December 2021

Hi there,

This month’s newsletter...

1. Fizzy or frothy? - The findexable round-up of 2021 📆

2. Main Feature: Fintech in Asia: Asia Pacific Rankings  🌏

3. Upcoming Research: The Gulf Region Fintech Rankings 📈

4. Get involved: Diversity for Growth - It’s Time to Act ⏲️

5. Global Partnership Network: Fintech in Bulgaria 🇧🇬

6. findexable live ...at the FF Awards 🏆

Future-fit finance
Choppy. But chipper…

2021 - Fizzy or frothy?
A year that kicked off with fatalistic fears for the future is ending with heady exuberance.. There are now more fintech hubs than ever - our Global Rankings in partnership with Mambu added 50 new fintech hubs to the Global Fintech Index. 

On top of that, valuations are (way) up, fintechs everywhere are proving they’re more than capable of (out)competing banks, and there’s never been a better time to be looking for a tech job. 

Great news for talent. Tougher news for talent seekers. While the fintech party rages - and there’s little sign of it slowing down in 2022 - competition for talent will reach unprecedented levels. And not just because the pandemic (we had to get it in somewhere!?) has made remote and hybrid working the new reality. 

At the end of 2021, as employees at all levels reassess personal and professional priorities, culture is going to become as much a consideration of which company to work for as location and benefits. 

Beyond the ping pong table

Unfortunately though culture is no longer defined by beanbags and a ping pong table. The launch of the Fintech Diversity Radar in partnership with Chargebacks911 and GPS last month showed why - nearly 9 in 10 fintechs have no women leaders. A sea-change is needed now.

Post-pandemic building a future-fit business is about what you do - what difference you make - and who you are (as a team). In 2022 we kick off our mission to make diversity synonymous with fintech. To build better businesses, to improve performance. To be future-fit. And we hope you’ll join us. 

We’d like to thank our Global Fintech Index partner Mambu, partners, subscribers and supporters for making 2021 the year that changed fintech and we look forward to seeing you in 2022.

Merry Christmas and a (very) fizzy New Year.

Simon Hardie

simon@findexable.com

Fintech in Asia: Defining success at scale - Asia Pacific Fintech Index Rankings

Join us and Mambu tomorrow - 1 December 2021 at 09:00 London 15:00 Singapore 20:00 Sydney - for the launch of the Asia Pacific Fintech Rankings to see how Asia’s fintechs are making the Asian Century a reality. 

From Singapore to Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia the region is creating scale giants that are redefining digital banking, cross border payments - and through the growth in platforms and buy-now-pay-later scaleups - even the nature of digital commerce itself. 

Attend our webcast and download our report to see what’s happening on the ground: 

Speakers:

• Myles Bertrand, Managing Director APAC, Mambu, Singapore
• Bryan Carroll, Co-founder & CEO, TNEX, Vietnam
• Yosia Sugialam, Co-founder, Paper.id, Indonesia
• Arvind Sankaran, Board Member, Fintech Consultant, Asia Development Bank, Singapore

During the webcast we’ll be looking behind the scenes at the Global Fintech Index Asia Pacific Regional Rankings to understand what’s driving success, which markets are building the next generation of unicorns, and opportunities for investors, financial institutions and innovators. 

Register here to attend the live webcast and get your copy of the Asia Pacific Fintech Rankings Report.

New research: Gulf Region Fintech Rankings with Fintech Saudi

After the launch of the 2021 Global Fintech Rankings, findexable is launching a series of regional rankings reports focusing on the drivers and changemakers across different regions around the world. This kicked off with a review of the Asia Pacific fintech landscape in November and will be followed by this overview of the Gulf and Saudi ecosystems in early 2022.  James Wood updates us on progress to date.

The research has already thrown up some surprising findings. With the country’s Central Bank (SAMA) setting out a roadmap to open banking for the country’s banks, and a regulatory sandbox to enable fintechs to test their products prior to implementation. 

If the UAE is well-known beyond the region for its government support for fintech, then it appears Saudi Arabia is also determined to make its mark. Earlier this year, for instance, SAMA created SAQR (“Falcon”, in Arabic) – a Saudi Arabian QR-code standard that makes P2P payment between any kind of digital wallet possible.

Basem Alsallom, Founder and CEO of Sure Pay, a fintech company that provides a platform to enable digital payments, says that Saudi Arabia stands out in the region and beyond for the backing its government has given the fintech sector: “I honestly believe that when we come to look at the next wave of innovations in global fintech, we’re going to see some of them coming from this region, and Saudi Arabia in particular. We’ve already seen several moves to enable a cashless society, including an initiative to create a blockchain-based currency between Saudi and GCC countries, and enabling debit cards in those two countries to be used like domestic cards in either market. Initiatives like these are supporting economic growth and making a difference for consumers.

Building future-fit finance
Diversity for Growth: Time for Action

The Fintech Diversity Radar Diversity for Growth report revealed startling statistics about gender inequality in fintech. 

Just 14% of senior positions are currently occupied by women globally - but every crisis presents an opportunity - a topic discussed in our Fintech Diversity Radar launch at Financial Inclusion Week. 

At findexable, we’re on a mission. We want to reach 30% of women in fintech leadership by 2030. But we can’t do this alone: we need collaboration from companies worldwide to tackle the challenge head on.

How can you help? We are looking to partner with organizations on 3 key initiatives for 2022:

• Drive awareness of the importance of diversity in fintech
• Launch the FDR1000 index: tracking 2000+ private market new entrant fintech firms globally
• Make diversity a commercial driver for fintech firms with our custom scorecards

Do you want to generate real change to build the future of finance?  

Download our Media Kit to find out how we can work together.

Global Partnership Network - Fintech in Bulgaria

Fintech is proliferating in every part of the world. This month we take a look at Bulgaria’s growing fintech ecosystem.

With more than 135 fintech companies now based in the country and a strong community of technology talent, download the report by our Partnership network member the Bulgarian Fintech Association here to find what’s happening in this emerging fintech nation.

findexable live … at the FF Awards

Last night, we met with friends at the fabulous FF Awards ceremony - a positive end to 2021. Wishing all our friends in the fintech space a happy Christmas and wonderful festive season for those who don't celebrate Christmas.

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