
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 Kocianski and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Digital banks are set to treble their customer numbers in 2020, Singapore starts accepting their first applications for digital banks and LinkedIn announce their top 25 startups of 2019 - you might recognise some of the names! All this and much more on todays fintech insiders!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Telegram ramp up their crypto efforts, a $1 billion crypto venture and should crypto stay decentralised?

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Telegram ramp up their crypto efforts, a $1 billion crypto venture and should crypto stay decentralised?

Sarah Kocianski is joined by Jude Greer, Reposit and Nick Willis, Wrisk to talk about how insurtech is shaking up the rental market and consumer protection when renting their homes.

Sam Maule is in NYC and joined by Boe Hartman CTO and Partner at Marcus by Goldman Sachs to talk about some great topics, including the origin story of Marcus and what's driven its success to date.

Sam Maule is in NYC and joined by Boe Hartman CTO and Partner at Marcus by Goldman Sachs to talk about some great topics, including the origin story of Marcus and what's driven its success to date.

David Brear and Sarah Kocianski are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: N26’s US launch, Revolut’s big bank new hires, and: CEO’s sneakers - KSwiss’ new range just for CEOs! All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider.

Leda Glyptis and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests on this insights show, where we take a deeper look at payments, specifically cross-border payments and where the innovation is coming from in this space.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Carney wants reserve currency, Banking licenses for all AND Who’s making money in crypto? All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

David Brear and Will White are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Apple Card Launches For Everyone, Global fintech investment falls sharply and NatWest hid a data breach from customers. All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider News.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: When Bakkt? September actually, Barclays ends partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and Crypto Exchange Binance Announces New Stablecoin Initiative. All this, and so much more on todays Blockchain Insider.

Nigel Walsh is joined by a host of fantastic guests to talk about the latest and greatest news in the insurtech sphere!

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: Remedies Pool C winners are revealed, Goldman Sachs dips into subprime lending with the Apple Card and NatWest trials voice banking with Google Home! All this and so much more on today's Fintech Insider News.

David Brear is joined by Nick Ogden, fintech "founding father" and co-founder of Worldpay, to talk about some great topics, including the businesses Nick's founded and run, where he sees fintech in 5 years, what are the most important things he's learnt during his successful career and so much more!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: China’s Digital Currency, Mastercard make more blockchain moves, Kakao go Cuckoo for Crypto, and so much more!

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...

