Czech Fintech Association
The Czech Fintech Association, in Czech Česká fintech asociace and short CEFTAS, is the industry association of fintech companies in the Czech Republic. The association was founded in 2016 to support innovation in the financial sector and to help shape the rules for it, with the stated goal of an economy without barriers, paperwork and cash.
More than 80 companies are members, from payment, lending and investment startups to established financial firms, banks and investors. The Czech Fintech Association runs expert working groups, organizes networking and expert events and acts as the point of contact for innovators, investors, regulators and business partners.
Members and membership
The Czech Fintech Association has two kinds of members: full members offer fintech solutions themselves, and associate members support the fintech ecosystem around them. Members include payment companies such as ThePay, Barion and Adyen, investment platforms such as Portu, Fondee and Bondster, and the crypto exchanges Coinmate and Anycoin.
In January 2026 the payments infrastructure provider Banking Circle joined the association. Executive manager Ondřej Machač looks after the members, and companies that want to join apply through a membership form.
Board and management
Miroslav Lukeš chairs the board of the Czech Fintech Association, and Matěj Vácha, partner at the law firm Pelikán Krofta Kohoutek, is vice chairman. The other board members are Michal Šmída, CEO of Twisto, Matěj Novák, CEO of EasyChange Group, Michal Kratochvíl, CEO of Budget Bakers, and William Jalloul, founder of Flowpay.
Ondřej Machač runs the association as executive manager, together with operations manager Sára Qasemová. A group of fintech ambassadors supports the work, among them Dominik Stroukal of Metropolitan University Prague and Aleš Rod of the Center for Economic and Market Analyses (CETA).
Founding and goals
Czech fintech companies founded the association in the summer of 2016 (in Czech) and held its first official meeting in October of that year. The first board had Michal Šmída of Twisto, Matěj Vácha of Pelikán Krofta Kohoutek and Michal Kratochvíl of Budget Bakers, and all three still sit on the board today.
The first topic of the association was the implementation of the PSD2 payment services directive, which opened bank interfaces to licensed third-party providers. Today the Czech Fintech Association works on fintech regulation in general and has a code of ethics for its members since 2025.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Europe
Fintech in the Czech Republic
Researchers of Metropolitan University Prague and CETA estimate that Czech fintech companies employ 6,394 people (in Czech), 1,603 of them from abroad, most often from Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland. The Czech Fintech Association and Visa commissioned the study, which puts the gross value added of the sector at almost 12 billion koruna and its yearly payments to public budgets at 3.6 billion koruna.
The study rests on a survey of 54 out of about 150 Czech fintech companies in the second quarter of 2025. Of the companies asked, 98 percent would welcome legal rules for employee stock options, and the association also argues for an Enterprise Investment Scheme that gives small and medium-sized companies better access to financing. Together with the export agency CzechTrade, the association published a brochure on Czech fintech with more than 200 active companies in payments, personal finance, e-commerce, cybersecurity and crypto.
FinTech Mixer and podcast
Members of the Czech Fintech Association meet at the FinTech Mixer, a regular monthly meeting for networking, exchange of know-how and debate on chosen topics. The association is also a partner of the FinTech Roadmap podcast of the Czech Wealthtech Association, in which guests talk about payments, open banking, regtech and other fintech subjects.
Partners in Europe
The Czech Fintech Association works with other national and regional fintech organizations to follow regulatory developments in other countries and in the EU. The association is a member of the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA), where Aleš Krempa of the Czech association chairs the blockchain working group.
Address in Prague
The Czech Fintech Association is a registered association under Czech law with its seat at Újezd 450/40 in 118 00 Prague 1. The address lies in the Malá Strana district, and the association answers questions through a contact form and by email.
Czech Fintech Association and Finance Loop
The Czech Fintech Association works on questions that Finance Loop members also discuss at events in Germany, such as open banking after PSD2, crypto rules under MiCA and the growth of payment and investment companies. Czech fintech firms work under the same European rules as their peers in Frankfurt and Berlin, and Finance Loop brings professionals from both markets together across borders.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.