Fintechs are under constant pressure to move fast and grow, but the real challenge is balancing innovation with financial discipline.
At xpate, Oleg Seitov, Head of Finance, plays a key role in making that balance work. With a background that combines analytical rigor with an understanding of the human side of business, Oleg sees finance as a framework that allows teams to take informed risks and focus on sustainable growth.
We spoke with him about his views on finance, leadership, technology, and where the future of fintech is headed.
What excites me is building systems that make the company stronger. Finance is more than closing the books. In my view, it’s about building the infrastructure that enables the business to scale without adding extra layers of complexity. For example, when we implemented a core banking platform and automated reconciliation, we demonstrated that a small team can manage significantly larger volumes, improve profitability, and even accelerate product delivery by 20–30 percent without adding headcount.
I think the definition of success is changing. It’s no longer just about transaction volume or headline growth rates. The real test is whether a company can scale profitably and predictably. That means building financial logic into the product from the start, not bolting it on later. The companies that succeed will be the ones that show they can grow without piling on cost and complexity. That takes as much discipline as it does innovation.
I value focus. It’s easy to mistake being busy for being effective. I’d rather have a small team aligned on priorities than a big team moving in different directions. My role is to make sure people know what matters and then give them the space to deliver.
That we’re purely about control and cost-cutting. A common misconception is that finance leaders are just there to control spending and report numbers. In reality, the role is much broader. In fintech, finance has to be part of the product architecture: how money flows, how it is reconciled, how it meets regulatory standards. If you only see finance as a back-office control function, you miss its real value. Done right, finance is what enables a company to scale lean and profitably, not just keep the books in order.
For me, the bridge is practical. I’ve spent the past few years making sure finance is not separate from product but built into it. That’s why we introduced a core banking platform and AI tools into our daily operations. Automating reconciliation and reporting means the finance team can focus on decisions, not data entry. It also means we can handle far bigger volumes with the same small team. To bridge finance and technology, you have to speak both languages and show how the right systems make the whole business more scalable.
My rule is simple: automate everything that doesn’t compromise the client experience. At xpate we use AI to take repetitive work off people’s plates, reconciliation, reporting, fraud monitoring, and to turn banking data into projections we can act on. But it always has to run with oversight. If you hand too much over without controls, you risk compliance issues or service gaps. For me, using AI responsibly means embedding it at the company level to make operations stronger and at the individual level by giving people the skills to use it well.
I think we’ll see a clear break from the old growth-at-all-costs mindset. Success won’t be measured by headcount or transaction volume anymore, but by whether companies can scale profitably. Finance will move even closer to the product and real-time infrastructure will become the expectation, with instant reconciliation and treasury automation as standard.
