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On 1st August at approximately 12:20 UTC, the cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin formally began a process to fork – or split into two- creating Bitcoin Cash, a new currency. It is unclear exactly what the implications of this will be in the long term but here’s a summary of what we know so far:

One of the first questions you’re almost always asked when you change jobs is “Why are you leaving?”, especially when you walk away from a comfortable role like I just have. The second is “So what will you be doing now?”. Or, as my good friend Matteo Rizzi put it when he found out I was joining 11:FS “Great, now you can explain to me WTF they actually do.”

It’s about trust. Why do banks insist on having everything? Because they think if they only insist on some, they’ll never get the rest.

Fintech is technology used in the financial services industry, insurtech is technology used in a subset of that industry, insurance. And yet while one is typically considered fascinating, worthy of pages of mainstream media coverage, mention of the other is often greeted with eye-rolling outside of specialist circles.

Sam Maule joins 11:FS as Managing Partner, Americas

This week I had the super-smart Mariano Belinky tell me that the current crop of challenger banks are really just ‘better mousetraps’.

A few weeks ago, I outlined the problems with the financial products that supposedly address small and medium sized businesses’ (SMBs) needs, and how they are chronically underserved by incumbent financial institutions (FIs) across all sectors. Since then, we’ve explored how things are changing in the SMB insurance space and delved into the developments in the areas of bank account opening, payments and loans in our podcasts. I’ve also been busy trying to discover, articulate and demonstrate what “best in class” in this industry looks like in my latest research report.

At 11:FS we like to say that digital banking is 1% finished, well the same is true of Open Banking. The unknown potential of the regulation far outstrips what is being done right now. And that potential has caught the imagination of foreign regulators.

Dave Bruno, Co-Founder at YNOME and Head of WM Innovation at UBS, explains how digital can scale wealth management for everyone.

The last few weeks have shone the spotlight on leadership teams at banks and how they have responded to the unprecedented circumstances created by a global pandemic.

Jason Bates interviewed Stephen Barclay, MP – the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, for Fintech Insider Interviews to gauge his views on the UK fintech scene, and the government’s role in facilitating the rise of fintech, how fintech can help the government, what the impact of Brexit will be and the Treasury’s message to the rest of the world.

A three-part series by 11:FS Non-Executive Director, Lisa Gansky Last week Lisa discussed how to become truly digital you must take a leap of faith, ask questions, make a mess and ultimately shake up business models completely. True transformation must fully pervade an organisation’s culture; it must be far more than just a project. Read part 2 in full here

Jason Bates interviewed Xero CEO and Founder, Rod Drury ahead of Xerocon, London, all about his background, Xero’s origins, how it expanded into a global presence, their latest partnerships and what people could look forward to at Xerocon.

Should I sell my cryptocurrency? Is all hope lost? Will Bitcoin die? If you were fast asleep, and then suddenly your bed accelerated at high speed, before going upside down and doing loops. You'd be pretty shocked, right? I mean, my dreams can be pretty out there at times but I mean like your actual bed moving like a rollercoaster.

The first few weeks of 2017 bombarded us with articles predicting the future of FinTech and financial services. Chris Skinner, our Non-Executive Director at 11:FS, analysed them all and identified the top 11 trends that the leading banking and FinTech experts agree we should be following now.