The fintech industry is entering a defining phase. After years of rapid digitization and platform experimentation, the sector is now focused on durability, particularly scalable infrastructure, intelligent automation, and financial products designed around trust, clarity, and global reach. As financial services become increasingly embedded into everyday experiences, leadership is emerging as the true differentiator. The executives shaping fintech today are not merely introducing new tools; they are rebuilding the foundations of how money moves, how credit is extended, and how decisions are made.
CityBiz’s recent article highlights the individuals steering this next chapter. Spanning consumer finance, global payments, open banking infrastructure, and institutional transformation, these leaders represent the strategic minds guiding fintech from disruption into long-term relevance.
Empowering Personal Finance and Consumer Experiences
At the consumer layer of fintech, innovation is increasingly about guidance rather than access alone. Eldad Tamir, founder and CEO of FINQ, embodies this shift. With decades of experience in capital markets and investment management, Tamir is building the most talked-about agentic AI platform. It will be excited to see what FINQ holds in store.
A similar focus on reshaping consumer behavior defines the work of Kunal Shah, founder and CEO of CRED. What began as a rewards platform for financially responsible credit card users in India has grown into a broader financial ecosystem encompassing payments, lending, and commerce. Shah’s success lies in understanding that fintech adoption is as much about psychology and incentives as it is about technology.
Transparency is also central to the consumer finance movement led by Max Levchin, founder and CEO of Affirm. By embedding clear, predictable installment plans directly into online checkout flows, Levchin has challenged traditional credit models that rely on opacity. Affirm’s growth signals a market shift toward financial products that prioritize user trust.
Meanwhile, Vlad Tenev continues to shape retail investing through his role as co-founder and CEO of Robinhood. By eliminating commissions and simplifying market access, Robinhood redefined who could participate in investing. Tenev’s broader work, including his leadership at Harmonic, points to a future where AI and advanced reasoning play a central role in financial systems.
The Infrastructure Powering Modern Finance
Behind every seamless fintech experience lies infrastructure that operates largely out of view. Zach Perret, co-founder and CEO of Plaid, has been instrumental in building this connective layer. Plaid’s APIs enable secure data sharing between banks and financial applications, supporting everything from budgeting tools to payment verification. As open banking gains momentum globally, Perret’s work continues to shape how financial ecosystems interoperate.
Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe, operates at a similar foundational level. Stripe has become a cornerstone of the digital economy by making payments, subscriptions, fraud prevention, and embedded financial services programmable. Its developer-first approach has enabled businesses of all sizes to scale globally, turning financial infrastructure into a platform for innovation.
Scaling Payments for a Borderless Economy
As digital commerce transcends borders, payments leaders are solving for complexity at a global scale. Pieter van der Does, co-founder and CEO of Adyen, leads a platform trusted by some of the world’s largest enterprises. Adyen’s unified commerce model allows companies to manage online, mobile, and in-store payments through a single system, reflecting the growing strategic importance of payments infrastructure.
Guillaume Pousaz, founder and CEO of Checkout.com, has similarly focused on flexibility and performance across international markets. His platform helps enterprises navigate regulatory complexity, currencies, and local payment methods, enabling frictionless global expansion.
Reinventing Banking and Expanding Access
Fintech’s influence extends well beyond startups. Jane Fraser, chair and CEO of Citi, represents how legacy institutions are evolving from within. Under her leadership, Citi has prioritized digital modernization, operational discipline, and customer-centric transformation — demonstrating that large banks can remain competitive in a fintech-driven world.
At the same time, Rishi Khosla, co-founder and CEO of OakNorth, is reshaping access to capital for high-growth small and mid-sized businesses. By combining advanced analytics with experienced credit judgment, OakNorth addresses a long-standing gap in SME lending, enabling businesses traditionally overlooked by large banks to scale.
The Momentum That Carries Forward
Together, the leaders highlighted by CityBiz reflect fintech’s shift from experimentation to execution. Their work emphasizes intelligence over automation, infrastructure over interfaces, and trust over novelty. As fintech continues to embed itself more deeply in the global economy, these executives are responding to change and shaping it.