
I’ve been thinking about HENRYs recently. Not the Henry who asked me to marry him - I was 8, he was 5 - although he does cross my mind occasionally. HENRYs, short for ‘High Earners Not Rich Yet’, was coined as a label by Shawn Tully in 2003.

Banks are borrowing from the digital wellness playbook: health checks diagnose, personalised insights track, automated tools build habits, and AI assistants are beginning to coach.
Over the last 18 months, UK credit card borrowing has accelerated, outstanding balances have surpassed pre-pandemic highs, and some of the UK’s largest fintechs are making increasingly aggressive moves into lending.

For most people, the month falls into two phases - before and after payday - when balances jump, debts feel manageable, and financial intentions come back within reach. But in most banking apps, payday is treated as a passive event.
Barclays is acquiring the UK arm of GoHenry, a money app for 6 to 18-year olds. With a reported price tag of £180 million for around 500,000 active accounts, £360 per head is a chunky investment.

For the past decade, the banking industry has been focused on developing frictionless interfaces. Financial institutions have prioritised seamless transactions, instant gratification, and engaging gamified features in a bid to build the ultimate digital financial experience.

The need for better, tailored support through the customer experience is clear, but few are accounting for the fundamental shift that financial services has experienced with the introduction of AI.
The UK’s largest digital bank once again beat RBS and NatWest to the top spot in 11:FS Pulse's best of UK banking chart.
As the Saudi fintech market matures, a new challenge is emerging. Most fintech interactions, whether payments, BNPL, or other services, remain fundamentally transactional.

For years, banks have relied on OTPs as a second factor for logins and sensitive actions. Sent via SMS, these short codes were designed to add security on top of a password. But they have become one of the weakest and most frustrating parts of the banking experience.

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.

As the industry adjusts to a new digital landscape, players across the spectrum are fighting to muscle their way into the financial epicentre and ‘win’ the salary battle to become the payday home of their customers.

Saving money and paying bills might not sound exciting - but today’s finance apps are borrowing tricks from video games to change that.

David Brear and Amy Gavin are joined by some great guests from Carry1st and Financial News to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Contactless card payment limit in UK to jump to £100 next month, Stripe and others invest $200M in African fintech Wave – now valued at $1.7 billion, and Peter Thiel is building a luxury vacation bunker in New Zealand. Tune in to find out more!

In this week's episode of the Fintech Marketing Podcast, your host Eric Fulwiler is joined by Chris Pitt, CEO at First Direct - to discuss all things marketing - what makes it good, what makes it bad, and what every marketer needs to know to keep levelling up.

Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests from Google, Fronted and Synctera to talk about how banks structure their technology and why this can make transformation so difficult.

David Brear and Mel Stringer are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Google takes on Venmo and Square with new payments features, Starling hits profit for the first time, and the Queen of England unexpectedly takes an interest in blockchain.

Sam Maule is joined by some incredible guests to talk about economic abuse and the role of banks and financial institutions.

Sam Maule is joined by a panel of fantastic guests to discuss economic inequality and the racial wealth gap in the US.

Sarah Kocianski is joined by some great guests to talk about cybersecurity in financial services.

Simon Taylor and Mel Stringer are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Stripe acquires Nigeria’s Paystack, Marqeta’s research discovers Covid-19 has forced three-quarters of banks to change their future strategy, and ESG funds forecast to outnumber conventional funds by 2025.

Sarah Kocianski is joined by some great guests to talk about Open Banking two years on and the key developments that have been made since then.

Ross Gallagher is joined by some great guests to discuss how fintech and digital transformation is shaking up the financial landscape of the Middle East.

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: Crowdcube and Seedrs' merge, the FCA’s new sandbox dedicated to overcoming coronavirus challenges, and Venmo launches a credit card, as Credit Karma launches a checking account.

Sarah Kocianski and Ross Gallagher are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Open Banking doubles its user base in 2020, Amazon's new payment method in the palm of your hand, and can Ping An rescue HSBC?

Simon Taylor and Ross Gallagher are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: The FinCEN file leak, Tink continues path to European domination, and NationWide claps back again racism.

Sam Maule is joined by some fantastic guests from across Latin America to talk about development, growth and impact of fintechs in the region.

Jason Bates and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Alibaba invest 3 BILLION in Grab, Klarna reaches an $11Bn valuation, and Microsoft dig up a data centre they buried underwater off the coast of Scotland 2 years ago.

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...

