German Fintech company Ivy – is preparing for a global rollout, strengthening its team by appointing payment expert Sascha Bross as Managing Director of its regulated Finnish subsidiary, Ivy Pay Oy. Founded in 2021, Ivy continues to expand its strategic capabilities in the instant payment market. Backed by $30 million from Creandum and Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Ivy plans to further expand its leading position in the instant payments sector through new products, partnerships, and expansion.

Payment Veteran for International Growth

As Managing Director of the payment institute Ivy Pay Oy, Bross will be responsible for the regulated business in Finland. The Helsinki-based subsidiary operates as a fully licensed payment institution throughout the European Economic Area and the EU.

“Account-to-account payments are becoming the standard,” says Sascha Bross. “Ivy is closing an important market gap with its forward-looking solution. In a world increasingly focused on instant payments, Ivy is building infrastructure to move money globally in real time. With its technology, Ivy is revolutionising the existing card and correspondent payment world.”

As one of Holvi’s first employees, Sascha Bross shaped the development of the company’s development in Helsinki for eight years. After starting as the head of legal and compliance, he rose to become Chief Risk Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, and was a member of the supervisory board.

Bross was instrumental in supporting Holvi's expansion, including establishing a local presence in Germany. He was also responsible for the management of all licences, including licence applications, and acted as the single point of contact for the local regulator (FIN-FSA). He established a robust risk and compliance framework that enabled the company to grow sustainably while maintaining regulatory compliance.
 

"Sascha's payment expertise is a significant asset to our team,” explains Ivy CEO and co-founder Ferdinand Dabitz. "At Holvi, Sascha helped build a European fintech market leader, particularly through strong compliance and regulatory expertise. I'm looking forward to scaling Ivy further with Sascha."

Numerous well-known companies are already using Ivy's infrastructure for instant payments. As a leading instant payment provider, Ivy enables direct account-to-account payments without intermediaries. The fintech connects companies to over 5,000 banks in 28 European countries via an open banking API and is expanding globally. Its technology reduces transaction costs and accelerates cash flow.

The market is developing favorably for Ivy: while transaction costs via wallets and international card payment networks are rising and established bank-based payment methods like Giropay and SOFORT are being phased out, new instant payments regulations in the banking sector are driving demand.