Fintech Accountability: Twisto's Jiří Brych on BNPL
Jiří Brych — Head of Product, Twisto Payments
Jiří Brych is Head of Product at Twisto Payments in Prague, and his central message on fintech accountability is that growth and responsibility are not in conflict. In financial products, security equals trust, and without trust customers will not let a provider generate revenue. In this episode of Xraised, hosted by Myles, Brych also explains why BNPL is heading toward account-based, card-led products, and why local payment methods still matter in European e-commerce.
Brych leads three departments at Twisto: product, analytics and design. He is also responsible for strategic innovation, including the search for new opportunities and new markets, and for internal processes. He describes himself as a fintech veteran with more than 20 years in the industry.
Twisto began as a buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider. According to public company profiles, it was established in Prague in 2013 by Michal Smida to address the high prevalence of cash-on-delivery payments in the Czech Republic's e-commerce sector. Brych says the company is now migrating from classic BNPL towards accounts and payment cards.
Brych does not see one. In his view, banking and fintech are specific industries in which security and legal considerations are built into every process, and legal and compliance teams are involved from the very beginning.
His reasoning is that finance is one of the most important parts of people's lives, so customers must believe a provider can secure their money. He points to the rise of AI and the growing number of attempts at the registration stage, which is why Twisto invests heavily in fraud detection and system security. For Brych, this investment is how growth is secured, and it is what allows a provider to become someone's primary financial partner.
Brych says it is no secret that competitors across Europe are moving in the same direction: towards an account-based model built around a secure, easy-to-use payment instrument, ideally a card. That card can be plastic or virtual, permanent or one-off. A card, he argues, lets a provider build a better relationship with users, communicate in a targeted way, and benefit merchants too, since BNPL is a strong tool for boosting revenue when launching a new e-commerce project.
He links this shift to the EU's CCD2 regulation, which he says will leave essentially no border between BNPL, credit and account-based products. Public sources note that Directive (EU) 2023/2225, commonly known as CCD2, comes into force on 20 November 2026 and, for the first time, brings most buy now, pay later arrangements squarely within the scope of EU consumer credit law. Brych adds that BNPL products differ significantly between countries, and that preparing a proper credit-based product is considerably less complicated to roll out. He does not say BNPL is irrelevant, but that it is less attractive than it used to be and is increasingly an acquisition channel for Twisto and its merchants, with accounts as the final destination.
Having worked on the e-commerce side as a product manager, Brych understands the appeal of a single payment solution that fits every market. In reality, he says, markets and people differ, and so does payment behaviour: customers want to pay with methods they already know.
Brych's example is Poland, where he says a shop without BLIK is "basically nothing", because it is much stronger than Apple Pay or Google Pay. For context, BLIK is Poland's national account-to-account payment system operated by Polski Standard Płatności, and users authorise payments with a 6-digit code generated in their bank mobile app. Brych says he was surprised to learn that BLIK is more relevant to the Polish market than cards themselves.
He also gives a hypothetical: a fashion chain whose headquarters decides to accept only dollars or euros. That might be easy to implement at the till, but he says the impact on revenue and customers would be devastating. His recommendation is balance: cards are easy to implement and work almost everywhere, while local methods matter too, especially for BNPL.
Ticking the box for BNPL at checkout means little if customers do not actually use it. Brych notes that with current technology it is simple to connect thousands of payment methods, which can make finance and reporting messy but is good news for customers. He calls this a kind of personalisation of payment methods, and advises merchants to ask their users which methods they want.
On the markets Brych knows, the Czech Republic and Poland, he says pan-European players hold no significant market share and the dominant BNPL providers are local. He describes a phenomenon he calls fintech patriotism in the Czech Republic and partly in Poland: customers like to support their own payment methods. Twisto, as one of the first fintechs in the country, is a symbol of innovation, and some customers choose it over European players out of sympathy. He adds that Twisto is dominant in the Czech Republic and number three in Poland, and credits its friendly, honest tone of voice as part of its secret sauce, while doubting that the same tone would work in Germany.
Big international players, Brych acknowledges, have a clear advantage in landing large contracts with global brands such as IKEA, Nike or Adidas through a single signed and implemented agreement. Local players counter with market feel: reports and surveys are easy to check from outside a region, but he argues you cannot truly feel your customers' moods, culture or even the effect of the weather on payment behaviour. Because local teams are their own customers, they test everything on their own skin.
The conversation closes on the idea that the payment experience is part of the customer relationship. Merchants weighing payment providers or BNPL options can learn more about Twisto at twisto.cz.
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