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Get the latest news and insights from the retail banking space.
11 US fintechs on our watchlist right now
There’s a reason counties often refer to their tech hubs as “the Silicon Valley of [insert country name here].” The Bay Area is the proud birthplace of some of the world’s biggest technological triumphs, home to global powerhouses like Apple and Visa. Every year the Valley also attracts a host of fintech start-ups - such as Credit Karma, Chime and Varo Bank, to name a few. But it’s not just California driving the future of financial services. We’ve done our research to see which companies across the 50 states are leading the fintech charge. (Did you miss our first blog? See who’s doing awesome things on the other side of the pond with our list of the hottest European fintechs.)
Why the Middle East could be the next fintech hotspot
Back at the end of 2019, we dived into the perfect fintech storm that was brewing in the Middle East. Diversification had already started in the region, but financial inclusion was reluctant to follow. So where are we now? It’s 2020, and things have been hotting up in the region with opportunities continuing to surface. But what does the region hold for fintech and why is the Middle East where the real gold lies?
Seedrs and Crowdcube merger: hot takes
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.
11 European fintechs we’re excited about right now
London’s been at the centre of the fintech bubble for over a decade now, and the rest of Europe isn’t far behind. One of the few silver linings of the coronavirus pandemic could be that it might act as a catalyst for a tonne of investment into fintech, as more and more people recognise the need to go digital. Despite the trend for falling investments in 2020, the UK fintech sector is still looking flush thanks to investments of over $1.84 billion. To give you a heads up on the next big companies on the scene, we’ve rounded up the hottest startups on our watch list 🔥
Using the cloud to fly sky high above the competition
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.
What the FinCEN files leak means for banks
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.
How digital customer support can help banks during COVID-19 and beyond
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.
Lessons from COVID-19: you need a truly digital strategy, now!
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.
Leading a bank through a pandemic
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.
How messaging is helping banks reconnect with their customers
There’s been no shortage of attention paid to the emergence of fintech in the Middle East recently. In fact, we wrote about the ‘perfect storm’ that was brewing in the region and recently gave an overview of the digital challengers emerging to meet these needs.
11:FS Pulse: wrapped
We’ve sifted through the data to find out what 11:FS Pulse users have been loving and where their focus has been for the last 12 months.
11:FS on tour - Money 20/20 Vegas, Day 1 Roundup
Money 20/20 USA has kicked off and the 11:FS team are here on the ground!
11:FS on tour – Money 20/20 Vegas, Day 2 Roundup
Day 2 has come to an end here at Money 20/20 and, despite last night’s industry party, it was jam packed with action.
11 Stupidest Things Consultancies Say and Do
I’ve poked fun at banks and fintechs, but now it’s time to take on the consultancies. Sometimes it can feel like you’re spending your money on bad advice and worse decisions. Sometimes you are.
11 Biggest Fintech Stories of Q2 2018
There’s a sweltering heat wave hitting the city and I’ve never been so thankful for the office air conditioning. We’ve just entered July, everyone’s moving onto their Q3 targets and writing reports on Q2. So what happened in Q2 for the fintech world? And where are we about to go for Q3? I take a look at the 11 biggest stories that happened in fintech over the last three months.
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448. Insights: Do we still need bank branches?
Simon Taylor is joined by some great guests to talk about the future of bank branches. Will they open up after the pandemic? Do we still need them or have we seen the last of the bank branch?
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445. News: Winners and losers in US banks’ results; SoFi’s charter and Marqeta’s IPO
Sam Maule and Jason Bates are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: the US bank results are in and we analyse the fall out; Marqeta eyes an IPO as SoFi applies for a fintech charter and your weekly wacky Wirecard roundup.
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444. Insights: African fintechs: transforming the continent's financial landscape
Simon Taylor is joined by some great guests to discuss how the financial landscape of Africa is changing and the ways in which fintechs are playing their part.
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443. News: Square’s $55bn valuation - a wakeup call for big banks?
TITLE: NEWS / INSIGHTS Simon Tayor and Jason Bates are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Square's new valuation; 16 EU banks team up to take on Visa and Mastercard and we keep ypu updated with the new unravellings in the Wirecard story.
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442. Insights: Are fintech hubs dead?
Simon Taylor is joined by some great (and very international) guests to talk about the future of fintech hubs. Do we need them? Is location no longer important post-pandemic?
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441. News: Wirecard hits UK fintech but BaaS is still booming
Simon Taylor and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: the Wirecard scandal continues to unfold and UK fintechs get swept up in its wake, and we speak to some of the companies directly affected, Chime launch a credit card, and Galileo offers everyone the chance to launch a credit card.
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437. News: Stop, collaborate and listen - Amazon and Goldman Sachs team up
Jason Bates and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Goldman Sachs teams up with another tech giant as it launches credit lines on Amazon, Monzo raise funding but lose valuation and WhatsApp launches payments in Brazil. All this and much much more on today's FIntech Insider News.
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436. Insights: COVID-19 and the underbanked in the US
Sam Maule is joined by some great guests to discuss the state of the underbanked in the US and how COVID-19 is affecting this group of underserved people.
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435. News: Is now a good time to launch a challenger bank?
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: Vivid Money launches digital banking services in Germany; the pandemic savings surge forces Goldman to shut Marcus to new UK clients; and Islamic finance startup Wahed closes $25M funding round to grow their Saudi Arabia hub.
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434. Insights: transforming financial services infrastructure post COVID-19
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.
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432. Insights: How could open finance shape the future of financial services?
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.
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429. News: Is it tough to be a challenger bank right now?
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!
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427. News: Mobile Wallet Wars? SoFi and Samsung Pay team up
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.
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425. News: RBS close Bó - Why is building a new bank so hard?
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.
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424. Plaid: customer driven innovation, data access and US open banking
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.
11:FS Explores: Legacy banking systems ft. David M. Brear
David M. Brear, our 11:FS CEO, takes us through legacy technology within banks - but of course, with a really cool Lightboard.
Decoding: Banking as a Service - Episode 5
Welcome to episode 5 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
11:FS Explores: Digital R.I.C.H.E.S ft. David M. Brear
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.
Decoding: Banking as a Service - Episode 4
Welcome to episode 4 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
Decoding: Banking as a Service - Episode 3
Welcome to episode 3 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
Decoding: Banking as a Service - Episode 2
Welcome to episode 2 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
Decoding: Banking as a Service - Episode 1
Welcome to episode 1 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
It's not the technology - Why banking is broken ft. Ewan Silver
When people discuss 'banking being broken', they often refer to the technology itself. However, that isn't necessarily the case.
Microservices architecture - Asynchronous systems ft. Vaughan Sharman
Minimum Lovable Brand | 11:FS Explores
How banks make money - UK retail banking ft. Sarah Kocianski
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 - The fintech market ft. Simon Taylor
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.
What is Open Banking? | 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.
What Griffin are going to do now they have their banking licence with CCO Adam Moulson | Spotlight
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?
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Insights: The future of Revolut with UKCEO Francesca Carlesi
The UK banking battlefield has never been more competitive. Customers expectfinancial apps that are personalised, seamless, and that genuinely make a differenc...
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Insights: The future of Revolut with UKCEO Francesca Carlesi
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Insights: The future of Revolut with UKCEO Francesca Carlesi
The UK banking battlefield has never been more competitive. Customers expectfinancial apps that are personalised, seamless, and that genuinely make a differenc...
960
Insights: The future of Revolut with UKCEO Francesca Carlesi
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Insights: The future of Revolut with UKCEO Francesca Carlesi
