Fintech, Digital Markets and More: Interview With Alena Rykunina

Alena Rykunina is a senior product designer based in Cyprus. Her background includes fintech, mobility and payments and she has shaped digital products in Russia, Latin America, and Central Asia and other emerging markets.

What distinguishes her journey is not just the scale or geography, but also her approach to design with clarity, curiosity, and a strong focus on how real people interact with complex systems.

Alena has worked on products used by millions, including rebuilding core banking features and implementing local payment flows in emerging markets.

Along the way, she learnt how to design within real-world constraints such as infrastructure, regulation and user behaviour. What defines her is her ability to connect data, culture and business needs, resulting in practical and impactful experiences.

 

What Initially Led You To Tech?

 

My interest in design has creative origins. My first university education was in art and my first job as a designer was in the event industry, where I created 3D visualisations for big brands such as Audi and Mini.

After a few years, I realised that creativity alone did not fulfil all my career ambitions and curiosity. I was truly drawn to the logical and problem-solving side of projects rather than just the creative execution. That’s how i found myself in product design, first enrolling myself into British Higher School of Design, UX/UI faculty, and soon after, joined a crypto neobank startup.

After that, I fully transitioned into digital product design. I worked on fintech products for some of the leading fintech companies in Russia, where I gained experience designing complex systems with large user bases (over 80 million users) and strict regulations.

Thanks to my earlier background in creative industries, I was able to progress quickly in product design. That experience gave me a strong foundation in visual thinking, storytelling, and working with brands, all of which translated well into designing user-centered digital products. It also helped me build an international career faster than is typical in the field.

Later, I joined a global ride-hailing company with over 200 million downloads across 48 countries. That experience helped me further grow as a designer working at scale and solving user experience challenges across different markets and cultures. In my work, I continue to focus on digital payments, leveraging my unique expertise in FinTech UX.

 

How Did Your Experience Differ When Designing For Mature Fintech Companies Versus Designing For A Ride-Hailing App In A Startup Context?

There is quite a difference, which I experienced as a designer working in both contexts. The difference lies in a well-defined set of user behaviours.

When I worked for mature fintech companies in Russia, I was focused on one country, with one cultural context and a clearly understood set of user habits. Users had familiar patterns, especially around digital banking and payment methods, so my design decisions were closely aligned with that specific audience.

When we speak about designing in a startup context, the situation is completely different, because a startup is very innovation-driven. Working in a startup means creating new solutions from scratch, often without established patterns, and rapidly iterating based on user feedback and market demands.

Now multiply that by the scale of 48 countries and 200 million downloads, where every market has its own cultural, legal, and user experience nuances and the complexity of the design challenge grows tangibly.

Even when rolling out the same feature across multiple countries, user reactions and engagement metrics often vary significantly. For example, introducing a new payment flow could lead to strong adoption in some markets while highlighting the need for UX adjustments in others.

This is where my fintech UX expertise becomes especially crucial to the success of our digital products, directly impacting the company’s key metrics.

Years of hands-on experience in fintech have shaped the way I approach scalability.

Sometimes I design flexible solutions that allow for local adaptations, whether it’s integrating with regional providers or adjusting product flows based on local user behaviour. In other cases, I focus on building one scalable global solution that works smoothly across different markets with minimal changes.

Working in this context taught me how to design with both flexibility and scale in mind, continuously applying best practices and inventing novel approaches to maximise the benefit that my designs bring to the company and its users.

 

What Project Are You Most Proud Of And What Impact Do You Think It Has Had On Your Company And On The Tech Sector?

 

It is difficult to single out just one project, as each of them was impactful in its own way. That said, I really liked my experience working on the B2B mobile app at Raiffeisen Bank. Back in 2020, the industry was heavily focused on B2C mobile apps, even across fintech, while the B2B mobile app space was overlooked.

This made the project especially exciting. For this B2B mobile app I redesigned the main screen and payment flow in the B2B mobile banking app at Raiffeisen Bank,.

The app hadn’t been updated for several years and felt visually outdated. Moreover, it didn’t match the design language of the bank’s B2C app, creating inconsistency for clients who used both products. I focused on refreshing the interface, simplifying navigation, and making key actions easier to access for business users.

An important part of the project was reducing the gap between the web platform and the mobile app. Before the update, many business owners and their accountants  used mainly the web version of the platform. By improving the app’s functionality and aligning it more closely with the web, I made it easier for them to manage tasks directly from their smartphones.

At my current job at InDrive, there are many impactful projects happening. And for example, I am really proud of launching PIX-based peer-to-peer payments in Brazil. For the local tech sector it was kind of a milestone, because it was one of the first times a ride-hailing platform in the region integrated a national instant payment system.

I led the design of the new flow, working closely with product, legal, and engineering teams to ensure it felt seamless for local users. The result was a smooth way to connect an already popular transfer method directly into the app, aligning better with everyday habits in a market where cash still dominated.

 

What Are The Main Challenges In Merging UX Approaches Across Different Markets? Are There Any Specific Regional Considerations You Keep In Mind?

 

Working across different markets like Brazil, Kazakhstan and more showed me how much user behaviour, expectations, and product usage can differ, even for similar features.

In Brazil, mobile adoption is high and digital payments have grown quickly. PIX, the national instant payment system, allows transfers by phone number or account number. But at the same time, cash is still king. Many people don’t have bank cards and prefer using cash for daily purchases.

This creates a unique mix where people are comfortable with mobile technology but still rely heavily on cash in everyday life.

In Kazakhstan, the situation is different. The market is strongly shaped by Kaspi, which is more than just a banking app. It is a super app that people use for payments, shopping, loans, and many daily financial tasks. Users in Kazakhstan are very accustomed to fast and simple digital experiences within one platform and many financial activities happen inside Kaspi by default.

This creates certain expectations for speed, simplicity, and ease of use in other financial products as well.

The main challenge in working across such markets is finding the right balance between global consistency and local relevance. Some design patterns can scale across regions, but many elements like payment flows and onboarding steps need to be adapted to local user behaviour, infrastructure, and expectations. This is where my sector-specific expertise as a fintech UX designer becomes especially valuable.

It is not just about design, translation or localisation. It is about understanding how people in each country are used to interacting with digital services, what products they already trust, and how their offline habits influence their online behaviour and then designing the digital products for maximum results.

 

Where Do You Find Inspiration Beyond Your Main Work And What Recent Fintech Product Impressed You With Its Design And Why?

 

I get a lot of inspiration from business trips where I have the chance to meet real customers and see how they interact with products in their daily lives. Talking to users face-to-face and observing their behaviour gives me insights that I can’t get from analytics alone. User research sessions also play a big role. Hearing directly from people about their frustrations and habits helps me think differently about design decisions.

One app that recently impressed me is Cleo, an AI-based financial assistant. I think it shows where the future of fintech apps is heading. It uses AI to make financial management more personalised and conversational, helping users engage with their finances in a way that feels simple and human.

 

Which Trends In Fintech Are Shaping How Designers Approach Product Development?

 

One of the biggest trends I see in fintech right now is the move toward more personalised, AI-driven experiences. Products are starting to adjust in real time based on each user’s behaviour, financial habits, and transaction history.

This means working more with user data and thinking carefully about what information or actions are most relevant for each person at any given moment. Things like smart notifications, dynamic dashboards, and tailored financial insights are becoming more common.

At the same time, this brings new challenges. Users expect transparency. They want to understand why they’re seeing certain recommendations or offers and how their data is being used. So now, part of my design work is making sure that personalisation feels useful and clear without overwhelming or confusing users.

For designers like me, this shift toward intelligent personalisation is both exciting and demanding. It calls for a deeper collaboration with data teams, a solid grasp of behavioural psychology and the ability to design interfaces that respond fluidly to context without compromising clarity or trust.

I see it as an opportunity to reimagine what ‘user-centric’ really means. It’s no longer just about aesthetics or usability; it’s about designing systems that genuinely understand and support each user’s financial journey. And while I see this trend strongly in fintech, it’s also shaping other industries, from mobility to e-commerce, where users expect the same level of adaptive, responsive experiences.

This is where the depth of my fintech UX experience truly comes into play, making complexity feel effortless, and innovation feel natural. And this is exactly what continues to inspire me to grow as an expert every day.