British fintech Lanistar heading for £1bn valuation with global expansion

Leading banking alternative Lanistar, the company which is set to revolutionise how customers streamline their money, has announced it has opened a new European office in Athen, as part of its rapid expansion plans to become the next £1bn fintech company.

The news comes after a major video interview conducted by the company’s founder and CEO Gurhan Kiziloz with the Financial Times Banker magazine.

The office will serve as a hub for the company’s compliance specialists, with the team there working as an extension of its London headquarters and its customer service centre in Skopje, Macedonia. Set to launch this November, Lanistar will have 400 employees in total across its UK and European offices.

The new compliance hub will host a robust fraud and transaction monitoring department and support an aggressive hiring plan, with the company aiming to expand Lanistar’s Greece headcount and create more than 300 jobs in the region, growing it to 1000 in the long-term.

The company is currently hiring more than 200 experts for roles across KYC, financial crime and anti-money laundering divisions, including a Head of Financial Crime supported by a huge tech team to manage the entire team from the Athens hub.

Lanistar will aim to become the first fintech company to reach a one billion pound valuation within a year of launch Q4 2020. Lanistar is creating a new polymorphic debit card to help customers streamline their money via new technology and open banking.

The company will provide multi-currency accounts, premium services and additional features to revolutionise how their clients’ money is managed.

SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024

Lanistar, CEO and Founder, Gurhan Kiziloz, said: “In the run-up to Lanistar’s momentous launch, where we will redefine the way in which young customers manage their money, we’re proud to be creating jobs and a new office in Greece.

“We chose Athens for our compliance office because we believe it will attract a promising pool of existing talent in the sector, and we’re excited to build a strong compliance team that ensures Lanistar is at the forefront of working against financial crime.

“This investment will ensure Lanistar will operate at the highest levels of all regulatory environments and be able to foresee and be prepared for any changes to come.”

SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024