Ivan Maryasin spent years building Monite, a fintech startup that automated financial tasks for small businesses. This year, digital bank OakNorth acquired the company, bringing Maryasin on as general manager of business banking. The move shifted his role from founder to executive at a larger firm.
He described the transition as smoother than anticipated. OakNorth maintains an entrepreneurial culture—quick decisions, customer-focused priorities, and a readiness to challenge industry standards. The main change, he explained, is the scale of operations.
“As a founder, you work to prove a product solves a problem,” Maryasin said. “At OakNorth, we apply that same approach across thousands of growing companies.” The objective is to reshape business banking by combining payments, financial operations, and relationship-based support into one platform.
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His startup background influenced how he now approaches the role. Early on, he saw how complexity increases as a business expands—from handling everything alone to managing international payments, approvals, and cash flow forecasting. That experience matched OakNorth’s focus on serving companies in the middle: too large for fully automated tools but not big enough for corporate-level service.
“Businesses don’t need more financial products,” he said. “They need fewer operational problems.” Whether developing accounts payable tools or banking features, the goal remains reducing friction so entrepreneurs can concentrate on growth.
The biggest change in fintech, Maryasin noted, isn’t artificial intelligence—though AI is reshaping the industry—but the push toward integrated financial platforms. Traditionally, businesses had to piece together separate providers for banking, payments, invoicing, and accounting. That fragmentation wastes time and forces finance teams to juggle multiple systems.
“Businesses don’t think about banking products,” he said. “They think about managing money.” The merger of OakNorth and Monite reflects this trend, aiming to create a financial operating system that unifies those functions. AI will speed up the process by automating workflows and uncovering insights, but the key advance is delivering a seamless experience.
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On the UK’s funding gap for mid-sized companies, Maryasin recognized progress but said the issue remains. More options exist now than a decade ago, yet many lower mid-market firms still struggle to find support. They’re too complex for automated models but lack the size to interest larger institutions.
The discussion has evolved beyond just funding. Growing businesses require banking tools, payments infrastructure, and partners who understand scaling. Success, he argued, will come to institutions that blend technology, data, and human expertise to guide companies through that phase.
OakNorth is testing this strategy. The Monite acquisition wasn’t just about adding features; it aimed to rethink how business banking serves companies during critical growth. Financial platforms that simplify operations could determine whether the rest of the industry follows suit.
