Managers and workers have the opposite opinions of remote work, Satya Nadella says, but the data doesn’t lie.
Key messages
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Research
Work Trends: Employees Feel the Opposite but the ‘Data doesn’t lie’ | Women Leaving Companies at Highest Rate Ever
Fortune | Jane Thier | Oct 17, 2022
Managers and workers have the opposite opinions of remote work, Satya Nadella says, but the data doesn’t lie.
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella released latest Work Trends Study revealing a paradox:
- Employees: 87% of employees say they’re more productive when they work remotely or in a hybrid setup
- Employers: 85% of employers say it’s difficult to have confidence in their workers’ productivity levels when they’re not in-person.
See: Pros and Cons of a Distributed Workforce
- Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s VP of modern work:
- “While you might get a lot of data from tracking this type of employee activity, I can confidently say it’s the wrong data,” he wrote. “And surveillance doesn’t just lead to bad data—it undermines trust, a critical factor in organizational success that, once lost, is incredibly difficult to regain.
- Really make sure that you’re very clear, as leaders and managers, about what the goals of the company or the team are, setting the norms for how people collaborate, and communicate.
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CNBC Make It | Morgan Smith | Oct 18, 2022
'Disastrous': Women leaders are leaving companies at the highest rate ever
- According to new data from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company: "Women in the Workplace" report, which surveyed 22,000 women and 18,000 men
- Increasingly important to women that they work for companies that prioritize career advancement, flexibility, employee well-being as well as diversity, equity and inclusion — and they're leaving their companies in unprecedented numbers when these needs aren't met.
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Lareina Yee, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co.:
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Let's be clear: Women aren't saying they don't want to work. They're breaking up with companies because they're confident they will get an opportunity to advance somewhere else, which is something we haven't seen before … it really speaks to the fact that loyalty has its limits.
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See:
Reg CF in the U.S. Created 300,000 Jobs and Boon for Local Economies, Women. and Minorities Seeking Funding
Venture Capitalists Dislike Women More Than They Like Profit
- More than half (58%) of women under 30 say career advancement has become more important to them over the past two years, compared to 31% of women leaders.
- Gen Z and millennials value professional development opportunities more than other generations do, numerous studies have shown, and this consistently ranks as a top priority for younger generations when choosing a new employer.
It's a disastrous situation … you're not promoting enough women into the leadership ranks, and now you have more women leaving leadership roles
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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McKinsey: Embedded Finance – Who Will Capture the Value? Risk vs Reward
McKinsey & Co | Andy Dresner, Albion Murati, Brian Pike, and Jonathan Zell | Oct 13, 2022
New Small businesses may never interact with a conventional bank to open a deposit account, order a debit card, and meet most of their financing needs.
- The operators of these platforms are not usually banks. Rather, they are software companies that partner with banks and technology providers to embed financial products into a single seamless, convenient, and easy-to-use customer experience.
See: Bain & Co Embedded Finance Report: What It Takes to Prosper in the New Value Chain
- This new form of partnership between banks, technology providers, and distributors of financial products via nonfinancial platforms underpins what has been hailed as the embedded-finance revolution.
- Sitting at the intersection of commerce, banking, and business services, payments has been one of the first use cases of embedded finance, and a large number of the aspiring embedded-finance providers originate from the payments industry.
- embedded finance reached $20 billion in revenues in the United States alone in 2021, according to McKinsey’s market-sizing model. According to our estimates, the market could double in size within the next three to five years.
- Digitalization: The digitization of commerce and business management has massively expanded opportunities to embed finance in nonfinancial customer experiences.
- As much as 33 percent of global card spending—50 percent in the US—now takes place online, with a large portion of small and midsize companies in the US relying on software solutions for managing their business
- Time has come: As digital natives came of age, they expanded the pool of consumers and businesses open to receiving all their financial services via digital platforms.
- Open-banking innovation, supported by mandates in the European Union and market-led adoption in the US, has helped unlock latent demand by enabling third-party fintech players to access consumers’ banking data and even conduct transactions on their behalf.
- For a nonbank company acting as a distributor, embedded finance offers a way to enhance the customer experience and create a new source of revenue without incurring the overhead associated with operating a bank.
See: McKinsey Global Banking: Revenue pools moving to customer-ownership with embedded digital financial services
- Risks: likely to remain a constraint on growth, however, as products that require case-by-case assessment, in-person touchpoints, or regulatory waiting periods, such as commercial real estate financing, are less susceptible to end-to-end digitization. Despite these constraints, we estimate that products suitable for offering via embedded finance could account for as much as 50 percent of banking revenue pools
- Adapt to B2B2C and B2B2B sales motions. Although some financial institutions operate with channel partners, many are accustomed to serving end customers directly. Those using direct channels will need to build a new set of capabilities to support distributors in selling embedded-finance products to their consumer or business customers.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Galloway: Life Expectancy – China Pulls Ahead of the U.S.
Scott Galloway | Oct 17, 2022
The average Chinese person will live longer than the average American, due to Covid’s toll on the U.S.
• The U.S. already had a lower life expectancy than many developed countries. Now it’s at 76.6 years, the lowest since 1996.
• Covid knocked off two years from the average American’s lifespan.
• China’s zero-Covid policy resulted in an increase in life expectancy by about 0.2 years. (Though, granted, quarantine camps are no fun.)
• Over the past 70 years, China’s average life expectancy has doubled, from 35-40 to 77 years — one of the most rapid sustained increases in documented history.
Continue to watch on youtube --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Deloitte: 2023 Banking and Capital Markets Outlook | ‘A new global economic order seems imminent’
Deloitte | Monica O'Reilly, Anna Celner, Deron Weston, Val Srinivas | Oct 17, 2022
Key messages
- The global economy is in a fragile and fractious state. While most banks are on sound footing, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ongoing supply chain and energy shocks, persistent inflation, and tightening monetary policy will be felt unevenly across the industry.
- Meanwhile, escalation of geopolitical risks, deglobalization, and fracturing payments systems are pushing the world toward a new economic order.
See: NCFA Open Banking Current State in Canada with Senator Colin Deacon and Mahi Sall
- These forces will likely have implications for global money flows: how, where, and when capital and liquidity are demanded; and the ways every actor in the financial system interacts with one another.
- To navigate through these uncharted waters, banks should reassess traditional product, service, and industry boundaries to create new sources of value. Such opportunities may exist in a number of areas, including embedded finance, tokenized assets, financial technology, digital identity, or green finance. Some banks have begun this journey, but many could fall behind.
- The pandemic tested banking leaders’ conviction, and it is about to be tested again. Nonetheless, banks
should not lose sight of their role as financial intermediaries in the new global economic order.
Retail banking: Envisioning new ways to serve and engage with customers
- Retail banking customers are also expecting more from their banks. In particular, they are clamoring for a superior cross-channel experience and hands-on guidance during challenging times. These heightened demands will require banks to go beyond a product lens and create customer experiences that are data-driven, consistent across channels, and complete with personalized advice.
See: Three ways open banking could impact wealth management
- In the long term, banks should develop inventive new applications for ESG, embedded finance, and digital assets. These efforts should prioritize empowering customers with initiatives targeting racial equity, decarbonization, and data security.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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BoC: Bitcoin Ownership in Canada Jumped to 13% in 2021
Bank of Canada | Daniela Balutel, Walter Engert, Christopher Henry, Kim Huynh, Marcel Voia | Oct 12, 2022
As mentioned in the Bank of Canada’s Financial System Review, cryptoasset markets have been growing rapidly in recent years and have become somewhat more integrated into the traditional financial system. The results of the 2021 Bitcoin Omnibus Survey provide a wealth of information on the extent to which Canadians are aware of, own and use Bitcoin. The survey results also provide some comparable information on alternative digital currencies. Here are five takeaways from this survey:
1. Bitcoin ownership among Canadians increased sharply in 2021: The share of Canadians owning Bitcoin rose from 5% in 2018–20 to 13% in 2021
- Bitcoin purchasers in 2020 and 2021 relied increasingly on mobile apps to buy their Bitcoin. Purchasers used mobile apps much more than web-based exchanges, mining or visiting a Bitcoin ATM.
See: Bank of Canada Staff Paper: Bitcoin Adoption and Beliefs in Canada
2. Most Canadians are aware of Bitcoin - about 90% in 2021
3. Main reason in Bitcoin ownership is for Investment - followed by interest in new technologies
4. Most Bitcoin owners own small amounts - In 2021, the median amount of Bitcoin held was Can$500 worth, and 70% of Bitcoin owners held the equivalent of Can$5,000 or less.
5. Large price corrections are the most common incident reported by cryptoasset owners - In 2021, 25% of cryptoasset owners reported that their holdings had at some point lost significant value in a price crash
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Download the 59 page PDF analysis --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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BNY Mellon: Collaboration Between Banks and Fintechs Key to Avoid Client Disintermediation
BNY Mellon | Oct 10, 2022
BNY Mellon, in collaboration with Aite-Novarica Group, today released a report finding that financial institutions (FIs) servicing business clients are being disintermediated by fintech payment providers. But it also found that banks are slowing the trend by partnering with larger banks who have already built connections to fintechs.
- Survey: The findings of the report – produced in collaboration with Aite – are based on feedback from a survey of 790 employees of midsized and large organizations in seven North American and European countries.
- Innovation lag spurs disintermediation: With today’s capital constraints, regulatory burdens and cost pressures, it can be challenging for financial institutions (FIs) to keep up with the pace of change and abundance of choice in payments. Because of this lag, businesses can sometimes be enticed to circumvent their banks by engaging directly with fintechs to solve for points of friction in the payments process.
See: Canada’s Open Banking Journey: Interview with Huw Davies, Chief Commercial Officer OZONE API (UK)
- Collaboration enables opportunities: This so-called “disintermediation” is amping up the sense of competition between FIs and fintechs, but also enabling many opportunities for innovation and operation between them — with both sides having much to gain. The potential for collaboration is driving a surge in innovation as the industry races to meet new end-user demands. The future of payments should see a lot more synergies between banks and fintechs as they collaborate on new ways to drive growth.
- In this research, several supporting trends have been identified:
- Qualitiative:
- Many FIs are modifying their strategy roadmaps to partner and collaborate with fintechs to bring better, more robust capabilities to market quicker than they could by utilizing only internal resources and development teams.
- Overall, businesses report that they would actually rather partner with an FI than have to seek other third-party fintech providers.
- Some 62% of businesses are already working with a fintech provider and 28% are working with multiple fintech providers.
- Only 34% of businesses feel that their FI fully understands their needs when it comes to payments. This represents a large opportunity for FIs to invest and differentiate to meet the individual needs of their end clients, including by partnering up with other banks or purchasing white-labeled solutions.
- Qualitiative:
See: UK banks publish fintech collaboration toolkit
- Almost 60% of businesses report that the speed of payment and settlement is the biggest gap in their current payment strategy.
- An overwhelming 88% of businesses have already made a significant investment in improving their payment technologies or processes, and this number is expected to remain high.
View the original release --> here
Download the 13 page PDF report --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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EY Handbook: Key Priorities for Fintechs to Sustainably Grow from Start-up to Scale-up
EY UK | Christopher Woolard, Tom Bull, Anita Kimber, and Tom Hill | Oct 11, 2022
The impressive rise of the UK FinTech sector can be attributed largely to firms that have managed a successful transition from start-up, to scale their businesses to reach more customers, expand internationally and make an exponentially larger impact. This transition can be very difficult to make even for firms that have great technology, attractive products and experienced leadership teams. Indeed, the Kalifa Review – an independent, Treasury-commissioned study of UK FinTech’s growth opportunities – identified the scale-up stage as one of the most difficult points for UK FinTechs.
See: Market Downturns are a Great Time to Build a Startup, or are they?
Scale-up definition: While the precise definitions of scale-ups can vary, 20% growth in both revenue and employee headcount for at least two years is a fairly common benchmark. To be clear, the growth journeys of both start-ups and scale-ups are fluid and non-linear and each face unique challenges and opportunities.
1. Develop and motivate a winning team: While a clear vision, an ambition to innovation and sophisticated technology are all key components of FinTech success, a skilled, motivated and cohesive team might be the single most important factor.
2. Manage complex risks and regulations: A strong risk management framework goes beyond regulatory compliance to strengthen decision-making in support of sustainable growth. In addition, many firms have to navigate authorisations as their business grows.
3. Build effective, resilient and scalable tech and operations: Agile-at-scale frameworks can be viable solutions for some firms navigating this challenge.
4. Sharpen customer focus and engagement: Most scale-up FinTechs need to sharpen their value propositions to attract mainstream consumers and adopt more sophisticated, insight-driven marketing techniques to extend reach and strengthen engagement.
See: Interview with Inter CEO: Insights into the Super App’s Success
5. Finance and funding with speed, rigour and insight: need strong finance teams to address reporting and tax requirements and navigate more detailed regulatory scrutiny and contribute to informed and confident decision-making Highly automated processes for reporting, reconciliation and other core tasks free finance teams to focus on insight generation and high-value work.
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Register to Download EY's 54 page interactive Scale-up handbook (PDF) --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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