Gabriela Nistor speaks to Bobsguide about building a cloud-native bank, embedding fintech into banking, and why human-led innovation is still the hardest challenge.
Gabriela Nistor is a rare kind of banking leader: a CEO equally comfortable talking tech stack and customer trust.
As the former Deputy CEO of Banca Transilvania and now the CEO of the first fully digital Romanian bank built from scratch, Salt Bank, she’s spearheading a platform that promises more than just a new mobile app.
This is about rethinking banking from the core out; API-first, cloud-native, compliance-ready, and human-centred.
“We didn’t just want a digital bank. We wanted one that feels like it belongs to the future,” she tells Bobsguide.
That meant starting with what many banks retrofit: real-time architecture, seamless onboarding, and a stack open to partners.
“We built Salt to be embedded from the start, in other ecosystems, in other platforms, and most importantly, in people’s lives.”
Digital infrastructure meets regulatory readiness
Salt Bank launched in Romania in early 2024 as a 100% digital bank owned by Banca Transilvania, one of the largest financial groups in South-East Europe.
But Nistor is quick to clarify: “We’re not a digital version of BT. Salt is a new bank, with a new license, new infrastructure, new tech, and a new culture.”
Behind the scenes is a banking engine built to scale, Salt is leveraging the tech built to run Starling Bank in the UK via its Engine core banking platform. Hosted in the cloud and designed with modularity in mind, Salt’s architecture enables rapid deployment of new services, including Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and open banking integrations, while remaining fully compliant with European regulatory requirements.
“When you’re building from scratch, compliance isn’t an afterthought. It’s embedded into every system decision,” Nistor says.
Salt built its regulatory foundations to align with EBA standards and Romanian banking regulations, ensuring the new institution could move fast without cutting corners.
Embedded finance as a strategy, not a buzzword
For Nistor, embedded finance isn’t just an industry trend, but a design principle.
“From our inception, we saw Salt not as a product, but as a platform,” she says. That’s reflected in how Salt engages with fintechs, developers, and other startups.
“We’ve created an infrastructure where third parties can integrate with us or we with them, easily and securely.”
This isn’t just about partnerships for headlines. It’s about delivering what users want, faster.
Salt’s early BNPL launch, for example, was driven not by hype, but by consumer demand and merchant feedback. And it’s only the start.
“Our long-term vision is to become a banking-as-a-service platform for others. We’re building the pipes now.”
The human in the loop
Despite its cloud-native DNA, Salt Bank isn’t chasing automation for its own sake.
“We believe in human-led digital banking,” Nistor says. “Technology should never remove the human touch. It should enhance it.”
That’s why Salt combines real-time servicing with a local support team, an intentional design.
“Customers want convenience, but also someone to talk to when things go wrong,” she explains. “You can’t replace empathy with an algorithm.”
The strategy is already paying off. In its first nine months, Salt attracted over 150,000 customers, with a Net Promoter Score consistently above industry benchmarks.
Much of that, Nistor says, is down to the user experience. “Our app is simple. It does what people expect. And it’s fast.”
Leading from the Front
Asked about what it’s like to lead a new bank in a traditionally male-dominated space, Nistor is direct.
“I don’t lead like a female CEO. I lead like a CEO who listens. Who makes decisions. Who hires people better than her.”
She credits Salt’s rapid progress to her team — a mix of banking veterans and fintech-native talent — and a culture of “execution over excuses.” That mindset is shaping not just Salt’s product roadmap but also its ambitions.
Gabriela Nistor, CEO
“By next year, we’ll launch SME accounts and embedded lending,” Nistor said. “We’ll also be opening up more of our infrastructure to partners. Salt isn’t a bank that’s finished. It’s a bank that’s just getting started.”
