Bigger than AI: The #1 Threat Bosses Face in 2026 | Maha El Dimachki, GFTN | Talk Talks Asia

You know, I've worked with GFTN now for more than 10 years, hosting the Singapore FinTech Festival, or at least one of the stages.

And what I've learned is we don't talk enough as laypeople about how important FinTech is to managing our livelihoods.

You sit right at that junction.

For me, looking at you, listening to you, I sort of think that must be one of the most exciting parts of it is this is so integrated with people's lives.

It's one of my key missions is that I want to break things down when we talk about technology, when we talk about financial services, such that everybody understands it because it does impact all of our lives.

I kind of always talk about finance not as an industry.

I tell people it's not an industry in and of itself.

It fuels the economy.

Transaction happened because of financial services.

Let's think about how it really links into the real economy.

Imagine innovation happening in the agribusiness world, in farming.

Imagine satellite data that will allow you to understand what is the rainfall prediction.

You can harvest at the right time.

You end up with better outcomes for your crop.

How does that translate to a higher score on your credit score so you can get loans? you know, if we're thinking about innovation in healthcare, right, how does that translate to lower premiums for your insurance? So you can see how it links into the real world.

And those are the cases that I get excited about.

How do we create entrepreneurship and fintech financial innovation that will solve some of these real world problems? That's what gets me out of bed every day.

I'm old enough to remember a time where you walked into a bank, you bank check, right? If you wanted a get a mortgage, you actually have to sit down and have a face-to-face meeting with someone.

Today, it's a completely different experience.

You can literally do everything on your phone.

You

can pay for things with your phone.

You can get new financial products through your phone.

But then it creates this really disconnected relationship, not seeing another human face when you're deploying your hard-earned cash, something that you've put your heart and soul into.

I worry about that a little bit.