
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 and David are joined by Sarah Kocianski to discuss the top stories of the last seven days.

In a packed episode we talk about THAT Parity hack that unfolded last week, the upcoming bitcoin fork and we have an exclusive reaction to the SEC's verdict on ICOs and Tokens from Jeff Bandman, plus an interview with a very special guest: R3's CTO, Richard Brown.

In this episode: We bring you the highlights from The Next Web Conference 2017 in Amsterdam, where we spoke to […]

In this episode: David, Jason and Simon are joined for this week’s show by news show regulars Liz Lumley and […]

In this episode Jason Bates and David Brear interview Mariano Belinky, Managing Partner of Santander InnoVentures and Shachar Bialick, CEO of […]

InsurTech Insider is a new show in the 11Media network, hosted by David Brear and co-host Nigel Walsh, of Deloitte, dedicated […]

Simon is joined by special guests Ajit Tripathi, Jeff Bandman, Paul Gordon for the news and later he interviews Meltem Demirors, Director of Digital Currency Group.

InsurTech Insider is a new show in the 11Media network, hosted by David Brear and co-host Nigel Walsh, of Deloitte, dedicated […]

In this episode In a fun packed episode, David is joined by regular guest Ghela Boskovich, alongside Edward Maslaveckas, Jeff Tijssen […]

In this episode Jason Bates interviews Laurent le Moal, CEO of PayU, the leading online payments provider, dedicated to growth […]

Simon and Colin are back for Episode 2 and joined by Maya Zehavi for the news and later on they interview William Mougayar on all things tokens.

In this episode David and Simon are joined by regular Sarah Kocianski, and RFi and Sky News Australia’s Chloe James, […]

In this episode From last week’s magnificent Money20/20 Europe, Jason interviews Rita Liu, Head of Alipay (Europe, the Middle East and […]

We. Are. Here. On...Fintech Insider. Simon's cutting across the podcasts to give a sneak preview on one of the biggest interviews of the year.

In the third of our three part Blockchain Special, Simon and Colin are joined by some very special guests to discuss EEA, ZCash and the potential similarities between blockchain and the rise of cryptocurrencies and the dot-com bubble in the 90s, and asks the question: “Why should we be paying attention?”. They also debate the anonymity of blockchain and user privacy; and centralisation vs decentralisation in blockchain APIs - do we still need the middle man?

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...

