The Reward leader's guide to fintech: What's different and why it matters

Managing compensation in a fintech for the first time can be a shock to the system.

You've built compensation structures many times over. You know how to benchmark roles, design salary bands, structure equity packages. You've navigated competitive hiring markets and tight budgets.

But fintech operates under fundamentally different constraints.

That performance bonus structure you'd typically design? And that equity package? Both are subject to regulatory requirements as a financial institution. 

Plus, fintechs scale 3-4x faster than typical tech companies once they hit product-market fit, which means you need sophisticated compensation structures in place from much earlier.

You're sitting between two worlds – navigating the rigid structures of traditional banking, while operating at the height of tech’s fast-changing pace. 

Marialena Savvopoulou experienced this firsthand when she took the role of Global Total Rewards Lead at Mollie. “I moved from ride-hailing to fintech – from an unregulated industry to one where you really have to abide by certain rules and regulations,” she explains, “It was a real contrast.” 

Let’s take a closer look at what makes compensation management in a fintech fundamentally different, and what compensation leaders need to know to navigate it successfully.

Three ways employee rewards works differently in fintech

Compensation in fintech operates under a different set of rules.

You're navigating financial services regulations. You're competing for talent against both tech companies and traditional banks. And you're scaling fast enough that you need sophisticated structures in place much earlier than other tech companies.

Here's what actually changes.

1. Regulation shapes every compensation decision

When Marialena moved from ride-hailing to fintech, one thing hit her immediately: “In fintech you need legal, tax, risk management peers all to collaborate with you on Rewards decisions. It’s not HR anymore.” 

Fintech companies operate under financial services regulations – which means compensation decisions that would be straightforward in tech are suddenly much more complex.

The EU bonus cap is a good example of this.

As part of the EU’s Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), variable pay for 'material risk takers' – meaning staff whose decisions impact a firm's risk profile – is capped at 100% of base salary (or 200% with shareholder approval). Further, at least 40% of variable pay must be deferred for a minimum of four years, and at least 50% must be paid in shares or equivalent instruments rather than cash. The deferred portion must vest gradually over time, not all at once.

The rationale is to align employee incentives with long-term firm performance and discourage excessive risk-taking – if your bonus is deferred over four years, you're less likely to pursue short-term gains that could harm the business.

Equity structures are more complex too. 

Under EU financial services regulations like AIFMD and MiFID II, for instance, fintechs must impose retention periods on equity granted to identified staff – meaning employees can't immediately sell their shares once they vest.

“I remember when I first moved to Mollie and had an introductory meeting with the legal team and the general counsel and they walked me through equity,” Marialena recalls. “Equity is already such a difficult concept to navigate with so many different instruments and ways you could use it, and suddenly there was a whole other layer to think about.”

These are just two examples – bonus caps and equity retention – but they illustrate how regulation touches every element of fintech compensation design.

2. Competition on two fronts drives higher pay

“Fintechs sit between two worlds,” says Marialena. “On one side you have banks, which are more rigid, more structured, and slower to change. On the other side, you have tech companies that are ever-changing.”

One job candidate might be weighing your offer against Google. Another might be comparing it to Goldman Sachs.

Fintech compensation runs higher than broader tech for exactly this reason. 

Ravio's fintech compensation data shows top fintechs pay 11-19% above the tech market across Europe. At senior levels, the gap widens further: Management roles command 20% premiums, Executive roles 33%.

Take a P3 Software Engineer in the UK as an example.

Overall tech median: £70,000. Fintech median: £75,000. (Ravio benchmarks, February 2026)

Not huge – but significant.

At M3 level, the gap widens. Overall tech median: £118,300. Fintech median: £129,200.

Competitive compensation becomes even more vital for hiring and retaining the right talent.

3. Faster scaling means earlier need for mature compensation structures

A typical tech startup needs job architecture at 100 people. In fintech, you need it at 30-40.

Once fintechs hit product-market fit, they scale much faster than typical tech – with hiring spurts, market expansions, and milestones like M&A coming much faster. It means those "we need proper structure now" moments arrive earlier than you expect.

The risk is that, without proper foundations early, you build compensation debt that becomes difficult to solve later.

At 300 people with 1,000 inconsistent job titles and wildly different pay for similar work, unwinding it means difficult conversations, potential salary freezes, and managing expectations through significant change.

Fast scaling also means employees want to understand compensation structures sooner.

Marialena has seen this at Mollie. "There was a lot of appetite within our population for more transparency about why we do things the way we do," she explains.

"We started a reset last year when we went back to our foundations and said, okay, let's look into our base pay again. How are we doing it? Why are we doing this?"

In fintech, there’s simply less time to get compensation right before the cracks start showing.

What does this mean for your fintech compensation strategy?

So what does operating in this context actually require from compensation leaders?

The short answer: you need to move faster, think more creatively, and build stronger partnerships than you would in traditional tech.

Here are the four critical shifts in approach:

1. Build foundational structures much earlier than feels necessary – you need job architecture, levelling frameworks, and salary bands in place before growth forces your hand
2. Define a fintech-specific peer group for benchmarking – comparing yourself to all tech or all traditional finance gives an inaccurate picture
3. Pull all total rewards levers creatively – base salary, equity, benefits, and recognition all need to work harder within regulatory constraints
4. Make legal, compliance, and risk your closest partners – they're not blockers, they're the people who help you navigate constraints effectively.

Let's look at each in detail.

1. Build foundational structures earlier than you think you need to

Get your house in order early.

In fintech, you need alignment on core compensation processes and structures by 30-40 people, not 100. 

That means: 

• Compensation philosophy that articulates how compensation sits alongside company values and culture – including your approach to market positioning, internal pay equity, and how you'll use different total rewards levers
• Job architecture and levelling frameworks that bring consistency to how roles are defined and structured
• Salary bands built on reliable fintech-specific benchmarking data, that bring consistency to new hire offers and pay progression decisions
• Structured compensation review cycles with clear processes for pay adjustments (including if and how you’ll reward performance) and promotions.

The window for building these before you desperately need them is shorter in fintech. By the time it feels urgent, you're already playing catch-up.

2. Define a fintech-specific peer group for benchmarking

“Fintech is a very nuanced industry that competes on a different layer than the rest of tech,” Marialena explains, “which means you need to have your fintech peer group reflected in the market benchmarks you use to build your compensation structures.” 

You can't compare yourself to all tech – you'll miss the regulatory complexity that drives fintech compensation higher. You can't compare yourself to all finance – the structures are too different, and you lose sight of the tech talent market you're also competing in.

You need fintech-specific benchmarks to make competitive decisions. Without accurate peer group data, you either overpay (unsustainable) or underpay (lose talent to competitors).

At Ravio, we've built the strongest fintech compensation dataset in European tech  for exactly this reason – with data from 215+ fintechs including Mollie, Wise, and Airwallex. 

Filtering for fintech companies ensures you're comparing like-for-like, accounting for both the tech talent competition and the regulatory complexity that drives compensation higher.

Otherwise you're back to comparing yourself to all tech or piecing together unreliable data points – neither of which gives you the accuracy needed for confident compensation decisions.

3. Pull all total rewards levers creatively 

Bonus caps limit variable compensation. Equity structures must meet financial institution requirements. Deferral rules change how short-term incentives work.

But you still need to compete with both top tech companies and top finance companies. 

Which means you need to use every Rewards lever available to you: base salary, equity, benefits, flexibility, culture, recognition.

At Mollie, for instance, the sales team runs a ‘President's Club’ where top performers are rewarded with a holiday. “It’s meaningful recognition that drives performance without regulatory friction,” says Marialena, “and it’s been a consistently important retention lever for us.”

4. Lean on legal, compliance, and risk for regulatory support

In fintech, compensation decisions can't sit solely with the People team.

“I can have my own interpretation of the laws, but I’m definitely not an expert and I don't need to be in order to create a successful compensation programme,” says Marialena. “But I do need their input to ensure that programme is compliant.” 

Legal ensures equity structures meet financial institution requirements. Compliance verifies bonus programmes adhere to caps. Risk management ensures compensation doesn't incentivise dangerous behaviour that could harm the business.

When you take on compensation management in a fintech context the mindset becomes: "how can we design something that meets both business needs and regulatory requirements?"

Those partnerships make the difference between strategies that work versus ones that create compliance headaches down the line.

Why compensation leaders choose fintech despite the complexity

There’s no doubt that regulatory constraints, dual talent markets, and breakneck scaling speed create real challenges. 

But they also create opportunities you don't get in typical tech.

Constraints breed creativity. When you can't just throw money at problems, you get better at designing total rewards packages that actually resonate with what people value – whether that's equity structures or recognition programmes like Mollie's President's Club.

Plus, you get a seat at major business decisions. M&A, IPO preparation, market expansion – compensation is core to all of these milestones. 

Marialena experienced this firsthand at Mollie. The company shifted from "grow at any cost" to "scale responsibly" – and compensation strategy was central to that transformation. 

Fast pace means visible impact. Changes you make show up quickly in hiring success, retention rates, employee satisfaction – you're not implementing structures that take years to prove their worth.

And perhaps most importantly: you're not doing it alone.

"The one thing that's kept me grounded during the most challenging periods of my career has been my community of peers," Marialena says.

Marialena is active in the Reward Room – a private community of 200+ compensation leaders who understand the unique pressures of working in Rewards. Expect monthly expert discussions, benchmarking insights, working groups on topics like EU Pay Transparency, and support from peers navigating the same challenges you are.