Nauris Bloks: How TWINO’s New CEO Is Shaping the Platform’s Future

Founded in Latvia, TWINO has grown from its roots as a consumer lending group into one of Europe’s few marketplace investing platforms licensed as an investment brokerage firm. In 2025, Nauris Bloks stepped into the role of CEO, bringing fresh leadership to guide the company through its next stage of growth. Today, TWINO connects thousands of investors with consumer and business loans across Europe, combining regulatory oversight with accessible investment opportunities. In this interview, Nauris shares how the company has evolved, what sets it apart in the European market, and where he sees TWINO heading next.

For those new to Twino, could you briefly describe what the platform does and what makes it unique?

TWINO is a regulated European investment platform that allows people to invest in loans through asset-backed securities, earning stable returns of 8–12%. Founded in 2015, we’ve spent the past decade building a strong track record of consistent performance for retail investors. By opening access to an asset class that was previously available only to institutions, we’ve made alternative investing genuinely inclusive. What sets us apart is our focus on simplicity, transparency, and accessibility, removing the usual complexity and entry barriers of traditional finance to provide everyday investors with a straightforward way to invest in something that wasn't previously possible.

Twino started out as a consumer lending group before launching the investment platform. What inspired the move into marketplace investing, and how has the company evolved since then?

When we started as a non-bank consumer lender, funding growth was our biggest challenge, especially back in 2015, when institutional and capital-market funding options were far more limited than today. We had to innovate, and launching a marketplace for investors to fund our loans was the logical step, as this model was just starting to gain momentum in Europe. We became one of the first to shape that trend, creating new opportunities for everyday investors to earn stable returns, while enabling us to finance lending growth. That’s what the TWINO name stands for: a “twin effect” where both sides benefit. Since then, TWINO has evolved significantly, first expanding, then consolidating and streamlining our lending operations, transitioning from an unregulated marketplace to a licensed European investment firm, and successfully navigating major disruptions such as COVID-19 and the Russia–Ukraine war.

How do you source and evaluate the loans that become available on Twino? What role does your background as a lending group play in ensuring loan quality?

Over the years, we’ve used two main approaches to sourcing loans. The first, and by far the most successful, has been working with loan originators developed within our own group, where we have full control over underwriting, portfolio management, and strategic direction. This setup allows us to adapt quickly, maintain high loan quality, and build deep in-house expertise. The second approach has been creating joint ventures with other lenders, but limited control, differing competencies and priorities made it difficult to achieve the same results and resulted in unsuccessful businesses. We’ve therefore decided not to expand into sourcing from joint ventures or unrelated third parties. Looking ahead, we’re focused on originating loans only through fully controlled entities, where we can ensure transparency, alignment, and strong investor protection.

As Twino’s new CEO, how do you and the leadership team complement each other in steering the company?

When I stepped into the role, TWINO’s leadership team had fairly strong defensive capabilities with compliance, risk management, and governance were all well-established after years of navigating crises like COVID and the war in Ukraine. However, we lacked the “offense line” needed for growth, product development, innovation, and business expansion. My focus was to rebalance that not only with my skillset but also with new members. We strengthened the team with people who bring commercial and strategic drive, creating space for new initiatives while maintaining our governance standards. Today, I believe we have the right mix of leadership skills to both run a solid investment firm and actively grow in the alternative investment space with new initiatives.

Twino is one of the few platforms licensed as an investment brokerage firm by the Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission. What does this regulation mean for your investors in practice, and how does it shape Twino’s growth strategy?

Being licensed as an investment brokerage firm by the Bank of Latvia is a major step for TWINO and our investors. For investors, it means greater trust and protection. Our operations are now subject to strict requirements on capital adequacy, liquidity, and governance, and every investor has a clear regulatory body to turn to if something goes wrong. The trade-off is more complexity: investors must now pass suitability and appropriateness checks, ongoing KYC, and AML procedures before investing. In the early days, it was as simple as signing up and transferring funds; now it’s a regulated investment process. From a growth perspective, this license opens the door to a much broader range of financial instruments beyond asset-backed securities. We haven't even started to leverage that, but that is something we plan to gradually build toward in the coming years.

What types of investment opportunities are currently available on Twino? How do you balance between consumer loans, business loans, and other products?

Right now, our offering is more limited than we’d like, a result of consolidating lending operations and exiting several markets after COVID and the war. Currently, investors can access asset-backed securities backed by business loans issued to our group’s payment institution in Poland. It’s a solid and profitable business that delivers stable returns, and it has become our flagship product. However, we recognize the concentration risk this creates. That’s why we’re now focused on two fronts: expanding our lending footprint in Europe, both through our payment institution and potentially new lending company creation, and diversifying into new types of financial instruments beyond lending. Unfortunately, none of these are quick solutions and require time.

Looking at Twino’s track record over the past years, what kind of returns have investors typically achieved, and what can new investors expect in today’s market environment?

Historically, TWINO investors have earned an average return just below 12%, which has effectively become the market standard for this type of alternative investment. There are occasional opportunities with higher yields of 14–15%, but those come with increased risk and are less common. On the other hand, if returns fall below 10%, they start to overlap with high-yield bonds and equity index returns, making the risk–reward balance less attractive. I don’t expect major changes in the near term, perhaps a gradual stabilization toward the 10–11% range as the market matures and the world adjusts to the volatility we’ve seen over the past five years.

What are the main risks associated with investing through Twino, and how does the platform work to mitigate them?

At the moment, the main risk for investors on TWINO is concentration risk, as our current offering is sourced from only one loan originator. We’re actively working to reduce this by expanding our range of lending operations and introducing new types of financial instruments, so investors can diversify within the TWINO platform itself. While many of our investors already diversify across multiple platforms, our goal is to make TWINO a one-stop shop, a place where you can build a balanced portfolio of alternative investments easily and transparently, without having to look elsewhere.

What advantages set Twino apart in the European investment marketplace lending space?

TWINO stands out for its long-term experience, strong regulatory foundation, and deep lending expertise. Few platforms in Europe combine more than a decade of real operational track record with a full investment brokerage license. Our roots in consumer lending give us a solid understanding of credit risk and portfolio management, a strong base for sustainable growth, which we still need to leverage. We’ve been through market cycles, crises, and regulatory change, learning from both achievements and mistakes. Some of those lessons came at a real cost - not only to TWINO, but also to our investors - and we take that very seriously. That experience now enables us to offer a more stable, transparent, and professionally governed investment environment, positioning TWINO for long-term growth.

As the new CEO, what is your long-term vision for Twino and the wider European marketplace investing sector?

My long-term vision for TWINO is to become a leading gateway to alternative investments in Europe, a platform that helps investors diversify beyond traditional stocks and bonds. We see a clear shift in mindset: both retail and institutional investors are increasingly allocating to alternatives, reshaping the classic 60:40 portfolio into something closer to 50:30:20, where 20% comes from alternative assets. Our goal is to be part of that 20%, offering simple, transparent, and well-managed investment products that fit this new reality. We still have work ahead, but TWINO is well-positioned to play a role in this transformation.