
Organisation design is essential in building a strong working culture. Getting it wrong can cause a domino effect of problems and inefficiencies across a business.

It is the nature of finance that, at its core, is risk.

Here at 11:FS we’re big on transparency and letting you know what’s going on in our company. We’ve recently made a huge hire to be our COO and we couldn’t be more excited about it.

I was at a big bank’s conference the other day and was intrigued at how often the subject of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin came up.

Of course, these are our top 3 blogs of 2018. We took a look at the data, talked amongst ourselves about which ones we liked best and came up with the best blogs we’ve put out this year.

Disclaimer: Yes the piece is entirely structured around the lyrics of a Pulp song. Yes, we take requests.

I do not profess to be, as way too many in the tech industry do today, a blockchain guru or subject matter expert. I leave that designation to 11:FS co-founder Simon Taylor. Simon is the MacGyver of the blockchain community. Give him a stapler, a can of Bud Lite, Duct Tape, and a flashlight, and he will somehow concoct a DLT smart contract solution for a client. A solution that can actually be delivered and that addresses a real business case.

Simon Taylor interviewed block.one CEO and CTO Brendan Blumer and Daniel Larimer at Blockchain Live, to find out more about what block.one does and their new project, EOS that achieved $50omillion in fundraising.

One of the biggest challenges when building new digital financial services is creating a winning feature set. Spending categorisation, budgeting tools, carbon footprint-tracking — these features are everywhere in the financial services apps that we use every day.

Sarah Kocianski sits down with the CEO of Oakam, Frederic Nze to talk about financial inclusion, tackling financial exclusion, the alternative to doorstep lending, and the underbanked.Listen to the full interview here or click play below, otherwise read on for a quick take on what was said.

In a beautiful flat on the edge of San Francisco’s sun-kissed Inner Sunset neighbourhood, the inimitable Sam Maule invited a plethora of fintech experts over for dinner. Across two evenings in the run up to our After Dark San Francisco show, Sam serves up chilli, tacos, and foodie fintech insights. You can listen to them here and here. Disclaimer: The food was actually cooked by Ollie Judge, Head of Media at 11:FS.

At 11:FS, we spend a lot of time looking at next-generation mobile trends and technology. Every now and again we come across a product or feature that just blows us away. It can be as simple as a smart integration with another product or as complicated as a whole app that’s powered by bleeding edge technology.

“Thank you to the Academy…” Sure. Classic Oscar speech energy.But do you know what hits harder than a polite golf clap from a panel of judges? Winning when your actual customers vote. And that’s what happened at the 2025 British Bank Awards, where 11:FS was named Consultancy of the Year. Again! 2019. 2020. 2021. 2023. And now 2025.

In her latest column for Forbes, 11:FS Head of Research Sarah Kocianski examines the new set of authentication procedures and how they are being implemented by UK banks.

11:FS are pleased to announce that Lisa Gansky joined us as a Non-Executive Director, on 3rd July 2017.

Yesterday (1st February) was Time to Talk Day, a day dedicated to mental health awareness, and opening up the conversation around it in the aim of removing the stigma. In conjunction with this, Simon Taylor chaired a panel discussing Financial Services and Mental Health with James Routledge form Mental Health foundation Sanctus, and finance experts, Jo Ann Barefoot, Nick Cook and Ghela Boskovitch.

Sam Maule is joined by Kabbage co-founder Kathryn Petralia, payments guru Ginger Schmeltzer and Worldplay's VC of innovation Joe Kleinwaechter to discuss Atlanta's Fintech scene and payments!

Simon Taylor, David M. Brear and Jason Bates are joined by The Economist banking editor Patrick Lane & Innovate Finance's very own Sophie Winwood to discuss the war for talent between the Fintech and Banking worlds.

Founded 15 years ago, Avoka offer banks and financial companies customer-centric digital transformation through various acquisition products. Derek talks us through the business, his unique job title and how Avoka are working with legacy core banking systems to transform customer experience.

After the fallout from the crypto bloodbath last week, Simon and Colin discuss how regulators continue to monitor these monumental price spikes and subsequent dumps. We also bring you interviews with bitFlyer's CEO and founder Yuzo Kano and COO Andy Bryant

Simon Taylor was joined by a superstar panel including 11:FS Asset Management lead Pete Townsend, Scalable Capital CEO Adam French, Nutmeg CIO Shaun Port and Calastone CCO Jon Willis as they discussed investment for future generations.

Today our wonderful guest host Sarah Kocianski leads us into a great discussion all about autonomous vehicles and changing insurance models.

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.

Banks are facing a lot of challenges compared to their fintech rivals.

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.

What does the future hold for lending? Live from Lendit USA 2022.
Will banks exist in 100 years?

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.
It's not just a buzzword.
On this episode of Spotlight, 11:FS Crypto Global Strategy Director, Mauricio Magaldi is joined by Ramp Network Co-Founder and CEO, Szymon Sypniewicz. In today's chat, the pair discuss Szymon's career, the current regulatory landscape in crypto, and what the future might hold when it comes to widespread crypto adoption.

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...

