Page 17 - FintechAtlas2019

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Building a fintech from zero to IPO in three years
Faris Začina, Founder and CEO of Ministry of Programming d.o.o.
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Ministry of Programming is a product development consultancy and startup studio in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The founder, Faris Začina, was involved in creating over 40 startups. He shares insights about one of Europe’s most successful fintechs: Naga
Naga was established in 2015 with a simple idea of
“making the trading experience simpler and more accessible to everyone”. The company began as a Limited Liability zCompany in London when the founders decided to invest their own savings in creating a product prototype.
Benjamin Bilski, the founder of Naga, saw an opportunity to build a better product and user experience. This would be very different from the complicatedness of traditional financial market trading, which was limited to those who had attended the right courses and read the right books.
However, a startup is not only a challenge in terms of product and technology. We built a company from scratch, including a sustainable strategy and operational as well as financial structures designed to give a small and seemingly irrelevant product a chance to survive and grow in a highly competitive market.
Over time we built one of the most successful social trading platforms for Forex, Crypto and Stocks, etc. An IPO on the German Stock Exchange in 2017 was followed by a very successful ICO in the same year.
Naga has won numerous best fintech product awards in international startup competitions, which would have been impossible without a culture of moving fast and a constant focus on building the best trading product in the world. We know that the difference between success and failure is the ability to think long term, to hang in there and believe in the company vision, knowing that every small change that improves the customer experience and provides value will compound over time into an unstoppable product.
An Open Banking highlight in Bosnia and Herzegovina
2019 saw the launch of the OPA (Online Payment App) payment platform. The implementation of OPA has been the work of ESP BH doo, a new joint venture founded by Raiffeisen BANK dd Bosna i Hercegovina, BH Telecom and the two local companies Comtrade and QSS. OPA is a unique solution on the Bosnia and Herzegovina market. It offers individual private clients an innovative, digital, fast and convenient way to pay utility bills with one click or to send money to other OPA users. It also enables customers to pay for services and merchandise and make mobile prepaid payments. The platform also offers retailers and other businesses a complete payment ecosystem that allows them to receive and track payments and maintain a detailed overview and control over their finances.
Country data
Population 2019 (M)
GDP total 2019 (€ Bn)
GDP per capita 2019 (€, at PPP)
GDP growth 2019 (% yoy)
GDP growth 2020 (% yoy)
Official currency
3.5
17.9
9,400
2.6
-5.2
BAM
Total bank assets 2019 (€ Bn) 17 Total bank assets (% of GDP) 95 Account ownership 2020 (% of population) 68 Debit card ownership 2020 (% of population) 49 Internet usage 2018/2019 (% of population) 70 Usage of internet to pay bills 2020 (% of population) 40 Sent/received digital payments 2020 (% of population) 55 Source: national sources, ECB, ITU, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH; estimates for 2020 penetration ratios
Source: IMF, ITU, World Bank, RBI/Raiffeisen RESEARCH, data for 2019 and estimates for GDP growth 2020