Zak Mir caught up with Dr. Marko Sjoblom, Chief Executive Officer of Fiinu Plc, as the fintech company unveiled a major milestone in its growth journey.

Fiinu has announced an exclusive strategic partnership with Conister Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Manx Financial Group, to bring its innovative Plugin Overdraft® product to the UK market.

The partnership marks a significant step forward for Fiinu as it works to deliver a new kind of overdraft solution, designed to provide greater flexibility and accessibility to UK consumers.

Why this matters: unbundling a 300-year-old product

At first glance an overdraft might seem mundane — it’s a feature that’s been around for centuries. What Fiinu is attempting, however, is anything but ordinary. Dr. Sjoblom described the Plugin Overdraft® as “very revolutionary,” and with good reason: it unbundles a credit product traditionally tied to a bank account and makes it available independently to consumers through partner banks.

Having worked on overdraft-style products in the UK for 15 years, Marko emphasized that once people understand what the Plugin Overdraft® does, the reaction is strong. The product is designed to be flexible, widely accessible and to be offered through partner banks rather than requiring Fiinu itself to operate as a full retail bank in the traditional sense.

The Conister partnership — why it was chosen

Fiinu announced an exclusive strategic partnership with Conister Bank to roll out the Plugin Overdraft® in the UK. Marko highlighted several reasons Conister is an ideal launching partner:

• They are nimble and able to move quickly.
• They have a long track record (90 years) and a credible retail presence.
• They already support products and customer bases that Fiinu can initially target — for example, Conister’s group-level payment products with over one million retail customers.
• The arrangement lets Fiinu present the product as “Conister Bank’s plug-in overdraft powered by Fiinu,” combining Conister’s regulated interface with Fiinu’s technology stack.

Fiinu claims technical access to a very large potential market: they can already reach tens of millions of UK bank accounts and — via other banking partners — access up to 95% of Eurozone bank accounts. The immediate rollout will focus on Conister’s customers before scaling more broadly.

Timing and next steps

On timing, the plan remains to launch the product in Q4, and Fiinu is “still on track for that.” Marko described the team as finalizing the last pieces ahead of rollout. He also expects a steady stream of news as partnerships and deployments progress.

From regulatory setback to a new start

Fiinu’s recent history includes a painful regulatory episode. After an extended engagement with the UK regulators, the company had to surrender its bank licence in 2023 — a tough moment that prompted a strategy reset through 2024. Marko walked me through the regulatory journey in more detail:

• Securing a restricted licence in 2022 required a multiyear process (around 5½ years).
• Following that, Fiinu entered a mobilization period (the standard 12‑month window) with 19 conditions to satisfy before exiting mobilization.
• Fiinu met 18 of the 19 conditions; the single outstanding item related to capital requirements, and they ultimately failed on that point.
• Despite the licence surrender, independent audits showed Fiinu’s technology platform was robust and ready for production — a backbone for the current Conister deal.
• Regulation remains strict for a reason: licences allow firms to accept deposits and lend, with potential taxpayer exposure if things go wrong. Marko is supportive of the regulator’s role even as he acknowledges the process is demanding (filings for the bank licence ran to some 4,000 pages, with the mobilization creating another ~2,500 pages).

Market reaction and Fiinu’s outlook

Market sentiment toward Fiinu has swung dramatically. Marko noted the share price has risen roughly 3,200% year‑to‑date — a swing he attributes in part to the market having “written the company off” earlier. He framed the current position as the company rising “like the phoenix from the ashes.”

He also shared a personal benchmark: a three‑year price target of 110 (his internal bonus plan target), while current levels are around 15. That comment signals considerable upside expectations from management, assuming execution and market conditions remain favourable.

What makes the Plugin Overdraft® commercially attractive?

A few elements combine to make the Plugin Overdraft® potentially lucrative:

1. It addresses an underserved market left behind by high street banks that have retreated from certain forms of credit.
2. It is integrated with partner banks’ distribution channels, allowing rapid scaling without Fiinu having to be the primary retail bank in every market.
3. Fiinu’s technology is positioned as a white‑label or “powered by” solution that partners can adopt quickly.

Marko’s assertion is simple: once customers and partners understand the product’s mechanics, adoption should follow — and that’s where the revenue opportunity lies.

Regulation, fintech challengers and lessons learned

We touched on comparisons with other challenger banks and fintechs that have struggled with regulators. Marko’s view is measured: yes, the entry bar is high, but that’s appropriate given the public interest in deposit safety. While the process is cumbersome and demanding, the outcome — a strong regulatory regime and careful licensing — protects consumers and the wider financial system.

""The barrier of entry is very high in the banking perimeter, but it's for a reason because ultimately they give you a license to take deposits and lend that money out.""

Conclusion — why to watch Fiinu now

Fiinu has navigated a difficult regulatory reset and come out with a clear path to market: a technically validated platform and a strategic distribution partner in Conister Bank. The Plugin Overdraft® is positioned as a unique product that unbundles an entrenched banking service, and the plan to launch in Q4 will be the first public test of that thesis.

For investors, partners and fintech watchers, the key things to monitor over the coming months are:

• Execution of the Conister rollout and early consumer uptake.
• Further partnerships and geography expansion, especially into Europe.
• Regulatory developments or new licensing milestones that might expand Fiinu’s direct capabilities.
• Market reaction as actual product metrics (customers, usage, revenues) start to appear.

If you follow fintech and embedded finance, Fiinu’s next few quarters will be telling: they’re moving from development and compliance to distribution and revenue. That shift — if executed well — could validate the Plugin Overdraft® as a genuinely disruptive product in personal credit.