
At some point for every product, you’ll have gone through an initial period of exciting discovery. 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.

By Michael Douglas, Vice President, Strategy, Galileo

TL;DR None of the challenger banks use blockchain, the guy who’s leading the most popular smart contract platform (Ethereum) say’s it’s a bad idea. So, I mean read on…but. No, don’t use a blockchain or smart contracts for the love of god.

I’d like to start this by stating that Africa is not a monolith and for the purpose of this post, I’ll be zeroing in on the East and West African markets. 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.

It’s been an incredible year for fintech, but one thing’s for sure. 2019 is going to be an even wilder ride.

So about 350 days ago I made some predictions about how 2019 would shape up. Here I’ll break down how accurate, or not, I was. TL:DR - pretty damn accurate.

Niall Cameron joined David Brear on Fintech Insider to discuss HSBC, innovation and partnering with fintechs. We found out his views of how incumbents can best work alongside and partner with fintechs in the changing digital space:

As a uni student, it drove Ollie Purdue crazy that his bank couldn’t provide him with basic info to help manage his financial life. How much money was he likely to have at the end of the month? Could he cut back on work and have more fun – or did he need to increase his hours to pay the bills? At age 20, he founded Loot to create a better banking experience that used data in a smarter way. In episode 232 of FinTech Insider, Ollie, CEO of Loot, shares the story behind his company, including how he got bank execs to talk to him when he was still in school.

The 11:FS research team is in the midst of building out an internal platform that has some elements of gamification (and because we see a lot of products coming through our benchmarking tool 11:FS Pulse which make use of it), I’ve been spending a bit of time considering the topic.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to careers, indecision and the Venn diagram of doom.

I was recently asked whether digital transformations meant partnerships will become obsolete. In fact, I think quite the opposite - banks who don’t use partnerships will become obsolete.

If you’ve been listening to the news at all in the last few months, you’ve likely run across the term Open Banking – a lot. The internet is awash with articles, thought pieces, blogs, books and podcasts on Open Banking. It’s a full-time job keeping up with the latest trends and following the right people. That’s why at 11: FS we’ve put together the authoritative resource on Open Banking. Whether you’re new to Open Banking or a bonafide guru, we’ve cut through the noise to bring you the go-to guide.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to Wonder Woman, technology without heart and why love is key to innovation.

If you’re a banker, particularly a retail banker, last year was like the longest pre-fight build up we’ve ever seen. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will know that this year four new challenger banks will finally come to the UK market in the form of Monzo, Atom, Starling, and Tandem. They were the constant drum beat in the background while you were making your roadmaps and planning your transformations; the constant understanding that winter was coming.

Much has been written about how Open Banking has announced itself with more of a whimper than a bang, since going live at the beginning of 2018.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: DeFi protocol hit by hackers, JP Morgan’s Quorum looks to merge with ConsenSys, and multiples M&A moves in the crypto world. Today's guests include: Ed Cooper - Revolut, Michael Coletta - London Stock Exchange Group, Rhain Lewis - London Womon in Bitcoin, and Aman Kohli - DXC. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

In a Valentine's Day and episode 400 special, hosts Leda Glyptis, David Brear and Jason Bates get together to talk about the things they love most about this industry and their favourite fintech partnerships. Later in the show, they're joined by some friends of the podcast who also share some of theirs!

Nigel Walsh is joined by a panel of guests to talk through how insurance is evolving and changing in our modern world. All this and much much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

Leda Glyptis and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Could Goldman Sachs and Amazon join forces on small business lending?, two more payments giants are consolidating, and banker busted for allegedly filching food.

Leda Glyptis and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Could Goldman Sachs and Amazon join forces on small business lending?, two more payments giants are consolidating, and banker busted for allegedly filching food.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: will banks bet big on central bank digital currencies?, more execs leave Swiss stock exchange SDX, and Ripple eyes IPO. Simon Taylor hosts and is joined by Eric Van der Kleij, CEO of Frontier Network and Andrew Smith, CTO at RTGS.All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Sarah Kocianski is joined by some great guests to discuss the first 2 years of Open Banking in the UK - what's worked, what hasn't and how many more opportunities and innovations are yet to come.

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: Open Banking passes a million customers on its second anniversary, shakeups at RBS as Bo exec to step down, and BlackRock to shift away from fossil fuel investments.

In this week's Insights show, Adam Davis is joined by some great guests to discuss the future of investing.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: The currency cold war, tokenising your future income, and when will we see a digital dollar? All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Fintech Insider is stateside this week as hosts Will White and Sam Maule are joined by a panel of great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Visa acquires Plaid in $5bn deal, banks tell us how they did in Q4 2019, and the new bank for the 60+ set.

Simon Taylor is hosting solo this week and is joined by some great guests to talk about the future of fintech VC investment.

In the first Insurtech Insider episode of the year, host Sarah Kocianski is joined by a panel of guests to talk through how the direct-to-consumer insurance model has evolved in a digital-first world. All this and much much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Where Libra go from here, Telegram’s TON takes another blow, and the Venezuelan President is all in on petros. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Laura Watkins is at Fintech Connect 2019 at the ExCeL London where she is joined by Kosta Peric, Deputy Director of Financial Services for the Poor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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.

Fintech Marketing Podcast Season 2: Coming soon

After Dark - Open Finance: fact or fantasy?

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...

