Global

Everything that made senior bankers successful is what makes them less able to thrive in the digital economy.

James Safford is a name you might not be familiar with from the 11:FS team. He’s starred in a couple of our shows with brilliant insights on what’s going on in the fintech space. James is a Market Research Analyst working on the 11:FS Pulse platform delivering insights into customer journeys globally. I took a moment to sit down with James and talk to him about how things differ working in fintech compared to publishing, and why he moved into the space after deciding against a lifelong dream.

This past weekend an estimated 177m people tuned in as Matthew Stafford’s (strong surname BTW) LA Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals at Super Bowl LVII.

Continuous improvement is a huge focus at 11:FS. We’re always looking for the 1% improvements and 10x ideas (and everything in between) that will drive us forwards.

The 11:FS research team recently finalised the first part of a major piece of work examining the services available to US Small to Medium-sized businesses. Here’s some of what we discovered.

Providing the best service to have the largest market share. That’s what banks want to be and want to have. And for a very long time they did.

The killer digital wallet will not come from a fintech company - it will come from a social media platform. This is taken from our Unfiltered newsletter. Subscribe now for a no BS, uncensored analysis of fintech news and hot topics delivered to your inbox each fortnight.

2022 is well underway and if you’re still wishing people a Happy New Year, it’s time to stop living in the past.

As we begin 2022, we’re looking forward to seeing some innovative solutions in the fintech space, but there will be roadblocks along the way.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Rob Frohwein, the CEO and co-founder of Kabbage, for the 11:FS Connection Interrupted podcast. Rob has plenty of stories to fall back on when discussing how his co-founders and he were able to start a company in the midst of the 2008 financial crash (great timing by the way Rob). They were able to successfully implement their concept of providing funding to small businesses and consumers online. As of the beginning of 2018 Kabbage has served 125k customers and made over $3.5 billion in loans.

In this special guest blog, Deniz Güven, CEO and Executive Director, Virtual Bank by Standard Chartered, discusses innovation in Hong Kong and the development of a Brave New Bank.

The UK is in the grip of a mental health crisis. Twin pillars of Covid and a cost-of-living crisis have pushed our collective anxiety to dizzying levels. This is taken from our Unfiltered newsletter. Subscribe now for a no BS, uncensored analysis of fintech news and hot topics delivered to your inbox each fortnight.

COP26 is over. But the climate emergency is still with us. The headlines might say otherwise but I got the feeling that very little progress was made on climate change. This is taken from our Unfiltered newsletter. Subscribe now for a no BS, uncensored analysis of fintech news and hot topics delivered to your inbox each fortnight.

There’s so much to look forward to in 2022. It’s the Year of the Tiger. There’s a World Cup in November. And, of course, the sands of insurtech will keep shifting.

What. A. Year. Suffice to say, 2020 has been a year like no other. Some industries have been dealt a crushing blow by the pandemic, and while fintech hasn’t come out of it unscathed, parts of the industry have flourished.