
Banking no longer has the luxury of getting up to speed with new technology. If you can’t adapt on the fly you’ll be left behind.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she's defending bankers.

Open banking payments are already a fact of life in Europe. In the US, not so much. But new infrastructure and the right approach could lead to a sea change stateside. 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.

Rumours emerged a fortnight ago that Revolut was near to closing a $250 million round at a valuation of over $1 billion. The company confirmed the news this morning, saying its valuation had increased 5x since it raised $66 million in the middle of last year and now stands at $1.7 billion. The round was led by Hong Kong based DST Global and the cash injection will be used to fund global expansion, starting with the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia this year alone.

Fintech sandboxes have been a huge success both home and away with the FCA having just opened applications for the fifth cohort in the UK and exporting the concept globally. Now the FCA is looking to go beyond the sandbox to create the Global Fintech Innovation Network (GFIN).

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to career tips for optimists, curious cats and rebels…and auntie Mabel.

It didn't take long. Within hours of Libra being announced the global regulatory system had plenty of opinions on what it meant and how it needed to be governed.

To say it’s been a busy month for Libra would be a massive understatement.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to why diversity and inclusion shouldn’t be a standalone activity and why you shouldn’t just protect your stars, you should protect everyone.

Driving growth and building your brand is tough. Everyone has a voice. But that means working harder, and smarter, as our new CMO Eric Fulwiler knows only too well.

The 5th of April 2021 signified 5 years since we started 11:FS. 5 years since we were all stupid enough to quit well paid jobs to start a business with no capital, no brand and no reputation. Taking on competitors with tens of thousands of people and hundreds of millions to invest... 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.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week, she discusses how core banking is changing her life for the better.

There's something borderline intangible about the 11:FS tone of voice; it's iconoclastic. It's different.

What is Facebook coin / Libra? Is this a game-changing moment and what should we do about it?

* figuratively ;-) Celebrating success is important; a Hummingbird Bakery cake, maybe a bottle of fizz to mark the occasion. We can momentarily bask in the glory, but then it’s time to lift up your head and look to the horizon.

Host David M. Brear, CEO of 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.

In this episode of Fintech Insider Insights, Kate Moody is joined by an expert panel of product leaders to unpack a question every startup and scale-up eventually faces: how do you build the dream product team?
.jpg)
Host Ross Gallagher, Head of Ventures at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
.jpg)
In this episode of Fintech Insider, David M. Brear sits down with ClearBank’s UK CEO, Emma Hagan, to explore how the UK’s first new clearing bank in over 250 years is reshaping financial infrastructure from the ground up.
.jpg)
Host Kate Moody, Customer Strategy Director at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
.jpg)
Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
.jpg)
What’s next for fintech UX in 2026? Ross Gallagher, Head of Consulting at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to break down six financial services UX predictions from the latest 11:FS Pulse Report, covering the shifts shaping digital banking, customer experience, onboarding, product design, and user research.
.jpg)
Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
.jpg)
On this week’s episode, in partnership with Pleo, host Benjamin Ensor is joined by Jeppe Rindom, Co-Founder and CEO of Pleo; Søren Westh Lonning, CFO at Pleo; and Megan Cooper, CEO of Caywood, to explore how the role of finance has evolved over the past decade - and what it will take for finance teams to win the next 10 years.
.jpg)
Host Kate Moody, Customer Strategy Director at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
.jpg)
On this week’s episode, host David Barton-Grimley is joined by Matt Weaver, Head of Solutions for EMEA at OpenAI, to explore the impact OpenAI is having on the financial services industry - and the meaningful collaborations taking place between the sector and the AI innovation giant.
.jpg)
Host Laura Watkins, Director of Media & Marketing at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.

On this week's episode, David M. Brear is joined by some great guests to tack a question on every bank and fintech leader’s mind: is AI redefining consumer-focused banking in 2026?
.jpg)
In a fresh wave of fintech consolidation and strategic moves, Flutterwave has acquired Mono. JPMorgan has launched its Special Advisory Services initiative to give key clients access to consulting services drawn from the bank’s own practices. PicPay has filed for a U.S. IPO, and Mercury has applied to the OCC for a national bank charter.
.jpg)
David M. Brear, Group CEO at 11:FS, sits down with two heavyweights in the payments world: Tracy Birdsall, Managing Director and Head of EMEA & APAC, Merchant Services Sales, at J.P. Morgan Payments, and Kristen Morrow-Greven, Vice President and Head of Global Payments at Netflix.

Hey, banks! This might sting a bit. You’re getting loyalty all wrong - and it’s costing you customers. But all is not lost!
The entire world is buzzing about AI, and that ain't changing anytime soon. But as AI becomes more integrated into our daily lives, what impact will it have on financial services and how people interact with them?
Ever wanted to know what’s going on behind the scenes every time we make a payment?
Regulation is essential. It stops banks from going bust or behaving badly.
The invention of the computer revolutionised banking in the 1950s.
Lending has been around for thousands of years and is one of the cornerstones of banking.
They're down, but they're not certainly not out.
Mastercard and Visa are the two biggest credit card networks in the world.
We kick off our Decoding: Banks series with a look at the banking landscape today and how we got here.

David M. Brear, our 11:FS CEO, takes us through legacy technology within banks - but of course, with a really cool Lightboard.

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...

