In today’s rapidly evolving e-commerce landscape, businesses face a significant challenge when it comes to cross-border payments. The complexity of managing international transactions, navigating regulatory compliance, and optimising payment flows poses a major hurdle for merchants aiming to expand their global reach.
With a decade of consulting experience gained in the payments and banking industries, Ryta Zasiekina fled her Ukrainian homeland for Riga, Latvia, in spring 2022, where she started FYST — a one-stop payments consultancy for e-commerce and fintech businesses.
The launch of FYST comes as e-commerce businesses move beyond merely offering digital payment capabilities to embrace 360-degree advice, support, and first-hand market insights to help them unlock new opportunities in the fast-evolving e-commerce space.
Ryta Zasiekina, CEO, FYST
Tell us more about your company and its offering
FYST is a one-stop payments consultancy for e-commerce firms that aims to empower merchants by offering a unique combination of agile digital payments capabilities, banking and payment technologies guidance, regulatory compliance and AML advisory services from its team of industry professionals.
FYST brings together leading payment and fintech innovators under one brand to help businesses in all sectors navigate the fast-growing cross-border e-commerce market, combining unparalleled technical ingenuity, in-depth tailored advice to help fledgling businesses scale up successfully, and easy access to more than 70 global payment methods.
What problem was your company set up to solve?
With its revenue-centric ethos, FYST promises to take the complexity out of cross-border payments and support clients’ growth. We assist e-commerce businesses in liaising with smart acquiring and processing services, managing relationships with international payment schemes, and navigating an abundance of global banking relationships to ensure fast, flexible, and cost-effective cross-border payments.
Since launch, how has your company evolved?
With the value of cross-border payments expected to reach $250trillion by 2027, many e-commerce businesses are now seeking full 360-degree advice and support, as well as first-hand market insights. As such, FYST has evolved to help these businesses unlock new opportunities in the fast-evolving e-commerce space. Through our exclusive processing agreements and channels, we enable merchants to simplify and optimise cross-border payment flows, minimise operational risk, and serve customers all over the world by providing access to locally-used payment methods.
What has been the biggest challenge or most ‘tricky moment’ to overcome?
24 February 2022 marked the first day of the war in Ukraine. In the months since, myself, alongside around 8.1 million people – corresponding to around 20 per cent of the total Ukrainian population – have been displaced into Europe.
While I currently reside in Riga, Latvia, my family are still in Ukraine. It is no mean feat building a business from the ground up – especially when taking into consideration the turmoil of migration and the testing circumstances that continue to directly impact many of my friends and family. Ukrainians, however, are a strong and determined people, and we will continue to defy the odds.
What are your biggest achievements or ‘proudest moment’ so far?
FYST boasts an eclectic group of successful industry pioneers that understand not only the important role of payments, but also how to put people at the very core of business development. Our consultancy team brings together specialists in payment, banking, and fintech to provide an unrivalled wealth of knowledge, friendly and practical advice, and first-hand scaling experience to help businesses go beyond simply handling payments; instead, we reimagine money to make it flow seamlessly.
How would you describe the culture of your company?
We’re young and ambitious, we love challenges, and have amassed the skills and experience to deal with them — we’re not afraid to take on tasks however complex they may be. We actively look to motivate young people to get involved in our industry and help shape it. We love and appreciate people who want to learn and develop.
What’s in store for the future?
We recognise that developing software to satisfy the changing needs of our clients is a critical component of our business. As a result, we assembled a team of the industry’s best specialists and developers, compiled a list of client requirements and pain points, to create a solution that, in our opinion, can meet those needs. There are many existing products that address many of these particular demands, but our goal is to bring to market a one-stop solution.
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