Articles

Loyalty is broken. ‘We appreciate your loyalty’ greetings don’t fool anyone. Most of us can recall crappy experiences.

The fintech scene in Asia is booming. In recent years, the region has developed rapidly, with a diverse array of startups and established banks transforming how financial services are delivered and consumed.

Payments in the Middle East are evolving. The payments landscape in the Middle East has stood at an important tipping point for some time.

The U.S. Treasury and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) both hit the headlines with fintech-related announcements. Treasury released a 222-page report on the subject of Nonbank Financials, Fintech, and Innovation, while the OCC almost immediately followed with the news that it would finally begin accepting National Bank Charter applications from fintechs, in line with Treasury recommendations.

How do I create the 5 year plan for 8 software releases a day? This is one of my favourite lines from an old school bank executive. It happened live on stage in front of 500 people when I made the point that challenger banks are now operating at 8 releases per day. It might seem nerdy, but why does it matter how often banks release new software?

Looking to crypto and seeing it simply as a speculative asset class is a common mistake for financial institutions and even regulators. But if you start to look beyond the headlines, you can see there’s untapped potential for banks to better serve the SMB market.

Although they date back to 2014, in 2017 we saw the rapid rise of ‘crypto funds’, or investment funds that invest mainly in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, or other ‘altcoins’. Those offering crypto funds are, in effect, managing digital assets. But what’s the difference between ‘managing digital assets’ and ‘managing assets digitally’? Many asset managers have digitized some analogue processes, but very few asset managers are truly digital in nature. What lessons can we learn from the first few years of those that manage digital assets such as crypto funds?, and how can the end investor benefit?

The FCA have just published their feedback to the Call For Input (CFI) on open finance. Over 160 organisations responded to the call, the results of which are being watched by financial bodies, regulators and companies the world over.

The fintech ecosystem is currently going through an exciting phase. Startups that were once considered young and immature like Monzo, Revolut, or Airwallex have grown into established financial companies. At the same time, incumbent banks are getting better at engaging and investing in fintech. The two worlds are converging and sparking new opportunities for partnerships.

Bonjour! Comment allez-vous? France’s fintech star is rising. With over 1100 of them based in the capital alone, junior minister Cédric O has promised that Paris will eclipse London as the fintech hotspot in Europe in the near-distant future.

Asking the wrong questions will only ever lead to the wrong solutions. That’s why we lean into Jobs to be Done at 11:FS. It’s based on the notion that there’s no use in asking what the customer wants, because they don’t actually know. This is taken from our Unfiltered newsletter. Subscribe now for a no BS, uncensored analysis of fintech news and hot topics delivered to your inbox each fortnight.

11:FS has come a long way in a short time, and as the company has grown up, so must the branding. It's time to sit down, take stock of how we look and sound and fine-tune our identity.

The financial services sector in the Middle East has seen a surge in both innovation and investment in recent years, showing signs that 2024 will be a big year for its fintech scene. But what brands do you need to watch out for?

We were lucky enough to catch up with Ben Metz, Head of Digital at Jack Henry. Here, he predicts who’ll come out on top in the banking war: the traditional players or the challengers, and what will decide who wins and loses.