
Over the past twelve months, we’ve been seriously busy here at 11:FS. Now we’re announcing arguably the most exciting project we’ve ever taken on.

That’s what 11:FS bank building guru Jason hears when he tells people that he’s just spent the last two years building a new digital bank, and they’re right!

The Pulse team spends their time trawling through the world of banks and fintech apps, sorting the good from the bad so you don’t have to.

In this blog post Simon Taylor explores the concept of a Central Bank Digital Currency and why you would want a DLT (or “Blockchain”) like architecture for such a system.

If you missed Part 1 of this 2 part piece then you can catch it here and catch up with the rest of the class: BaaP (Banking as a Platform) Part 1 – Why haven’t we seen a banking platform play?

The landscape for fintech and banking is evolving more rapidly than ever, and in case you weren’t aware, there’s a war going on for your customers. With challengers attacking from left, right, and centre, it’s never been more important to stay on top of the latest and greatest UX innovation. Pssst – click here to go straight to the goods and request a demo of 11:FS Pulse.

The opportunity to change the way we deliver financial services is changing as new channels, products and partnerships are being explored. Banking as a Platform (BaaP) is one of the alternatives.By me, David M. Brear, CEO and Co Founder at 11:FS and Pascal Bouvier, Venture Partner at Santander InnoVentures

While 2015 was just awesome on nearly all fronts, I think the close of the year has left us with a cliff hanger that George RR Martin would be rather proud of. For the curious among you, the question remains what’s next? What will 2016 bring? Across the actors and audiences, we feel there are the 9 questions we need to answer to be able to gauge who the winners and losers in 2016 banking will be. To get to the bottom of these questions, we have given our opinion, have asked a panel for their inputs and have asked a few expert friends of Think Different Group also for theirs.

“Hey Siri – Are you the bank of the future?”… “No comment, David” – Sometimes when someone says no comment that means no but when the thing saying it is a computer assistant then “no comment” means someone has taken the time to think about it and decide upon a snarky comment rather than nothing at all! For years AI has been a good idea without real world application or the processing power, connectivity or interface intelligence to maximize the opportunity. In the last 6 months, and ever increasingly, those restrictions are being removed unlocking huge potential.

We asked some of the 11:Mamas what they think we do. Here's how that went.

As consumers order the new Apple Watch, could this eventually be the missing piece of banking’s ‘branch of the future’? With secure digital payments, facilitated through the iPhone and Apple Watch, is this the potential game changer everyone has been waiting for? This article was first published on the Financial Brand in April 2015.

Legacy banking organizations are filled with career bankers who are set in their ways and naturally resist change. These managers can stifle the creativity and innovative spirit of others, impacting the ability for the organization to make needed transitions and remain competitive. What type of banker are you? Banks have been talking about a legacy holding them back for decades, but usually this discussion revolves around IT, core banking systems, distribution channels and traditional operation processes. This article was first published on the Financial Brand in July 2015.

David Brear and Mel Stringer are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Google takes on Venmo and Square with new payments features, Starling hits profit for the first time, and the Queen of England unexpectedly takes an interest in blockchain.

Sarah Kocianski and Kate Moody joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Santander buys Wirecard’s core European business for €100m, PNC buys BBVA USA and the FCA says no, as Lanister launches its new polymorphic payment card.

Simon Taylor and Adam Davis are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: WhatsApp gets approval for payments in India, the US government want to block Visa’s $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid, and Klarna gets sued by Pablo Escobar’s brother

Sam Maule and Sarah Kocianski are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Goldman bets on Banking as a Service, British banks stay bullish despite Lockdown 2, and Ant’s record-breaking IPO has been blocked by the Chinese regulator.

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk about travel insurance, and how Covid-19 has changed the face of the industry. All this and much much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

Ross Gallagher and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Ant Group and the biggest IPO of all time, cryptocurrency initiatives amongst industry giants PayPal and JP Morgan, and raccoons break into California bank.

Sarah Kocianski is joined by some great guests to talk about cybersecurity in financial services.

Simon Taylor and Mel Stringer are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Stripe acquires Nigeria’s Paystack, Marqeta’s research discovers Covid-19 has forced three-quarters of banks to change their future strategy, and ESG funds forecast to outnumber conventional funds by 2025.

Sarah Kocianski is joined by some great guests to talk about Open Banking two years on and the key developments that have been made since then.

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk through the most interesting news from the insurance and insurtech sphere!

David Brear and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk through xxx. All this and much much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

David Brear is joined by some fantastic experts from IBM to discuss the opportunities that public cloud offer for business transformation in financial services.

Sam Maule and Sarah Kocianski are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: RTGS Global rolls out stage 1 of liquidity visibility network in collab with Microsoft, banks work with fintechs to counter ‘deepfake’ fraud, and Paypal terminates accounts linked to a Russian influence operation.

Simon Tayor is joined by some special guests to talk about the growth cryptocurrencies in mainstream finance.

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by some amazing guests to talk through digital transformation in the insurance industry.

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...

