Reports of the demise of the Fintech sector may be somewhat premature, based on the optimistic mood prevailing at last week's Intersekt Festival, hosted by Fintech Australia.Despite many (or most) Fintechs doing it tough, there was still much to share and celebrate across a program covering the latest Fintech innovations.Fintech Editor, Ben Ford, appeared on the Fintech Chatter podcast discussing the hot topics arising from the two-day conference, as well as some of the other major talking points (beginning at 11 minutes).https://tieronepeople.com/2022/09/13/intersekt-review-2022/

Despite encountering some choppy waters of late, the Australian Fintech ecosystem is still strong & weathering the storm well.Last night's Fintech Awards saw 22 gongs handed out with Dom Pym of Up and Josh Vernon of Wagestream repeating their victories at the Fintech Australia 'Finnies' Awards last month.Zepto, Basiq, WeMoney and Cache were amongst the other big winners on the night.The full list of winners is here: https://australianfintech.com.au/the-winners-of-the-7th-annual-fintech-awards-2022-have-been-announced/

Many crimes are typically committed for financial gain. The same applies to cybercrime which is being conducted more frequently for financial gain. Financial fraud incidences have increased in tandem with the enormous expansion in the usage of Mobile banking, Internet banking, Mobile Wallets, e-commerce, and online share trading. Israel is renowned for being a leader in Fintech innovation and cyber security. Also regarded as a “Start-up Nation” over the past three decades, she has been at the forefront of developing solutions that have improved the security of countries and even organizations. See six of the top companies from Israel: https://israeltrade.org.au/2022/07/27/israeli-trusted-solutions-in-financial-fraud-detection/

I’m an avid fan of David Brear and the whole 11:FS team (even Jimmy). Recently David wrote about Features vs Feelings and JTBD (link below).It’s so obvious when you think about it. No-one wakes up excited to get a loan, open a bank account or transfer money. There are however triggers, whether emotional or transactional to make someone’s life better and sometimes not their own. For the Fintechs out there, have a read and think about what your product is doing for your customers and how it can make their life better. That’s how you win.  

This week we’re going off road and into the ocean! Ocean Impact Organisation announced their inaugural cohort for their 2022 Accelerator Program which I’m proud to be supporting as a mentor. What’s this got to do with Fintech? Well, there’s some loose crossover, everyone’s a Fintech when it comes to money in and money out! But really this is just a shout out for something great and impactful that’s happening, so we don’t have to hear about how bad our stocks and crypto are doing today. Check out the cohort here: https://www.ocean-impact.org/accelerator-program-2022-cohortAnd read the Press Release: https://bit.ly/3MowHT2

Fed up with the great resignation? How hard it is out there to find people? Is it a lack of talent? Big tech hoarding? Overinflated salaries? Big tech are secretly laying off up to 30% of staff, managing reduced valuations and increasing costs. This trickles down to startups as a resetting of valuations and raises. Fintech's will need to do more with less. But as the great resignation turns into the great redundancy, maybe the gravy train is over. Can Fintech pickup talent searching for a new home? Perhaps, but there might be a slight re-adjustment on salary expectations.https://www.smartcompany.com.au/opinion/adam-schwab-tech-layoffs-jobs/