
After a decade of intense innovation, the mood across global financial services has turned sharply. Optimism has given way to fear and long-term ambition has been shelved for short-term survival.
Up until recently, if you wanted to launch a financial product, you either had to work directly with the deep financial infrastructure yourself or use a core banking system, which has all sorts of rules and parameters, to interact with the financial infrastructure.

Africa is the most worthy market for mainstream adoption of decentralised finance. Why? I could go on and on about the underbanked, underserved populations and fragmented remittance ecosystem - while that’s all valid, the biggest pain point in my mind is currency devaluation. Volatile currencies make it difficult for Africans’ savings to hold their value. Solving for currency devaluation will provide the beachhead for the adoption of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) across Africa.

In this week’s news show we had representation from both sides of the Atlantic as Nina Mohanty, Doug Bobenhouse and Valentina Kristensen joined new host Ross Gallagher in his first rodeo in the hosting seat, and Simon Taylor to discuss the week’s biggest stories. Listen here for the episode in full, stream it below or read on for additional insights.

The last episode of Under The Hood, the podcast series with 11:FS that took a deep dive into the banking infrastructure that is disrupting traditional banking models and shaking up the system, has been released. And looking back, I realise how many great conversations we’ve had.

There’s a lot going on right now on personal, business and industry levels. But as I sit here in my home office over the last month talking to senior people in financial services, fintech founders and project teams all over the world, one thing keeps returning to me: “See, we didn’t need more strategy”.

Many marketers have a story of a boss or board that wanted all the benefits of a strong brand, without the investment, hassle or commitment of having to build one. 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.

So. Let’s talk about DAO, baby.

Simon interviewed the husband and wife team Arthur and Kathleen Brietman, the co-founders of Tezos, about their recent token sale for the very first episode of Blockchain Insider.

In today's globalized business environment, the discussion around offering alternative payment methods (APMs) to end users continues to grow. APMs can provide businesses with improved cost efficiency, better user experience, broader access to various user segments, and thus increased conversion rates. However, it is essential to carefully consider the challenges and potential drawbacks that come with adopting APMs before fully embracing them.

AML is the world’s most ineffective policy experiment. Imagine if you have a car that didn’t work 99.9% of the time. That would be annoying right? 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.

Over the course of the pandemic the UK's financial habits have changed, which is no surprise when you see how people's circumstances have been impacted:

Dutch directness, failing fast and innovating endlessly are the three common themes in the interview Simon did with Benoit Legrand, CIO of ING. And they’re what drives his approach to delivering success at ING.

I’ll be honest when I joined 11:FS I didn’t really expect to end up in West Africa. But on reflection, that was pretty short-sighted. We create truly digital ventures for the good of people everywhere, and we mean everywhere.

The third episode of our brand-new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service, is here! If you missed it (or any of the others) catch up here. Here’s a rundown of this episode if you prefer reading to watching 📖

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.

David M. Brear and Jason Bates are joined by some great guests, from Milli, to bring you this deep-dive into setting up a new banking proposition in the USA!

David M. Brear is joined by Standard Chartered CEO, Bill Winters, in this interview deep-diving into innovation in the banking space!

David M. Brear is joined by some great guests from Visa, Chipper Cash, and DJAMO, to discuss the evolution and further potential of mobile money in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Buy Now Pay Later regulation shelved in UK, Thunes pockets $72M, and Farage accuses Coutts of closing account over ‘values’ – Ross Gallagher and Nas Ahmad are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

Benjamin Ensor is joined by some great guests, from 11:FS, Innovate Finance, and TwentyOne to talk about the biggest lessons for financial services in the first half of 2023.

The European Union unveils new open banking rules, Wise announces bumper profits, and Robinhood buys X1 – Ross Gallagher and Benjamin Ensor are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

European banks are putting "AI" in 30% of their job ads, Majority bank opens community meeting space for new migrants, and Gen Z need lessons on how to behave in the corporate world – Benjamin Ensor and Ross Gallagher are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

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...

