
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: David Marcus Makes Senate Plea, SWIFT go Supersonic in Singapore, and Who let the DAWGs out! All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider.

Sarah and Nigel are joined by some fantastic guests today to talk about Fintechs and Insurtechs teaming up!

David and Sarah are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days. Including: British fintech booms with 2019 set to be a record year for investment, SoftBank bets big in South America, and Facebook to be fined $5bn! All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider News!

In today's episode, we bring you an amazing interview with John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury! David Brear meets him at Her Majesty's Treasury, to talk about his role, what excites him about London's booming fintech scene and so much more!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Keep Big Tech out of Finance, Binance burns bucketload of BNB, and Trump hates Bitcoin. And Libra! All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider.

Simon and Laura are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days. Including: Deutsche Bank braced for severe cull as head quits, Government-owned bank 'forging signatures' in repossession cases, and Fintech is the ‘new normal' with 55% of consumers regular users! All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider News!

In today's episode, we bring you an interview with Michael Jaconi, CEO of Button! Sam Maule meets him in a New York penthouse, to talk about all things Button!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Brazilian bank, Tezos and $1 Billion, IBM tries to make paper the past, and Swiss STO's. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

This week on Insurtech Insider Sarah Kocianski brings you a series of interviews recorded at an event 11:FS held in partnership with the FCA and the HM Treasury. Interviews include: John Glen, MP and Economic Secretary to the HM Treasury, Francesca Hopwood Road, Head of RegTech & Advanced Analytics at the FCA and many more!

On our latest and greatest instalment of After Dark, Simon, Leda and Jason are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the past week. Including: Why can't big banks and fintech get along? Jaja pays £530M cash to acquire the Bank of Ireland's UK credit card business, Zuckerberg and Libra's world domination looms larger and much more!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Libra fallout continues, Polkadot, and tethery’licious volume! All this and more on today’s blockchain insider!

David and Simon are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days. Including: BoE welcomes tech companies for the first time, Revolut eyes big bucks before IPO and Monzo’s second billion!

In today's episode, we bring you a series of interviews with the people behind some of the most interesting companies in the payments, straight from Money20/20 in Amsterdam! Interviews include Harsh Sinha from Transferwise, Patrick Gauthier from Amazon Pay, Roland Palmer from Alipay and Mark Barnett from Mastercard!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Libra, libra and more libra, Bank of England's Mark Carney positive on DLT and Bitcoin futures. All this and so much more on today's episode.

Sarah and Nigel are joined by a couple of great guests this week to talk about the most interesting stories happening in insurtech over the past couple of weeks.
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...

