopt rigorous AML frameworks, similar to banks, to avoid hefty regulatory fines. Proactive investment in AML systems ensures regulatory alignment and investor confidence. Learn more about AML challenges
8. What processes should fintechs implement to avoid scaling inefficiencies?
Fintechs must maintain dual-approvals, incident logs, and periodic reconciliations to smoothen their operational scaling. These controls prevent disruptions caused by rapid growth. Learn about fintech process discipline
9. What methods strengthen investor trust for fintech startups?
Exhibiting operational control, through risk documentation, process discipline, and tech governance, demonstrates reliability and transparency, especially for later-stage funding. Explore investor priorities
10. Why is technical governance critical for fintechs handling customer data?
Banks deploy rigorous IT standards; fintechs must adopt deployment controls, stress tests, and system audits to safeguard customer data and avoid breaches affecting credibility. Learn about technical governance
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
