Couchonomics Reels

Nearly a quarter of family offices have faced a cybersecurity breach. Yet over 20% still don’t have protection in place. J.P. Morgan’s 2024 Global Family Office Report digs into this and more. Here’s some of what I found interesting: 🔸 80% of family offices work with external advisors, and they’re targeting a return of 11% on average. 🔸 Family principals are still calling the shots on investments, especially in the U.S., where 56% handle it directly. 🔸 Succession planning and governance are top priorities, but there’s still work to be done on these fronts. 🔸 Cybersecurity is a major gap. 24% of offices have already been breached, yet many still haven’t put measures in place. 🔸 The average family office spends over $6 million a year, with some hitting the $10 million mark. It’s impressive to see how family offices are adapting, but there’s clearly more work ahead. #FamilyOffices #WealthManagement #Cybersecurity #couchonomics #payments #fintech #embeddedfinance #digitalassets #futureofmoney #futureoffinance Couchonomics with Arjun Couchonomics Crunch Fintech Tuesdays - ⁠- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you found the above post useful then please do the following: 👍 Like the post ♻️ Repost to your community 📢 Leave a comment 🎙️ Subscribe to my podcast Couchonomics with Arjun on YouTube 📖 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter on LinkedIn: Couchonomics Crunch 🕺💃 If you’re in the MENA region, join our Fintech Community called Fintech Tuesdays 🤝 Connect or Follow me - ⁠- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Couchonomics with Arjun is a 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ episodes young 💪 ….. Here is a #shoutout to our #superstar 🦸♀️🦸 guests who joined me on the #couch (in person or virtually) from across the MENA region and beyond over the past 3 seasons.   For me, Couchonomics with Arjun has been about having candid, insightful, and interesting discussions with some of the most #brilliant minds and influential folks from across the financial services ecosystem (and sometimes beyond). It is a classroom of learning for me and I hope it proved to be #insightful and useful to the viewers and listeners who tuned into the show over the last few years. We apparently have had over 3 million views 🌟🌟🌟since the beginning.   I was fortunate enough to have visionary founders, innovators, change-agents, industry leaders, investors and policy makers who joined me on the #couch and willingly shared their insights. Thank you to all for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us—together, we continue to build and grow a vibrant, selfless, and collaborative community which is committed to shaping the future of finance in our region and beyond! Never in my wildest imaginations, I could have ever imagined having hosted such an amazingly diverse set of individuals on the 🛋️ when I started the show.   There is a lot more work which needs to be done and I am hoping we can continue this #journey 🛣️ in the future. We have received lots of feedback on how to continue improving the show, including greater #gender #diversity, more guests from beyond the MENA region, more episodes dedicated to early-stage #startups, and more guest who hail from other sectors which are now a part of the ever expanding financial services sector. We will strive to respond to all of these inputs and will need your help to make it happen.   In the meantime, please go through the carousel where one page is dedicated to all the 100+ guests who have been part of this journey. Thank you and here’s to many more enlightening conversations ahead!👉 Couchonomics Crunch Fintech Tuesdays #Couchonomics #100Episodes #fintech #digitalassets #futureoffinance #payments #menaregion

Sharing a useful resource on Charlie Munger's mental models that I recently came across. Here are my favorite 5 his mental models: 1. Inversion: Work your way backwards. Instead of just figuring out how to succeed, ask what you should avoid to prevent failure. 2. Compound interest: This one I'm a believer in. Baby steps will lead to huge growth over time. Apply this to anything and you'll see for yourself. 3. Margin of safety: Have a buffer for when things don't go as planned in decisions or investments. 4. Occam’s razor: The principle that the simplest explanation is usually the most likely one. 5. Confirmation bias: Our natural tendency to look for information that supports what we already believe. It's funny how some of these frameworks were created decades ago but here we are in 2024 still using them. #Business #DecisionMaking #Finance #couchonomics #payments #fintech #embeddedfinance #digitalassets #futureofmoney #futureoffinance Couchonomics with Arjun Couchonomics Crunch Fintech Tuesdays. - ⁠- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you found the above post useful then please do the following: 👍 Like the post 🔁 Repost to your community 📢 Leave a comment 🎙 Subscribe to my podcast Couchonomics with Arjun on YouTube 📖 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter on LinkedIn: Couchonomics Crunch 🕺💃🏻 If you are in the MENA region, join our Fintech Community called Fintech Tuesdays 🤝 Connect or Follow me - ⁠- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia’s Fintech Growth: 2023 in Review 🇸🇦 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to assert its leadership as a burgeoning regional #fintech hub, showcasing remarkable growth in its ecosystem in 2023. Here are some of the standout achievements from the Annual Fintech Report 2023 by Fintech Saudi | فنتك السعودية, demonstrating how Vision 2030’s goals are turning into tangible results: Rapid Expansion 🚀 216 active fintech companies in 2023—surpassing the target of 150 by 44%! 🚀 6,726 direct #jobs created, more than doubling the original 2023 target of 3,045. Investment Milestones 💰 SAR 6.9Bn in cumulative fintech investments—over 830% more than the 2023 goal of SAR 742Mn 💰 Fintech is well on track to meet the SAR 12.2Bn VC investment target by 2030. Boosting the Economy 📈 Fintech’s contribution to Saudi Arabia’s #GDP hit SAR 3,075Mn, 39% higher than the initial target for 2023. 📈 Non-cash transactions now make up 70% of the economy—up from 63% in just one year! Key Sectors Driving Growth 🏦 The Payments sector saw 70% of retail payments conducted electronically, and 96% of all #POS transactions were contactless. 🏦 The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) sector exploded, with SAR 26.6Bn in GMV and a 178% increase in transactions YoY. 🏦 Open Banking has started its journey, with 318.7K registered users and strong support from #regulators Looking ahead, Saudi Arabia’s fintech #ecosystem is primed for further growth, with emerging trends like Digital Banking, Open Banking, BaaS, Embedded Finance and Alternative Lending leading the charge. As the country works toward its ambitious 2030 targets, it’s clear that fintech will play a critical role in shaping KSA’s #digital economy Saudi Central Bank – SAMA Capital Market Authority هيئة التأمين | Insurance Authority Saudi Credit Bureau - SIMAH Arthur D. Little Fintech Tuesdays Couchonomics with Arjun #Fintechgrowth #KSA #Vision2030 #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #Payments #BNPL #OpenBanking #Investment #baas #embeddedfinance

Blockchain Basics There is no harms for all of us to return to the basics on any emerging topic (especially to do with technologies and business models which are still developing) Attached is an useful resource on the topic of #blockchain. This (book) explains the technical concepts of the blockchain such as ­ transactions, hash values, cryptography, data structures, peer-to-peer systems, distributed systems, system integrity, and distributed consensus in a ­ nontechnical fashion. The didactical approach of this book is based on four elements: ✔️ Conversational 🗣️ style ✔️ No mathematics and no formulas (phew 😮💨 thank God for that) ✔️ Incremental steps 🪜through the problem domain ✔️ Use of metaphors 🐉 and analogie 💬 Print 📕 it or Save 💾 it and I am confident it will be of use in the future - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you found the above post useful then please do the following: 👍 Like the post 🔁 Repost to your community 📢 Leave a comment 🎙️ Subscribe to my podcast Couchonomics with Arjun on YouTube and all the leading podcast platforms 📖 Subscribe to my weekly newsletter on LinkedIn: Couchonomics Crunch 🕺🏽💃 If you are in the MENA region, join our Fintech Community called Fintech Tuesdays 🤝 Connect or Follow me - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #dlt #smartcontracts #distributedledger #immutable #transparent #emergingtechnology #bitcoin #crypto #defi #digitalassets

Our journey to 100 episodes is nearly complete! 🎉 💯 For our 100th episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, I have three “extra special” guests joining me on the  🛋️ (keeping their names still under wraps but here is a hint - all of these guests have appeared previously on the show 🤔) This unique episode will be published tomorrow, Monday, so don’t forget to tune in. A shout-out 🗣️ to everyone who has been a guest on the show (we have had 107 different guests feature across the 100 episodes; all the names are mentioned below in the comments section). Also, a massive THANK YOU 🙏 to everyone who’s listened, shared feedback, provided their selfless support, and been part of this adventure with me over the past three years. This show exists for you and only you 🤩. Finally, to all the Partners and Enablers of the show, none of this would have been possible without you 💪 Hopefully, there will be many more conversations 🎙️ and insights 🔬 to come in the future but for the meantime enjoy this week and tune into the 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th episode. #CouchonomicsWithArjun #FintechPodcast #100thEpisode #PodcastJourney #Milestone #fintech #payments #digitalassets #couchonomics

Couchonomics with Arjun is fortunate enough to be on a bit of a roll these past few weeks 🙏🙏🙏 🩷 Couple of weeks ago, we announced our partnership with Jeel , which will be our home in Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 for the foreseeable future ❤️ We recorded our 99th episode with Sitoyo Lopokoiyit MBS , CEO of M-PESA Africa and are getting all ready for the 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th episode soon 🔜 💙 Couchonomics Crunch , our weekly newsletter which accompanies the podcast just agreed a collab with WhiteSight which is branded as #finception 🧡 Icing on the cake 🎂 is that we are back at Singapore FinTech Festival in a repeat of our last years collaboration with The Founders Peak (primary reason for this post!) It’s an action packed November and December for #couchonomics so please stay tuned and if you haven’t to date then please subscribe to the show on Youtube and all the leading #podcast platforms Visit us on www.couchonomics.com #digitalassets #sustainability #sff2024 #quantumcomputing #aiforgood #crossborderpayments #publicprivatepartnerships #singapore #podcasting

Tokenised assets are set to blow past $4.5 trillion by 2028. They’re growing at an even faster pace than cryptocurrencies. As this shift happens, it's changing the way we think about managing and protecting financial assets. This report looks into the state of tokenisation and how it's transforming asset custody. Here are the key takeaways: 🔶 Custodians are stepping up as important players in managing everything from cryptocurrencies to tokenised securities like NFTs. 🔶The roadblocks for broader adoption are the unclear industry standards and regulatory hurdles. 🔶 The ERC-20 token standard is widely used, but new frameworks like ERC-3643 are emerging to tackle the compliance needs of regualted assets. 🔶 USD stablecoins are leading the way in tokenisation. They offer great potential to cut transaction costs and reduce risks in finance. 🔶 The UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox and the EU’s MiCA Regulation are making tokenisation clearer, but getting everyone to agree global interoperability is still a challenge. 🔶 Custodians will need to expand their services beyond security to include facilitating interoperability, smart contracts, and 24/7 market connectivity. Beyond financial markets, tokenisation will change areas like carbon credit tracking, environmental sustainability, and personalised assets. #fintech #tokenisation #stablecoins

Unplugged by Fintech Tuesdays at #fintechsurge is back this year. Announcing the stellar line up #speakers who will be gracing the ‘Unplugged by Fintech Tuesdays’ stage at the Fintech Tuesdays booth within the Surge Fintech enclosure at Dubai Harbour on the 1️⃣4️⃣th of October 2024 (Monday) Our speakers line up already includes: ⭐️ Christoph Koster , CEO at ruya ⭐️ Nandan Mer, CEO at Network International ⭐️ Jan Pilbauer, CEO at Al Etihad Payments ⭐️ Adeeb Ahamed, MD of LuLu Financial Holdings ⭐️ Jayesh Patel, CEO at Wio Bank ⭐️ Essay Zhu, COO at PayerMax ⭐️ Ramana Kumar A, CEO at Magnati ⭐️ Wael Fakharany, CEO at Edenred UAE ⭐️ Amit Malhotra, Global Retail Head at ADIB - Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank ⭐️ Khaled Talhouni, Mg. Partner at Nuwa Capital ⭐️ Meabh Maguire, Global Commercial Head at CR2 ⭐️ Dave Wallace, Founder of NMD+ ⭐️ Elias Yazbeck, MD at Helios Investment Partners ⭐️ Ronit Ghose , Head of Future of Finance at Citi ⭐️ Saqr Ereiqat , Founder of TDMM | TradeDog Market Manager ⭐️ Tammer , General Partner at VentureSouq ⭐️ Daumantas Grigaravicius , Head of Adyen for Middle East ⭐️ Amith Rajan , EVP and Head of NeoVentures, Mashreq EXACT TIME SLOTS TO FOLLOW SHORTLY We hope to see all fintech and financial services enthusiasts at the FTT booth which is located within the Fintech Surge Enclosure at Dubai Harbour. Please not that GENERAL ENTRY IS FREE so there is no reason at all to miss being part of this amazing experience. Please register on https://lnkd.in/eSiSwJsa. Finally, we will have a similarly impressive line up for startup founders presenting on the 1️⃣3️⃣th October. Details to follow shortly See you on both the 13th and 14th #futureoffinance #fintech #payments #digitalassets #digitalbanking

🔔 Listen Up 🔔 Announcing the stellar line up #speakers who will be gracing the ‘Unplugged by Fintech Tuesdays’ stage at the Fintech Tuesdays booth within the Surge Fintech enclosure at Dubai Harbour on the 1️⃣4️⃣th of October 2024 (Monday) Our ⭐️ studded line up already includes: 💫 Christoph Koster , CEO at ruya 💫 Nandan Mer , CEO at Network International 💫 Jan Pilbauer , CEO at Al Etihad Payments 💫 Adeeb Ahamed , MD of LuLu Financial Holdings 💫 Jayesh Patel , CEO at Wio Bank 💫 Essay Zhu , COO at PayerMax 💫 Ramana Kumar A , CEO at Magnati 💫 Wael Fakharany , CEO at Edenred 💫 Amit Malhotra , Global Retail Head at ADIB - Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank 💫 Khaled Talhouni , Mg. Partner at Nuwa Capital 💫 Meabh Maguire , Global Commercial Head at CR2 💫 Dave Wallace , Founder of NMD+ 💫 Elias Yazbeck , MD at Helios Investment Partners 💫 Ronit Ghose , Head of Future of Finance at Citi 💫 Saqr Ereiqat , Founder of TDMM | TradeDog Market Manager 💫 Tammer Qaddumi , General Partner at VentureSouq 💫 Daumantas Grigaravicius , Head of Adyen for Middle East 💫 Amith Rajan , EVP and Head of NeoVentures, Mashreq EXACT TIME SLOTS TO FOLLOW SHORTLY I can assure you that you will never get to hear and engage with a line up like this on one stage in one day 👍👍👍 What I loved ❤️ was the willingness among our speakers to support the initiative. They all wanted to come and engage with our #community in a candid and frank manner. I call on all fintech and financial services #enthusiasts to spend your day on the 14th with us. GENERAL ENTRIES ARE FREE so there is no reason at all to miss being part of this amazing experience. Exact times will be shared with you all shortly; in the meantime please register on https://lnkd.in/eSiSwJsa. Finally, we will have a similarly impressive line up for startup founders presenting on the 1️⃣3️⃣th October. Details to follow shortly See you on both the 13th and 14th #futureoffinance #fintech #payments #digitalassets #digitalbanking