Raised in Latvia’s capital, Kuhtarska earned her economics degree at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga before adding a data-science specialisation from Harvard Business School. A short assignment inside Latvia’s Central Bank gave her a close view of settlement lags and manual reconciliations that still shape many cross-border payments. Those findings set the context for Noda’s launch in 2018.
A move to SEB Group followed, where she compared card-network fee structures with account-to-account alternatives. Speaking later, co-founder Lasma Kuhtarska highlighted that internal project as “proof the market was ready for direct-bank rails if the user experience was right.”
Defining Strategic Principles
By the time Noda opened its first sandbox, Kuhtarska had distilled three principles that still underpin product decisions: minimise intermediaries, expose real-time data, and build compliance into workflow rather than bolt it on afterward. Those principles remain visible in the platform’s KYC modules and in its approach to PSD2 updates.
Lasma Kuhtarska of Noda: Scaling an API Network across 30 Countries
Today the company maintains connections to 2,000+ banks. In quarterly notes, Lasma Kuhtarska of Noda outlines the trade-offs behind that footprint: wider coverage improves merchant reach but increases regulatory variation. Her solution is a single rules engine that maps local requirements into common checkpoints, keeping implementation times predictable.
One practical outcome for merchants is greater cash-flow predictability. Direct-bank payments settle without card-scheme delays and avoid common dispute scenarios, reducing operational overhead. The data Noda tracks across markets shows that when merchants replace card flows with A2A, they typically see fewer support tickets related to failed payments and a measurable drop in dispute-related losses.
Data-Informed Expansion
A dedicated analytics unit tracks success rates, dropout points and latency across each corridor. Findings inform prioritisation: if an integration improves overall success only marginally, resources shift to regions with higher incremental benefit. According to Lasma Kuhtarska, this evidence-based method prevents feature creep and keeps engineering efforts aligned with core objectives.
Collaboration in the Fintech Ecosystem
In panel discussions, her name occasionally surfaces when analysts compare risk-management approaches among open-banking platforms. Kuhtarska’s contributions typically centre on governance: she argues that transparent audit trails and third-party code reviews create trust faster than marketing claims.
Beyond Core Payments
It’s worth taking a minute to explain the concept of “open banking” and what Lasma Kuhtarska’s Noda aims to achieve in that sphere. Open banking is a way for people to let apps and websites connect safely to their bank accounts. Instead of typing card numbers everywhere, you give permission (usually with a quick login or fingerprint) so the app can see your balance or start a payment straight from your bank. Banks share this data through secure “pipes” called APIs (application programming interfaces). You stay in control because you can turn access on or off whenever you like, and the bank never hands over your password.
To drive the point home, this matters for a few reasons. For shoppers, it means fewer steps at checkout and lower risk of card fraud, like how no card number is stored. For businesses, it can cut fees because money moves directly between bank accounts without extra middlemen. Lenders can also make faster decisions by reading verified income data (with your approval) instead of asking for pay-slips. Regulators in many countries set the security rules, so open banking aims to blend convenience with strong consumer protection.
Looking Forward
Regulators predict account-to-account volumes will continue rising as consumer familiarity grows. In that environment, the disciplined framework outlined by co-founder Lasma Kuhtarska and demonstrated across Noda’s growth offers a case study in balancing scale with oversight. For observers tracking the next phase of UK and European fintech, her data-driven, compliance-aware approach provides a measurable roadmap rather than an aspirational slog
