
At some point for every product, you’ll have gone through an initial period of exciting discovery. 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.

By Michael Douglas, Vice President, Strategy, Galileo

TL;DR None of the challenger banks use blockchain, the guy who’s leading the most popular smart contract platform (Ethereum) say’s it’s a bad idea. So, I mean read on…but. No, don’t use a blockchain or smart contracts for the love of god.

I’d like to start this by stating that Africa is not a monolith and for the purpose of this post, I’ll be zeroing in on the East and West African markets. 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.

It’s been an incredible year for fintech, but one thing’s for sure. 2019 is going to be an even wilder ride.

So about 350 days ago I made some predictions about how 2019 would shape up. Here I’ll break down how accurate, or not, I was. TL:DR - pretty damn accurate.

Niall Cameron joined David Brear on Fintech Insider to discuss HSBC, innovation and partnering with fintechs. We found out his views of how incumbents can best work alongside and partner with fintechs in the changing digital space:

As a uni student, it drove Ollie Purdue crazy that his bank couldn’t provide him with basic info to help manage his financial life. How much money was he likely to have at the end of the month? Could he cut back on work and have more fun – or did he need to increase his hours to pay the bills? At age 20, he founded Loot to create a better banking experience that used data in a smarter way. In episode 232 of FinTech Insider, Ollie, CEO of Loot, shares the story behind his company, including how he got bank execs to talk to him when he was still in school.

The 11:FS research team is in the midst of building out an internal platform that has some elements of gamification (and because we see a lot of products coming through our benchmarking tool 11:FS Pulse which make use of it), I’ve been spending a bit of time considering the topic.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to careers, indecision and the Venn diagram of doom.

I was recently asked whether digital transformations meant partnerships will become obsolete. In fact, I think quite the opposite - banks who don’t use partnerships will become obsolete.

If you’ve been listening to the news at all in the last few months, you’ve likely run across the term Open Banking – a lot. The internet is awash with articles, thought pieces, blogs, books and podcasts on Open Banking. It’s a full-time job keeping up with the latest trends and following the right people. That’s why at 11: FS we’ve put together the authoritative resource on Open Banking. Whether you’re new to Open Banking or a bonafide guru, we’ve cut through the noise to bring you the go-to guide.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to Wonder Woman, technology without heart and why love is key to innovation.

If you’re a banker, particularly a retail banker, last year was like the longest pre-fight build up we’ve ever seen. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will know that this year four new challenger banks will finally come to the UK market in the form of Monzo, Atom, Starling, and Tandem. They were the constant drum beat in the background while you were making your roadmaps and planning your transformations; the constant understanding that winter was coming.

Much has been written about how Open Banking has announced itself with more of a whimper than a bang, since going live at the beginning of 2018.

David Brear, Jason Bates and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests for this very special throwback episode! Today we are doing the news as if it were 2008, specifically focussing on the news from the week of the financial crash, including: Lehman Brothers files for Bankruptcy, Madoff Jailed over $50bn Fraud and - Note to self: Don’t slag your bank off…...in your online banking password! All this and much much more on today's Fintech Insider News - as if it were 2008!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Marcus makes Stablecoin Claim, Poloniex spun out by Circle and - Has bitcoin failed? All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Sarah Kocianski and Adam Davies are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Pensions bank rolling start ups, Robinhood tries again at a savings account and the UK just rolled out a payment card made from solid gold, and worth $23,000!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Attack of the Ten TON Regulator, Libra’s last legs and Zuck’s a sitting duck, later this month! All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

On this weeks episode, Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by some awesome guests to talk all things SME insurance! What are the risks? Where are the opportunities? Why is this such an underserved market? All this and much much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

David Brear and Will White bring you this news show recorded in our new offices in New York! As always, they are not alone but joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Samsung Pay launches International payments in the US, Credit Karma moves into savings as Brex moves into cash management and Financial jargon brings people out in a sweat and they think investing is as scary as skydiving!

This week we bring you our final interview mashup from SIBOS 2019 at the Excel in London! This week we have the pleasure of bringing you two fantastic interviews with two industry leaders!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Zuck could be stuck, unless he testifies, Blockchain & Banking and The Nature of Money is Changing

David Brear and Leda Glyptis are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Transferwise is the latest UK fintech to take on the US, Revolut teams up with Visa to help them go global and a US Marijuana Banking Bill Passes House in Historic Vote! All this, and much more on today's Fintech Insider.

This week we bring you another interview mashup from SIBOS 2019 at the Excel in London! This week we are focussing on more international companies with a flavour of deep tech and infrastructure.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: EOS maker Block. One fined $24m by the SEC over unregistered securities saleSwiss Stock Exchange SIX lines up buyers for its Initial Digital Offering and Fidelity Digital Assets to Provide Custody for Bitcoin Derivatives Yield Fund. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider.

On this weeks episode, we are celebrating our 50th birthday! To celebrate this milestone we’re joined by some of our most frequent returning guests from across the series to date! In today’s show we will be looking at the top news, topics and trends in insurtech over the last 50 episodes and going forward.

Leda Glyptis and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests, coming to you straights from SIBOS 2019 in London! Together they cover the most notable news stories from the last 7 days, including: SWIFT’s gpi, Alison Rose is appointed RBS new chief exec and Monzo bins off Monzo Plus! All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Swiss Stock Exchange SIX Launch Digital Asset Prototype, No Yuan for Libra and Bakkt Launches at a Snails pace… All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider coming to you from SIBOS in London!

David Brear and Sarah Kocianski are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: SCA is here! (Kinda), GoCardless launches in the US, and accordingly to The Telegraph students are getting payday loans to help fund their love of avocado on toast. All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider News.
Ever wanted to know what’s going on behind the scenes every time we make a payment?
Regulation is essential. It stops banks from going bust or behaving badly.
The invention of the computer revolutionised banking in the 1950s.
Lending has been around for thousands of years and is one of the cornerstones of banking.
They're down, but they're not certainly not out.
Mastercard and Visa are the two biggest credit card networks in the world.
We kick off our Decoding: Banks series with a look at the banking landscape today and how we got here.

David M. Brear, our 11:FS CEO, takes us through legacy technology within banks - but of course, with a really cool Lightboard.

Fintech Marketing Podcast Season 2: Coming soon

After Dark - Open Finance: fact or fantasy?

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...

