You don’t have to spend much time in retail banking before you come across legacy systems - a catch-all term often used to explain why banks are so slow and unresponsive.
Tucked away in a small corner of the WeWork offices in Aldgate Tower, I sat down with Ross Gallagher. Financial inclusion is the touchstone on financial products for Ross. Regular host of the Fintech Insider podcast with a history in financial services consulting and research. Ross is known around the office as a tupperware fiend and always up for a laugh but as with many people who work for 11:FS he has a real passion for finance and financial inclusion in particular.
In a recent report EY point out that the big advantage the UK has in “Fintech” is it’s progressive policy from Government and Regulators. This post examines the latest policy the regulatory sandbox; to understand how it might work, what companies entering it need to know, and how other jurisdictions could repeat the trick. Can it help financial services be a bit more awesome?
Recently, Nick Miller, Senior Ventures Strategist at 11:FS, published an article on why ESG investing is broken. If you haven't already, go and give it a read before you dive into this one.
This week on Fintech Insider News David, Jason and Simon were joined by Innovate Finance’s Sophie Winwood and making his Fintech Insider debut, Banking Editior at The Economist, Patrick Lane, to tackle the latest news from the last week. Listen to the episode in full here or play and read below
Banks are having a midlife crisis. Their tech is at that stage where it’s old enough to gather regrets. Lots of them. 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.
Everyone’s got a bike these days, right? How many bikes would you admit to owning? Is your ‘multi-bike’ strategy paying off? Now ask yourself the same questions about your use of cloud.
While I was COO at Revolut, Vlad Yatsenko - the company’s Co-Founder & CTO - commented a number of times about how opportunity cost of time is typically the biggest cost in a scaling company, and I’ve come to realise this is more and more true.
The digital banking scene in Southeast Asia is hot right now. Over the past two years, it’s experienced some rapid changes. Changing regulations have triggered a mass of new players entering the market.
In this guest blog Bailey Kusar, co-founder and CEO of Toucan, examines how open banking can be used to deliver services that better support people with mental health conditions to manage their finances.
James Safford is a name you might not be familiar with from the 11:FS team. He’s starred in a couple of our shows with brilliant insights on what’s going on in the fintech space. James is a Market Research Analyst working on the 11:FS Pulse platform delivering insights into customer journeys globally. I took a moment to sit down with James and talk to him about how things differ working in fintech compared to publishing, and why he moved into the space after deciding against a lifelong dream.
We’ll say it till we’re blue in the face - FS companies need to do more to improve their users’ financial literacy. And that goes for kids too.
COP26 is over. But the climate emergency is still with us. The headlines might say otherwise but I got the feeling that very little progress was made on climate change. 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.
There’s so much to look forward to in 2022. It’s the Year of the Tiger. There’s a World Cup in November. And, of course, the sands of insurtech will keep shifting.

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions most people will ever make. Yet despite years of digital innovation, the experience remains fragmented, stressful and surprisingly analogue.

For years, neobanks competed by offering better banking experiences. Now, the biggest players are expanding into investing, AI-powered financial guidance, wealth management and premium services—areas once dominated by private banks.

In this episode, we're exploring one of the biggest themes shaping financial services today: how US firms are leading the AI customer experience race.

Advice is regulated and personalised. Guidance is broader and safer - but that line is starting to blur.
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What does customer loyalty really mean in financial services - and has it ever been real? In this episode of Fintech Insider Insights, Kate Moody is joined by Rosie Lee, Jas Shah, and Alex Johnson to unpack the shifting nature of loyalty in a world where switching is easier than ever.
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What’s next for fintech UX in 2026? Ross Gallagher, Head of Consulting at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to break down six financial services UX predictions from the latest 11:FS Pulse Report, covering the shifts shaping digital banking, customer experience, onboarding, product design, and user research.

On this week's episode, David M. Brear is joined by some great guests to tack a question on every bank and fintech leader’s mind: is AI redefining consumer-focused banking in 2026?

In this second episode on our deep dive into the creator economy in the US, David Barton-Grimley and is joined by not one, but two fantastic guests, the Co-CEOs of Karat Financial to discuss how financial services can better understand creators and how financial education is the key.

Ross Gallagher is joined by some great guests to talk about how fintech and financial services are meeting the needs of Gens Alpha and Beta, and how they are adapting to the needs of tomorrow's wealth makers.

David Barton-Grimley is joined by some great guests to unpack the six characteristics of digital commercial banking; real-time, standardised, automated, embedded, contextual, and extendable. We’ll explore what they are and how they can (or can’t) support a more efficient, reliable, and secure industry.

In this second episode on our deep dive into embedded finance in APAC, David Barton-Grimley and is joined by a fantastic guest, from GoPay, to talk about how embedded finance is opening up access for the unbanked in Indonesia and beyond.

David M. Brear is joined by some great guests from Visa, BigPay and Wise to discuss the evolution and growth opportunities of embedded finance in Asia-Pacific!

Mastercard takes minority stake in MTN, rental platform Fronted closes down, and Bank Of Ireland customers go crazy for ATM glitch – Benjamin Ensor is joined by some great guests, from Anthemis, Cornerstone Advisors, and Ebanx, to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

Kate Moody is joined by some great guests, from 11:FS, ClearEstate, and PensionBee, to look at the financial services aimed at customers over 60.

Hey, banks! This might sting a bit. You’re getting loyalty all wrong - and it’s costing you customers. But all is not lost!

David M. Brear, our 11:FS CEO, takes us through legacy technology within banks - but of course, with a really cool Lightboard.
Welcome to episode 5 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
11:FS CEO David M. Brear takes to the lightboard to give us the full run-down, with examples of companies that are leading the way.
Welcome to episode 4 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
Welcome to episode 3 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
Welcome to episode 2 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!

Welcome to episode 1 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!

When people discuss 'banking being broken', they often refer to the technology itself. However, that isn't necessarily the case.

Minimum Lovable Brand | 11:FS Explores

In this video, our Head of Research, Sarah Kocianski, unpacks exactly how banks make money - with the handy edition of a super cool lightboard!

Fintech is only 1% finished. But what do we mean by that? Simon Taylor, Head of Ventures at 11:FS takes us through the landscape of financial technology in this Lightboard edition of 11:FS Explores.

In this episode of 11:FS Explores, Adam Davis picks apart Open Finance, and what we have to look forward to if this technology became a reality.
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?

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...

