Europe

Welcome to our new series, where each month an 11:FS designer will share their favourite design moments from financial services + interesting reads.

Crypto is more than just the next shiny thing. It’s a new transactional infrastructure enabling use cases that were previously impossible, while disintermediating established players across markets.

I’m recapping the best, brightest, and boldest live show Fintech Insider: After Dark has ever done. Listen back here or stream below as Simon, Ross, and Sarah, are joined by a panel of special guests to tackle the biggest and silliest stories of the week. Equipped with drinks, guests, party hats, and an enthusiastic audience we’re ready to start the show.

Imagine you’re a grocer in Tanzania. The sun sets, and you’re forced to close shop because you—like the majority of those in your country—have no electricity. Then a mobile money loan gives you access to a solar battery, which allows you to charge your phone while keeping the lights on in the evening. You pay for the power you need on a daily basis. You expand your hours. Earn more money. Your child returns to school.

'Composability is the ability to combine digital assets and their corresponding behaviours in the world of web3.' - How web3 is shaping the future of finance, 11:FS

I joined the 11:FS media team back in June 2017 - a mere 96 podcast episodes into Fintech Insider’s 500 episode journey. It’s been incredible working on this show and being a part of its growth over the last three and a half years. From its humble beginnings, FI has evolved into something we could never have predicted, and I’m SO proud of it. We’ve grown our audience both internationally and at home thanks to our community of loyal listeners (you know who you are 🙏).

This week we had great news from both sides of the Atlantic, lots of team ups and partnerships plus some of the sillier crypto stories we’ve seen Taking on all of this on the Fintech Insider News show along side host Simon Taylor were Megan Caywood, Chief Platform Officer at Starling; Edward Berks – Director of Banking, Fintech & Ecosystem at Xero, and our very own Ross Gallagher, Principal Consultant in our 11:FS Research Team. Listen here for the episode in full, stream it below or read on for additional insights.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear ‘crypto’? Maybe you were one of the first to jump aboard the crypto train and believe it will be the cornerstone of our financial future, or maybe you think it’s all a sham and run a mile when you hear someone say “bitcoin”.

In an exclusive interview for Fintech Insider, Jason Bates speaks to Chris Woolard, Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, all about their recent paper and announcement about their plans to take the regulatory sandbox global.

For Fintech Insider’s news show Jason, Simon and David are joined by 11:FS Research team’s Ross Gallagher, Capco’s Charlie Wood and Fluidly CEO Caroline Plumb, to take on the week’s stories including Brexit, open banking, Robinhood app, and PensionBee’s stand against Aegon. Listen in full here, stream below or read on for highlights.

Guest author Natalia Moose shares her thoughts on how regulation is becoming friendlier towards the cloud following our recent report Why banks should be cloud based in association with nCino.

Some thoughts crossing the mind of our own Simon Taylor; that if you’re interested in the subject of Blockchain you might want to consider:

People have been predicting the death of cash for years. And depending on who you talk to, the future is either just around the corner or will never quite happen. A typical Swedish person (who makes three times the number of card transactions than the average of European) can probably imagine that future. But if you talk to anyone in Germany – a company with a historic affinity to cold hard cash – they might look at you funny.

This week on Fintech Insider News David and Jason were joined by colleagues Pete Townsend and making his Fintech Insider debut, Ross Gallagher, from our Pulse and Research Team, to tackle the latest news from the last week. They were joined by regular guest Sarah Kocianski and Charlie Wood. Listen to the episode in full here or play and read below

I’ve blogged on some of the themes I’m going to cover below, but the story gets clearer and clearer in my head the more I blog about and talk about it, so this version may be a little clearer than some that have gone before.