
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.

If you listened to the headlines, you'd think the competitive race in financial services is about one thing: building the smartest AI. We think that's the wrong way to look at it.

Embedded banking without strategic intent is expensive theatre. Lots of APIs, lots of partnership announcements, lots of pilots, but not much revenue. And that’s the risk facing corporate banks right now.

AI assistants already help people compare products, check availability and plan purchases. Agentic commerce extends that role to placing the order: a customer sets a budget and a few conditions, then gives the software permission to complete the purchase.

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.

Financial institutions are moving quickly into agentic AI. Coding agents, workflow agents, document agents, service agents and operational agents are already entering the enterprise. Many will create useful gains, some of them genuinely impressive. But that is not the real test.
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.

Loyalty is defined as “a strong feeling of support or allegiance”. However, in the context of financial services, it is more accurately defined as engineered persistence: a series of subconscious cues that steer customers toward familiar choices.

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.

The people using business banking tools don’t necessarily have financial backgrounds. Many smaller businesses can't afford a dedicated finance team. Yet banks keep building products that assume expertise their customers don't have, leaving them to figure things out on their own.

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.

Simon Taylor and Colin G Platt discuss the crypto bloodbath we're currently witnessing, Kraken returning as well as bringing you interviews with two Ryan's, Blockstack founder Ryan Shea and the Two Bit Idiot & international man of mystery himself Ryan Selkis.

Simon Taylor is joined by Pete Townsend, Chris Mills and Zeynep Meric-Smith to discuss where asset management is heading for in 2018.

In this episode David and Jason were joined by colleagues Pete Townsend and Ross Gallagher (making his Fintech Insider debut), from our Pulse and Research Team, to tackle the latest news from the last week, alongside regular guests Sarah Kocianski and Charlie Wood. Regulatory based news unsurprisingly steals the limelight, however we also bring you that outrageous Kodak stock rise as well as and an interview with Claudia Bate- Author of "The Fads, The Fears and The Future" where overhyped trends and technologies are discussed.

Simon Taylor and Colin G Platt discuss Ripple's monumental rise, Bitconnect and an interview with Ville Sointu from Nordea.

Simon Taylor heads up an insights show focusing on wealth management, what it is and how it differs from asset management. He is joined by special guests Joe Parkin, Gemma Godfrey, Phil Smith, Olivia Vinden & Gareth Johnson.

We kick off 2018 with an all 11:FS cast as Simon Taylor, David M. Brear, Andra Sonea & Benedict Shegog discuss this weeks top news including upcoming regulation and the impact of open banking.

In the first show of 2018 Simon Taylor and Colin G Platt bring you the week's news, plus an interview with Coindesk's Peter Rizzo.

As it's the Christmas break we are not here this week, so instead of the usual news overview we're giving you an interview-only special show, featuring Tim Swanson and Somil Goya from new smart contracts start up Adjoint.

Seasons Greetings to all our listeners! We bring you a festive hamper of outtakes from over the last year on Fintech Insider!

In this episode, host David Brear and co-hosts Nigel Walsh and Sarah Kocianski visit Aviva's Digital Garage for InsurTech Insider's very first takeover show!

It's the After Dark Christmas Special and that means we're bringing you a recap of all the top stories from 2017, recorded in front of a live audience. Regular hosts Simon Taylor, David M. Brear, Jason Bates and Chris Skinner are joined by friends of the show Sarah Kocianski and Leda Glyptis.

Sam Maule hosts the latest State of the Union show, recorded live from the South East Fintech Venture Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Colin G Platt rejoins Simon Taylor for a second consecutive show in London to break down the week's news.

Jason Bates and Simon Taylor are joined by Kadhim Shubber, Liz Lumley, Sarah Kocianski and wonderful surprise guest Ghela Boskovich.

Jason Bates talks to a crack team of experts to find out about the pressures facing small businesses and the solutions that rapid technological change can provide

Hey, banks! This might sting a bit. You’re getting loyalty all wrong - and it’s costing you customers. But all is not lost!
The entire world is buzzing about AI, and that ain't changing anytime soon. But as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, what impact will it have on financial services and how people interact with them?
It's not just a buzzword.
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.

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...

