
The hottest conversations start here.
In the Hot Seat podcast asks tech and business leaders the questions you’ve always wanted to ask, from the f#ck ups to the fireworks.

What makes ‘In the Hot Seat’ sizzle?
In the Hot Seat is candid, irreverent and tackles top-of-mind topics from across tech, startups, and the payments landscape. Always straight-talking and always open-minded, this is a podcast that is conversational and uncensored, bold and unexpected, relevant and thought provoking.
Listen to the trailer now
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Episode guide – start listening here!
Denise Johansson puts industry leaders in the Hot Seat, for the sizzling topics on everyone’s minds from how not to f#ck up compliance, how to make ESG actually matter, real talk on being a female founder, and more. Expect the unexpected alongside Denise’s trademark candour and wit.
We have a new episode coming out every month, so let us make it easy for you. Subscribe to our newsletter below and we’ll keep you posted.
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Season 2 - Episode 3: Unlocking the secrets of Nordic Innovation
What makes the Nordics a hotbed for innovation? Join Love Dager and Lana Brandorne of Stockholm Fintech as they deep dive into the secrets behind Nordic tech success and fearless innovators, from strong safety nets to early-age encouragement.
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Season 2 - Episode 2: What if you could have it all? | Breaking myths of female tech leaders
Having it all does mean choosing. Join Sarah Greasley and Denise Johansson as they dive into the myth, break the cycle of mom-shaming, and invite more women into tech. Keep an ear out for tips on how to build the female leaders your organisation needs and what you should never say at work.
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Season 2 - Episode 1: Cracking the glass | Getting real about leadership challenges
Charlotte Hogg, Visa’s European CEO, joins host Denise Johansson in a discussion on women’s leadership, breaking barriers, and seizing opportunities.
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Season 1 - Episode 1: Embedded Awesome | How embedded payments are changing the game.
Embedded finance is the unsung hero of financial transactions. With guest Christoffer Malmer, we will look at who is getting embedded finance right, how to earn customer trust even in “invisible transactions”, and how banks and fintechs can leverage new technologies and avoid potential pitfalls.
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Episode 2: The Real F-Word | Female Founders Uncensored.
For the first time ever, there are just as many female founders of Fortune 500 companies, but women still struggle to get an equal share of funding. In this episode, we have straight-talking chats with two dynamic female founders. Svitlanka Sergiichuk Romaniuk (Neofin) and Alexia do Broglie (Your Juno) share the sometimes harsh realities of being a groundbreaking female leader.
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Episode 3: The Dirty Laundry Comes Clean | How Not to F#ck Up Compliance.
“Compliance IS sexy when it’s done right,” and this sentiment is at the heart of this episode with Erik Howell of Flagship Advisory Partners and Donald Riddick of Featurespace. They emphasised the critical role compliance and transparency play in the financial industry.
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Episode 4: The Force is With Fintech Trends | Trust, and the Rise of Digital Innovation.
Join host Denise Johansson and special guest Christian Rau, Senior Vice President of Crypto and Fintech Enablement Europe at Mastercard, in a captivating exploration of fintech’s role in shaping a purpose-driven digital economy. Discover the key trends transforming the payment industry and the magic that happens when traditional banks and fintech innovators join forces. From connected finance to conscious consumerism, delve into the core of fintech’s impact on our financial future.
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Episode 5: The XXX factor | Unmasking the winning formula for startup resilience.
Join Mambu’s Ricardo Ribelles and Shuttel’s Wesley van Daijken as they explore courage, innovation, and collaboration. Learn how people and process shape great ideas for long-term success. Discover the key to bold leadership in growing companies.
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Episode 6: The Politics of Partnership | Navigating the path to partnership excellence.
Building strong partnerships takes a lot of work, Joe Samuel from VISA talks about being fearless, looking for open doors, and keeping a learning mindset. Listen in for tips on avoiding misfit partnerships, what it takes to league with giants, and how your management team dynamics can influence partner decisions.
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Meet the guests
From experts in compliance to leaders in embedded banking, and from Stockholm to Prague, top leaders in tech and business have joined the Hot Seat. These industry leaders, founders, and innovators share their thoughts and experiences candidly, not shying away from taboos and tough questions. Get to know the guests here.
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Christoffer Malmer
Christoffer is the head of SEB Embedded, an in-house startup at SEB dedicated to commercializing Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS). The BaaS platform was born and developed in the SEB innovation studio SEBx.
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Svitlanka Sergiichuk Romaniuk
Svitlanka is the CEO and Co-founder of Neofin. Neofin is a no-code lending automation solution that serves financial institutions across Ukraine, Middle East and North America.
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Christian Rau
Christian is the Senior Vice President of Crypto and Fintech Enablement in Europe at Mastercard. Christian works in close cooperation with Mastercard’s European and global accounts and product teams as well as Mastercard customers and partners to design and deploy innovative digital payment propositions.
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Wesley Van Dijken
Wesley is a director at Enfuce’s partner Shuttel. Shuttel is a mobility-as-a-service company, which allows users to create and manage a mobility budget. The platform tracks the various transactions needed to get from A to B and then gives users one invoice to make the payment.
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Erik Howell
Erik is a Partner at Flagship Advisory Partners, a payments & fintech advisory boutique. He combines unique insights on payments and fintech growth strategy and M&A with practical experience as an operating executive.
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Don Riddick
Don is the Company Secretary and Chief Legal Officer for Featurespace, responsible worldwide for all legal, IP, risk, governance, and regulatory affairs. Don’s a passionate thought leader on emerging AI trends and technologies.
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Joe Samuel
Joe is VP and Head of Processor Partnerships, Europe at Visa. Leading business development teams, he forges partnerships with 3rd party issuers, program managers, and tech organisations. With Visa for 7 years, he launched this role in London in 2020, overseeing Europe and CEMEA.
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Charlotte Hogg
With over three decades working in financial services, bank operations, and consulting, Charlotte brings her invaluable experience in the finance sector. Prior to joining Visa, Charlotte served as chief operating officer for the Bank of England, from 2013 to 2017. Her previous experience included impactful roles at Santander, Experian, and Goldfish Bank.
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Sarah Greasley
Sarah Greasley boasts nearly 40 years in the tech industry, including roles at IBM and as Group CTO at Direct Line Group. She was most recently the Director for Solutions Architecture for EMEA at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she and her team supported customers across EMEA to create architectures, build solutions and deliver business value in the cloud. Her priorities included focusing on sustainability, industry and partners, and Generative AI.
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Love Dager
Love Dager is the CEO and co-founder of Stockholm Fintech, supporting the fintech ecosystem in Sweden and the Nordics to collaborate and thrive. As well as serving as an entry point to the Nordics for anyone looking into establishing or doing business here. When Love is not working with Stockholm Fintech, he also organizes hackathons for impact and angel invests in early stage startups.
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Lana Brandorne
Lana Brandorne is Co-founder and Board member of Stockholm Fintech, being engaged in the startup and fintech space for the past decade, she is currently working at Mastercard as a business developer in the Fintech Issuing team. She has a strong background in building relationships with founders, external stakeholders, and key ecosystem players in the fintech industry. Lana has experience in managing and facilitating partnership platforms that foster symbiotic growth between banks, fintechs, and Mastercard, such as Mastercard Lighthouse FINITIV, where she served as a Program Manager for 2.5 years. Before joining Mastercard, she was working at an open banking startup Instantor, which later got acquired by Tink. During the Stockholm Fintech Week, she facilitates topics on Embedded Finance, Open Banking and Lending.
Meet the host

Denise Johansson is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Enfuce, the first fintech in the world to put payment processing in the public cloud. Denise is a dynamic female innovator and leader with almost 20 years of experience in the payment industry.
Denise, whose expertise has been recognised by several initiatives including InspiringFifty, has helped numerous European fintechs and financial institutions enter new markets quickly with safe, secure, and scalable card products. She is committed to encouraging more women into fintech, inspiring them to set bold goals and work towards them.
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