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I’ve poked fun at banks and fintechs, but now it’s time to take on the consultancies. Sometimes it can feel like you’re spending your money on bad advice and worse decisions. Sometimes you are.

Leveraging consumer trust is an important tool for all brands. Businesses are starting to take note and realising that in today’s all encompassing landscape, one product offering simply isn’t enough anymore.

There have always been everyday tasks that seem complex, boring or too disinteresting for us to give them our full attention. Whether that’s as simple as ironing your laundry or as time consuming as learning a new language, often we’ll lack the drive or willpower to overcome the initial inertia to progress. 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.

While the concept of embedded insurance is not new, Hiscox’s Alex Wheal says changes to data sharing mean the opportunities could be boundless.

Last week I spoke to friends of 11:FS to discover the 11 stupidest things banks do. It was more popular than any of us expected. It even compelled 11:FS Co-Founder, Simon Taylor to write a love letter to the big banks telling them how they can do better. Here at 11:FS we felt like maybe we’d been a little harsh on our incumbent friends. So, I decided to write another list, reaching out to both the wider fintech community and all our followers to find out the 11 stupidest things fintechs say and do.

Jeff Tijssen has spent his entire career in financial services and worked at many major banks before coming on board at 11:FS. He’s our Head of Consulting and you may have heard him on a few of our Fintech Insider podcasts or know him from working with us on one of our many secret projects. I took a moment to sit down with Jeff and talk to him about transforming big business, where the pain points are for the big businesses and why it matters.

There’s an old saying: The reason God was able to create the earth in 6 days and rest on the 7th is because they didn’t have millions of customers and legacy systems. That said, millions of customers and legacy systems can lead to some odd practices that never get questioned. I hear it a lot from people who work at big banks; change is hard, change takes time and getting something delivered no matter how small is a giant victory. This is what inspired our listicle last week. Many of us at 11:FS have been there one way or another, and we’re inspired by the fact that there’s so much to do in digital banking (It is still only 1% finished after all). So this blog post is a love letter, to those of you in the big organisations, trying to get shit done but feeling hamstrung.

Fintech Insider: After Dark is back, if you hadn’t been paying any attention to the slew of promo material we’ve been putting out then you missed your chance to attend the live recording, drink free beer, have a slice of pizza, and attend the most fun event in the fintech calendar. But it’s okay, I’ve got you covered with a quick roundup of what happened at the show, and you can hear the recording of both shows on today’s podcast at 4pm. I’ll bring you a few behind the scenes snippets of what happened at After Dark VI and let you know all about the very special live-show only pieces we do for our fans.

Here at 11:FS we talk a lot about how Digital Banking is only 1% Finished, jobs to be done, and many other topics on how big banks get things wrong. But sometimes just hearing the theory isn’t enough. So I spoke to bankers, insiders, fintechers, associates, customers, and researchers – all anonymously – who have given me swathes of real world examples of the stupid shit banks do. Here’s the 11 best…or worst, depending on how you want to see it. This list took a fair while to compile so if you’ve got something you want to add send me a message and maybe we’ll do a part two.

It’s not obvious when you need to start shifting your startup marketing tactics to scaleup tactics. There isn’t a Companies House date or valuation point where it’s clear that you’ve entered the next phase.

You can catch the full Fintech Insider discussion on the news today at 4pm on the podcast here (go subscribe now, why are you waiting? You know you need to know this stuff asap).This week we had a great show as per usual with some really fun discussions on a lot of key stories in the fintech space. Our CEO David M. Brear and Principal Consultant Ross Gallagher sit down with our guests Eric Fulwiler, Executive Director of VaynerMedia and Teana Baker-Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer of Coinfloor.For our deeper dive this week I’m taking a closer look at a fintech issue at home that’s been upsetting many in the fintech space for quite some time. Delays to the RBS funding scheme persist, this time due to senior hires.

It’s been 8 long years since Paul the Octopus passed away. Purveyor of predictions, he managed to correctly foresee Spain as the 2010 World Cup winners. So, how does the most advanced AI machinery in finance stack up against the seemingly magical powers of Paul the Octopus? There’s also the recent predictive piggie Mystic Marcus who wasn’t quite as accurate as the beloved octopus… Stay tuned for more on this topic very soon, as this Friday we release our podcast on AI that you’ve been asking for.

Chase ’s digital-only bank, Finn, launched nationwide in the U.S. a few weeks ago, to piqued interest from fintechs and banks alike. It’s by no means the country’s first digital only bank—Ally and Simple have been around for years—but it has won the race to be the first nationwide digital brand from the United States’ banking giants. (Citi has plans to launch a “national digital bank” soon, while Wells Fargo’s Greenhouse is due to come out of beta in the near future.)

When the world’s most famous VC firms move you should pay attention. a16z is the firm most synonymous with Silicon Valley, big tech and venture capital. Now they’re coming to crypto with a $300m Fund. If crypto is dead, then maybe now crypto is much much more interesting than it was 6 months ago. After the winter comes the spring…

You can catch the full Fintech Insider discussion on the news today at 4pm on the podcast here (go subscribe now). This week we had a great show: Simon Taylor and Sarah Kocianski sit down with our guests Editor in Chief of Computer Weekly, Bryan Glick, Business Development at Bud, Nina Mohanty, and 11:FS Pulse Analyst, James Safford to discuss all things fintech.For our deep dive this week, we’re taking a closer look at what happened in Zimbabwe after EcoCash suffered a two-day crash; effectively stopping all payments for the nation.