
It's a truism that the hardest job in engineering is that of 'Tech Lead'. You're the person who's not only writing code, but simultaneously leading a small group of other engineers and spending large amounts of time talking to stakeholders and the Product Manager (or, ten years ago, *Project* Manager). 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.

As we roll into 2018 thoughts inevitably turn to the big themes that we might expect (and hope) to see for user experience in the financial services industry this year.

Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) is a theory. Its main aim is to explain why customers start - and stop - using different products and services in the market. Stripped down to the essentials, it’s a fairly straightforward concept first introduced by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen that can be adapted into a useful tool for product development.

There’s been a huge leak of files from FinCEN, the US-based Financial Crime Enforcement Network. Over 2000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and hundreds of other documents appear to show how banks have been unable to prevent trillions in money laundering, tax avoidance and criminality over the past decade. But there's a more in-depth story to uncover here.

This is the third instalment of a 6 part series that explores the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) for US SMBs that we identified in our recent research. Each blog post explores one of the jobs and how we examined it with a JTBD canvas. If you missed the first post that explains JTBD and the canvas, check it out before reading this.

David M. Brear interviewed Jonathan Larsen, CIO, Ping An and CEO of their Global Voyager Fund, a $1bn investment fund, specifically for fintech. He tells David all about the fund and the innovations in fintech coming from China and making a huge impact worldwide.

Despite the astronomical price-tag and highly breakable look of early foldable phones, we can confidently predict a future of interesting new design challenges thanks to flexible screens.

At the beginning of 2022, many early-stage investors looked ahead with optimism as we emerged from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, and global economies started to show signs of growth again.

Sharing our stories, our challenges, and the things that truly matter to us. Today we talk to Clouston Mahon who is a UX lead in the 11:FS Pulse team to discuss what makes a great user experience, who is doing it well and looking outside of financial services for inspiration.

In the first part of this series I introduced the story of Frederic Tudor, the American Ice-Block King; and discussed lessons learned from his then new product offering as it relates to blockchain technology. Tudor was able to successfully corner the ice-block shipping market and eventually was shipping blocks of ice to as far away as Calcutta from his home in Boston.

How can community banks remain competitive as large financial institutions gobble up more and more of the market?

How successful have government loan schemes in the UK and US been so far and what’s next?

Guest author Richard Davies gives his thoughts on the importance of scaling agile to all functions of an organisation, and some key factors on how to get there.

11:FS Product Lead Terry Cordeiro reflects on what it’s like to be a new “11” after nearly three months on the job.

You know they say you shouldn’t start a diet and give up smoking at the same time? Or get married and start a new job? Or whatever?

Sarah Kocianski is joined by some great guests from Equinix, Mastercard and RTGS to discuss the long-term business transformation and the need for agile infrastructure in financial services organisations in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Adam Davis and Sarah Kocianski are joined by some great guests to discuss open finance - what it is, how is could work and what learnings it could take from open banking, with an expert panel of guests from Plaid, RBS and the OBIE.

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk through the latest news in the insurtech and insurance world including drones for the NHS and some big funding rounds despite COVID-19!

Sam Maule and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting US news stories of the last 7 days, including: Shopify’s many new announcements and move into fintech; Bank of America leak exposes business details of PPP relief applicants as applications across the board decline; and Animal Crossing offers new ways for people to make money in lockdown.

David Brear and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: The challenges facing challenger banks in the current climate, Freetrade’s record-breaking raise and PayPal sees a rise in 'silver tech' as older generations test digital payments for the first time. All this and much more on today's episode!

Sarah Kocianski and Adam Davis are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: A round up of the pandemic and financial aid stories on both sides of the pond; Sofi and Samsung Pay team up for a debit card; and Mastercard's massive new pledge for financial inclusion.

Sam Maule is joined by some great guests to talk about US SMBs - not specifically about their fight for funding in the wake of Covid-19 this time - but their options when it comes to banking more broadly, and how to design digital financial services that work for them.

Simon Taylor and Sarah Kocianski are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: RBS closes Bó, big banks book $50bn against bad loans in the wake of corona, and a round-up of the more international stories of the week.

Sam Maule is joined by John Pitts, Policy Lead, and Niko Karvounis Product Lead at Plaid to talk all things data, customer driven innovation, their European expansion and much more.

Sam Maule is joined by John Pitts, Policy Lead, and Niko Karvounis Product Lead at Plaid to talk all things data, customer driven innovation, their European expansion and much more.

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk through the latest and greatest news in the insurance space which are heavily focussed on Covid-19 and the insurance industry this week!

Simon Taylor and Adam Davis are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: 100% backed business loans; big banks results are in and corona is hitting their profit margins hard and even Animal Crossing's Bank of Nook is slashing its interest rates in an unwelcome reflection of the real world.

Sam Maule is joined by some great guests in the US SMB space, to discuss the impact of the coronavirus crisis on US small businesses - at the time in which all the stimulus funding had already been given out.

11:FS's David Brear, Simon Taylor, Sarah Kocianski and Benjamin Ensor come together to talk about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial services industry.

Sam Maule is joined by Nova Credit co-founder and COO, Nicky Goulimis, to talk about underbanked immigrant communities, the changes that come with a global health crisis and the future of credit.
The invention of the computer revolutionised banking in the 1950s.

What does the future hold for lending? Live from Lendit USA 2022.
Will banks exist in 100 years?

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...

