DECTA is a global payment processing company that provides payments infrastructure for issuers and acquirers, a white-label payment gateway, and digital banking solutions for banks, fintechs, and merchants, enabling them to offer services like card issuing, acquiring, and seamless payment processing with integrated digital tools. Pulse 2.0 interviewed DECTA sales executive Gabriel Stefanak to gain a better understanding of the company.
Gabriel Stefanak’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Stefanak said:
“I was born in Slovakia and already towards the end of my high school I was interested in finance and payments, experimented with a few businesses and started investing early on. When I finished my Masters in Slovakia, I moved to Riga which turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. Not only did I meet my beautiful wife here, but I also started working with fintech companies fairly quickly. The Baltic States were and still are one of the hubs of the fintech industry in Europe, so it turned out to be a great move. One sunny Friday, on my way to my favorite cafe to enjoy a flat white, I met one of the Board Members of Decta and we decided to improve Decta’s sales together. This was the beginning of my journey with Decta.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Stefanak shared:
“Decta was founded long before I joined the team, around the year of 2016. The idea started at a conference where a local Latvian bank was looking for a new technical processor. One of the founding members of Decta, certainly one of the most experienced people in technical processing out there, was in the process of building the idea of a challenger processor. After a series of meetings Decta was founded.”
“I joined the team to drive the sales of our technological products, mainly issuer and acquirer processing, white label products (payment gateway and Decta Digital Banking Platform). On top of that, I am looking for new opportunities and markets we can expand to and offer our products, as well as strengthening our position in the markets where we already have clients. The last few years have been very positive and it seems that we have really managed to build a global top-tier challenger processor.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Stefanak reflected:
“Even though we are quite active in terms of attending conferences and I’ve given a number of keynotes, the best memories are certainly formed outside of actual and traditional work, when you interact with your colleagues and get to know them from different angles. The one which stands out is definitely a teambuilding I organize for our sales and marketing team, when I managed to convince the whole team to attend a 5am sun-rise stand-up-paddleboard (SUP) session in October at a temperature of 2 degree celsius. There were a few guys who had never stood on the SUP before, while I consider myself an experienced rider. Guess who was the only one who ended up swimming in the lake among all of us?”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Stefanak explained:
“As I mentioned earlier, Decta is a top-tier issuer and acquirer processor. If you are a modern issuer or an acquirer, you definitely need a challenger processor with advanced and flexible infrastructure. This is something Decta excels at. On top of technical processing, Decta also offers white label solutions. The White-label payment gateway is a solution for acquirers, PSPs or TSPs. We’ve been working on it for more than 7 years and are constantly improving and updating its functionality, and currently have a number of large global players using our gateway. Last but not least, one of our freshest products is the Decta Digital Banking Platform, which is a white-labelled banking-as-a-platform solution for neobanks, fintech and crypto companies. The last one is probably the most fun to sell, as the demo usually gets the clients impressed, so you get a bit of the instant gratification of getting some job done.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector recently, and how did you overcome them? Stefanak acknowledged:
“Besides the more traditional day-to-day challenges, we are definitely faced with constant changes in requirements of the Payment Schemes. As we are a global challenger processor most of all, we have to be ready to support our clients in all markets they operate and that is why we are continuously monitoring the regulation and Scheme requirements. The most recent significant requirement was the PSD2 directive which resulted in major changes to our processing solution. However, thanks to our great experts in the team, this was a rather smooth transition and there were no impacts on the final customers.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Stefanak noted:
“Originally, Decta was providing only acquirer processing to a local bank. Eventually the business has grown to support issuers not only in Latvia, but globally. During this period the technological stack improved significantly. As in any other business, you cannot operate without experienced and talented people. We’ve always been good at sourcing the best talent and I must say this was one of the key factors in the evolution of technology.”
“As I already mentioned earlier, the technology now supports pretty much the whole payments cycle thanks to our white label solution, where we can support neobanks, acquirers, fintechs, PSPs and even crypto companies.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Stefanak cited:
“To create a real global challenger-processor for both issuing and acquiring is not simple. I must say that the core Decta team has managed that, so that is an achievement and a milestone in it of itself. One of the first couple of milestones were clients for technical processing in the UK and other European countries outside of the Baltic States, as well as the APAC region. Obtaining Electronic Money Institution licenses in the UK, Cyprus and Ireland were other significant milestones, as well as principal membership with Visa and Mastercard. Furthermore, I think it’s worth mentioning that Decta has achieved PCI DSS Level 1 certification, ISO9001 and ISO27001, and successful completion of Mastercard IDC and Visa Secure certification for EMV 3DS – these are mostly important for technical processing. Decta has been also organizing the biggest fintech conference in the Baltics, Ecom21 with thousands of visitors every year.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Stefanak affirmed:
“Despite Decta has grown significantly since the launch and we are now operating globally, we have managed to maintain the hunger for new challenges and client relationships. That means we are approaching each opportunity, prospect or RFP with professionalism and eagerness to succeed. I mention this as it’s not uncommon for established players on the market to take only the big clients seriously, while smaller and medium sized fintech companies are often provided mediocre service. I believe the strength on Decta’s side is certainly in high quality people working as a team.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Stefanak concluded:
“They say if you don’t grow, you fall behind. Or die, if we want to be dramatic. Thus logically, the company’s future goals are focused on continued growth. A few of those I can publicly mention are definitely enlarging our presence in the APAC market and an expansion to the US market which is very specific. We would like to have at least 2 accounts in the US for technical processing. At the same time, we are aiming to increase our presence in the APAC region, more specifically in the Southeast Asia region. On top of that, with the recent acquisition of new clients we are on our way to double the commission income by the end of 2028.”
