
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.

We're bringing you something a little bit different this week. In the run up to After Dark San Francisco, Sam and our media team hosted Dan Macklin, Co-Founder of SoFi and Board Member of Chipper, Yuliya Tarasava, Co-Founder and COO of CNote, Divine, CEO and Founder of Blakfintech, and John Waupsh, CIO at Kasasa. Join us in a flat in the Inner Sunset neighbourhood, for dinner drinks and all things fintech.

We’re live from the 11:FS offices in Aldgate Tower to bring you After Dark V live! Simon, Ross, and new host Sarah are joined by Megan Caywood, Liz Lumley, and Richard Davies. The panel talk about the latest weird and wonderful news from the world of fintech.

Simon sits down with Ross Dalzell, Head of Business Banking Product and Propositions at Barclays Bank to discuss the future of fintech, the SME market, and how open banking is set to transform the financial landscape.

Simon and Colin pick out the latest in blockchain news. Looking at what’s happening to Bitcoin’s twitter turkey, is Ripple a security, and Soros surging into cryptocurrency. We also have an interview with Tim Swanson, George Wolfson, and John Collins when Colin met them at the Deconomy conference.

We’re live at Cass Business School Finance Conference with a panel of movers and shakers in the fintech world. Our host Ross Gallagher is joined by a panel well versed in how to break into and excel in the fintech space. What skills you need, when you need to apply them and what the next generation of fintech talent needs to know.

It’s our Second Birthday and we’ve hit 200 episodes! To celebrate this brilliant occasion and totally planned event we’ve got something a little bit different for you. Bringing you the very best in 11:FS talent we have a panel made up of the least camera shy of our staff members. Hosts Simon, Jason, and David are joined by an allstar group of 11:FS staff including: Ross Methven, Co-founder and Research Lead Ross Gallagher - Principal Consultant Jeff Tijssen, Head of Consultancy Ollie Judge, Head of Media Laura Watkins, Head of Content Creation Sophie Theen, HR & Talent Sadly Sam Maule couldn’t make it to London for the show but we have an interview with him to outline the challenges of consulting and making a startup work in the USA.

This episode is a very special Takeover from Hargreaves Lansdown’s brand new tech office in Warsaw! Ross and Pete are head up this "techover" joined by some of the company’s top people: Chris Hill, CEO; David Davies, CIO; Chris Worle, Director of Digital Marketing and Michael Glowinski, HL Tech General Manager. You can find us on Twitter @FintechInsiders or @11FSTeam or find us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram or drop us a line podcasts@11fs.com

Simon and Sara hash out the latest in blockchain news. Whether it’s dodgy words coming from binance or Buterin’s incredible take down of a supposed Satoshi, they’re examining what’s going on in the crypto space and what it means.

On today’s episode, Sarah and Nigel are joined by a cavalcade of insurtech insiders to give you the very best in insurtech roundtable discussion. Will Thorne, Innovation Leader at The Channel Syndicate, Oliver Ralph, Insurance Correspondent at The Financial Times, Bernadine Bröcker Wieder, Co-Founder & CEO, Vastari and Alex Hearn, Managing Director at Slipcase.

We are recording at the International Fintech Conference in London! Simon interviews a bevy of fintech experts for their insights into the next year: - David Duffy, CEO, CYBG and recently named Fintech Envoy to England. - Eileen Burbidge, HM Treasury’s Special Envoy for FinTech and Partner at Passion Capital - Al Lukies CBE, Motive Partners; PM’s FinTech Envoy - Nikhil Rahti CEO, London Stock Exchange Group - Adrienne Harris, Chief Business Development Officer and General Counsel of States Title, Inc. - Imran Gulamhuseinwala, Global Head of FinTech, EY - John Glen MP and Economic Secretary to the Treasury

In this episode Laura Watkins and David Brear take a look at the last week’s top stories, alongside Jeff Tijssen, Monzo’s Leah Templeman and Bud’s Ed Masleveckas.

Recording live at Blackrock’s WealthTech 2018 at Code Node, London we bring you an interview with Blackrock's Stephen Cohen on why wealth finance and tech are going to come together in the near future. We also have a roundtable with practical insight into buzzwords, acronyms, gamechangers, emerging tech and the death of spreadsheets. And to cap things off we have another interview this time with Eileen Burbidge, Partner at Passional Capital, on the major trends of the moment and where wealth sits within that. Hosted as ever by the inimitable Simon Taylor.

On today’s episode Sara Feenan takes point as host while Colin Platt beams in from a faraway French field. Joined by Anthony Macey, the trio discuss Blockchain’s once in a generation opportunity status, Securities, G20 and more! We also bring you an interview with the brilliant Obi Nwosu of Coinfloor.

This show’s slightly different from normal. We recently attended the Innovate Finance Global Summit and had the pleasure of interviewing a veritable host of fintech movers and shakers which we have condensed into one easy listening podcast. It’s your fintech multivitamin for the day.

Helene Panzarino, Monty Munford, and Ryan Garner, join hosts Ross and Simon to discuss this week's top fintech and banking stories!

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...

