
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.

Sarah and Nigel are joined by a panel of guests to talk through hotly contested e-scooters and e-scooter insurance! All this and much much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

Simon Taylor and Sarah Kocianski are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: The UK's Fintech industry is "firing on all cylinders" as big banks’ profits fall; we look at why investing is booming despite the pandemic; and JPMorgan Chase partner with Marqeta to offer virtual cards.

Simon Taylor is joined by some great guests to talk about the future of bank branches. Will they open up after the pandemic? Do we still need them or have we seen the last of the bank branch?

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk through the latest news in the insurtech and insurance world!

Simon Taylor and Ross Gallagher are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Robinhood abandons its UK launch amid criticism of their platform; Klarna reins in their lockdown lending and Monzo re-launch their Plus product.

Sarah Kocianski is joined by some great guests to talk about the development of digital payments and the global shift towards cashless payment solutions.

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk through LGBT+ and insurance. What is the state of diversity and inclusion in the industry and what specific products is there available for the LGBT+ community? All this and much much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

Simon Taylor is joined by some great (and very international) guests to talk about the future of fintech hubs. Do we need them? Is location no longer important post-pandemic?

Sam Maule is joined by some great guests to talk about credit scoring for US immigrants. What are the problems US immigrants might face when trying to build up a credit score once they've arrived in North America?

Nigel Walsh and David Brear are joined by a panel of guests to talk through the latest news in the insurtech and insurance world including Lemonde goes public and the Post Office brings back travel insurance...with coronavirus cover! All this and much more on this week's Insurtech Insider!

Sam Maule and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Wirecard “loses” €1.9 billion, the US banking sector is seeing huge growth, despite (or because of) the pandemic and Goldman Sachs’ CEO makes a cameo in 'Billions'.

Sam Maule is joined by some great guests to talk about PPP lending during the COVID-19 pandemic. On today's show we are taking a look at the process from the lenders perspective!

Jason Bates and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Goldman Sachs teams up with another tech giant as it launches credit lines on Amazon, Monzo raise funding but lose valuation and WhatsApp launches payments in Brazil. All this and much much more on today's FIntech Insider News.

Sam Maule is joined by some great guests to discuss the state of the underbanked in the US and how COVID-19 is affecting this group of underserved people.

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by a panel of guests to talk through life insurance during the pandemic. Does your existing life insurance policy cover you during the pandemic?

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...

