SHIFT Community Update #25
Tips, Innovation Labs, and Good Podcasts
Hey SHIFT Community, here’s your fortnightly update!
A new law means employers must pass on all tips to staff. Whilst cash tips belong to staff, until today companies could choose whether to keep tips made by card.
80% of tips are now done via card and it is estimated this law will mean an extra £200 million will be taken home by millions of workers.
Just another reason to ditch cash in hand. Though there might be an admin nightmare for employers trying to distribute tips!
SHIFT Updates
💸Quarterly Event: Investor Alignment: Finding The Right Fit. Thursday 21st November at 6:30pm; our final big quarterly event of the year is in collaboration with Google. Speakers are being announced weekly on our linkedin. This is going to be a big one, so make sure to grab your tickets before they go!
💡 Supertech West Midlands launches the new Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) challenge. Working in collaboration with eight industry partners (us being one of them!), the programme is focused on transforming customer outcomes through the application of innovative solutions.
Member Updates
👋 We have welcomed some awesome new SHIFT members including (you can find them in the #introductions channel on Slack):
Kate McKinney, Co-Founder of BabyReady Finance, on a mission to empower parents and future parents with the financial tools and knowledge they need to confidently navigate the financial challenges of parenthood!
🤖 Bud launches Agentic Banking a consumer agent to help individuals optimise their finances and deliver a truly personalised banking experience to increase deposits and improve customer lifetime value.
🎧New SHIFT podcast episode with Joss Tasker. In our latest Fintech Diaries, Joss, the founder of Sync Savings, discusses her mission to transform how people save and build financial resilience.
🤝Sikoia partners with OMS. This collaboration marks a significant leap forward in improving mortgage processing efficiency enabling thousands of OMS users access to AI-driven tools.
If you have news that you want to be included here then make sure to post it in the #news-and-views channel on Slack or tag kyle in your posts!
Partner Events
🌟 We are hosting a panel at the Open Banking Expo! Make sure to get a ticket and save your schedule for the 16th October at 11:45 to listen to new voices, representing overlooked institutions like Building Societies, Small Banks and Business Banks. We aim to highlight the limitations and changes we need to get every financial institution on board with open finance. You can also claim a 20% discount with code SOF20 and potentially get a huge discount on exhibiting just give me a message ;).
📈Nauta Capital, hiring and growing teams. On the 8th October, Nauta are hosting an event specifically for hiring and growing teams at early stage, would love to see you there if you are around!
🌐 The Data Economy, Globalisation of Open Banking. On the 14th of October, the Data Economy are hosting an event focused on the importance of policy and standards harmonisation.
Resource Recommendation
Truelayer financials and what it means for Open Finance
Truelayer is the biggest open banking/finance player in the European market. They are Stripes open banking partner, have over 10 million users, and have raised $250 million.
However, year after year their losses are stacking up. This year with over £12million in revenue (Huge 248% growth) they made a loss of £55 million. Having just £51m in the bank last year and cutting its headcount from 434 to 346, cash must be a top priority.
Truelayer present an interesting case study on VCs 2020s growth over profitability attitude and we will see in the next few years if the risk paid off. If Truelayer go under there is concern that years of progress and trust building for UK Open Banking may be lost.
If there are any resources you find enjoyable, useful, or interesting then let me know :)