As the Saudi fintech market matures, a new challenge is emerging. Most fintech interactions, whether payments, BNPL, or other services, remain fundamentally transactional.

Loyalty is defined as “a strong feeling of support or allegiance”. However, in the context of financial services, it is more accurately defined as engineered persistence: a series of subconscious cues that steer customers toward familiar choices.

As our financial lives become more complex, there is a growing expectation for banks to offer more support, be more relevant, and generate greater everyday value. One of the clearest places this shift is starting to show up is in subscription banking.

Most AI deployments so far have focused on AI that “talks”, which can search, summarise, and draft content to support employees. The next wave is different: AI agents that “do” are starting to take bounded actions inside workflows, moving cases forward and coordinating steps end-to-end, with humans kept in control where it matters.

While consumer-focused fintech has seen waves of innovation since the early 2000s, the small and medium-sized business (SMB) sector has remained comparatively underserved.

Unlocking agentic AI’s upside demands rethinking how humans and systems share control, rebuilding data and API foundations, and scaling autonomy in measured steps with rigorous human-style QA

In the highly competitive insurance sector, customer experience is a critical differentiator. While insurers focus on policy features and premiums, the claims payout process is often overlooked, creating a significant point of friction.
At one of our Truly Digital After Dark events, Anne Boden said “if you call yourself digital, you’re not digital”.
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.

UBS is buying Credit Suisse in bid to halt banking crisis, FCA warns payment firms over ‘unacceptable risk of harm to customers’, and Stripe now valued at $50B following $6.5B raise – Ross Gallagher and Kate Moody are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

David M. Brear is joined by some great guests, from 11:FS, Google, and Weavr, to discuss how cloud services and FinOps as a practice can help financial services in these economically difficult times.

Silicon Valley Bank closed by regulators, HSBC buys Silicon Valley Bank's UK unit for £1, and Succession's Logan Roy comes to the London Stock Exchange – Kate Moody and Benjamin Ensor are joined by some great guests, from Innovate Finance and Fintech Takes, to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

Abound raises to supercharge AI-powered consumer lending, BaaS platform Griffin secures UK banking licence with restrictions , and people are posting their failed Monzo applications on TikTok –Ross Gallagher and David Barton-Grimley are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

Kate Moody is joined by some great guests, from Dawn Capital, JP Morgan Chase, and Your Juno, to discuss if financial services is currently doing enough for women.

Natwest’s Rose Review reveals record new firms founded by women, JP Morgan bans ChatGPT, and should you tip your landlord? – Benjamin Ensor is joined by some great guests, from Anthemis, Brite Payment, and Seccl, to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

David Barton-Grimley is joined by some great guests, from Ampla, Fiat Republic, and HSBC, to give examples of how embedded finance can find scale and make a profit.

Our expert host, David Barton-Grimley, is joined by a fantastic guest from M-Pesa to continue exploring the world of Super Apps.

Vexi raises to offer young Mexicans lower interest rate credit cards, gig workers denied equal opportunity to financial services, and BMO bank no longer has a den for Hubert the Harris Lion – Kate Moody and Benjamin Ensor are joined by some great guests, from Vexi and Rollee, to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

EL. EF. GEE. Today we bring you: a deep dive into web2.5 and our very first case study! On this show, we're taking a closer look at the current state of web 2.5, and the history and impact of WalletConnect on web2.5 and web3 advancements. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

US fintech unicorn Alloy launches in the UK, Britain sets out legislation to regulate buy-now-pay-later credit, and CIBC encourages couples to talk about their finances this Valentine's Day – Benjamin Ensor and Amy Gavin are joined by some great guests, from Alloy, Klarna, and BetaKit, to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last seven days.

David M. Brear is joined by some great guests, from Visa, PaySky, and Careem, to really dig into the question: "What is stopping Super Apps from succeeding outside Asia?”

Ross Gallagher and Kate Moody are joined by some great guests, from Atom Bank and Fintech Finance, to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Tech Nation’s shutdown sparks fears for UK fintech, Stripe tells employees it will decide on an IPO within the next year, and 6-year-old boy spends $1k on Grubhub.

Ross Gallagher is joined by some great guests, from 11:FS, Zopa, and Lightyear, to talk about the impact of design in making a fintech product stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

L.F.G. Mauricio and Catherine bring you a fantastic conversation looking at what it means to be a digital creator today and the global community it creates, with two amazing digital creators taking part in the global Visa Creator Program. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Hey, banks! This might sting a bit. You’re getting loyalty all wrong - and it’s costing you customers. But all is not lost!
The entire world is buzzing about AI, and that ain't changing anytime soon. But as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, what impact will it have on financial services and how people interact with them?
Regulation is essential. It stops banks from going bust or behaving badly.
Lending has been around for thousands of years and is one of the cornerstones of banking.
Mastercard and Visa are the two biggest credit card networks in the world.
We kick off our Decoding: Banks series with a look at the banking landscape today and how we got here.

David M. Brear, our 11:FS CEO, takes us through legacy technology within banks - but of course, with a really cool Lightboard.

There are one billion people globally who can't prove their identity. That's a big problem for accessing financial services.
Inclusive design is a mindset and a process that suggests that you should bring as many people as possible - and the most diverse of voices that you can - into your product design product process, so that you're being truly inclusive. It's designing with people rather that just at them. Charlotte Fereday, Product Director, Ventures, explains what inclusive design is, why it's important, how you can design more inclusively, and answers - how possible is truly inclusive design?
On this episode of Spotlight, 11:FS Crypto Global Strategy Director, Mauricio Magaldi is joined by Ramp Network Co-Founder and CEO, Szymon Sypniewicz. In today's chat, the pair discuss Szymon's career, the current regulatory landscape in crypto, and what the future might hold when it comes to widespread crypto adoption.

The UK banking battlefield has never been more competitive. Customers expectfinancial apps that are personalised, seamless, and that genuinely make a differenc...


The UK banking battlefield has never been more competitive. Customers expectfinancial apps that are personalised, seamless, and that genuinely make a differenc...

