
It is the nature of finance that, at its core, is risk.

Here at 11:FS we’re big on transparency and letting you know what’s going on in our company. We’ve recently made a huge hire to be our COO and we couldn’t be more excited about it.

I was at a big bank’s conference the other day and was intrigued at how often the subject of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin came up.

Of course, these are our top 3 blogs of 2018. We took a look at the data, talked amongst ourselves about which ones we liked best and came up with the best blogs we’ve put out this year.

Disclaimer: Yes the piece is entirely structured around the lyrics of a Pulp song. Yes, we take requests.

I do not profess to be, as way too many in the tech industry do today, a blockchain guru or subject matter expert. I leave that designation to 11:FS co-founder Simon Taylor. Simon is the MacGyver of the blockchain community. Give him a stapler, a can of Bud Lite, Duct Tape, and a flashlight, and he will somehow concoct a DLT smart contract solution for a client. A solution that can actually be delivered and that addresses a real business case.

Simon Taylor interviewed block.one CEO and CTO Brendan Blumer and Daniel Larimer at Blockchain Live, to find out more about what block.one does and their new project, EOS that achieved $50omillion in fundraising.

One of the biggest challenges when building new digital financial services is creating a winning feature set. Spending categorisation, budgeting tools, carbon footprint-tracking — these features are everywhere in the financial services apps that we use every day.

Sarah Kocianski sits down with the CEO of Oakam, Frederic Nze to talk about financial inclusion, tackling financial exclusion, the alternative to doorstep lending, and the underbanked.Listen to the full interview here or click play below, otherwise read on for a quick take on what was said.

In a beautiful flat on the edge of San Francisco’s sun-kissed Inner Sunset neighbourhood, the inimitable Sam Maule invited a plethora of fintech experts over for dinner. Across two evenings in the run up to our After Dark San Francisco show, Sam serves up chilli, tacos, and foodie fintech insights. You can listen to them here and here. Disclaimer: The food was actually cooked by Ollie Judge, Head of Media at 11:FS.

At 11:FS, we spend a lot of time looking at next-generation mobile trends and technology. Every now and again we come across a product or feature that just blows us away. It can be as simple as a smart integration with another product or as complicated as a whole app that’s powered by bleeding edge technology.

“Thank you to the Academy…” Sure. Classic Oscar speech energy.But do you know what hits harder than a polite golf clap from a panel of judges? Winning when your actual customers vote. And that’s what happened at the 2025 British Bank Awards, where 11:FS was named Consultancy of the Year. Again! 2019. 2020. 2021. 2023. And now 2025.

In her latest column for Forbes, 11:FS Head of Research Sarah Kocianski examines the new set of authentication procedures and how they are being implemented by UK banks.

11:FS are pleased to announce that Lisa Gansky joined us as a Non-Executive Director, on 3rd July 2017.

As a designer, it’s an all too familiar scenario: you’re about to undertake work on an exciting new digital product or service. It has the potential to have it all, only for you to be handed what all product designers dread - the existing constraints of a rigid and outdated brand playbook. It can certainly feel like a crushing blow. But approached in the correct manner, these constraints can be transformed into an opportunity to take both the product and the brand to the next level.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Swiss Stock Exchange SIX Launch Digital Asset Prototype, No Yuan for Libra and Bakkt Launches at a Snails pace… All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider coming to you from SIBOS in London!

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: SCA is here! (Kinda), GoCardless launches in the US, and accordingly to The Telegraph students are getting payday loans to help fund their love of avocado on toast. All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider News.

David Brear, Will White and Nas Ahmed are joined by some great guests to talk about some financial crime on this insights show!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Santander settles big ethereum bond, Vitalik Buterin does some speaking and the Latest From Europe: Libra You’re not Wanted! All this and much more on today's Blockchain insider!

Sarah Kocianski and Nigel Walsh are joined by Paul Prendegast from Blink and Alex Rainey from Pluto to talk about everything travel insurance, and how some new interesting players are shaking up the way customers are covered when they travel!

Jason Bates and Simon Taylor are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Banks get taken by surprise by last-minute PPI claims, China’s richest man steps down from Alibaba and N26 Launch in Switzerland, but they do not support Swiss Francs! All this and much more on todays Fintech Insider!

Sam Maule is joined by motivational speaker and bestselling author Erik Qualman, to chat about his book Socialnomics, transforming technologies and the importance of competition in the financial industries!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Binance to land in the US, BAKKT Launch edges closer and maximalists can’t meme…...apparently. All this, and much more on todays Blockchain Insider.

Sarah Kocianski and David Brear are joined by some great guests to talk about some of the most interesting stories of the last 7 days, including: Digital banks are set to treble their customer numbers in 2020, Singapore starts accepting their first applications for digital banks and LinkedIn announce their top 25 startups of 2019 - you might recognise some of the names! All this and much more on todays fintech insiders!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Telegram ramp up their crypto efforts, a $1 billion crypto venture and should crypto stay decentralised?

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: Telegram ramp up their crypto efforts, a $1 billion crypto venture and should crypto stay decentralised?

Sarah Kocianski is joined by Jude Greer, Reposit and Nick Willis, Wrisk to talk about how insurtech is shaking up the rental market and consumer protection when renting their homes.

Sam Maule is in NYC and joined by Boe Hartman CTO and Partner at Marcus by Goldman Sachs to talk about some great topics, including the origin story of Marcus and what's driven its success to date.

Sam Maule is in NYC and joined by Boe Hartman CTO and Partner at Marcus by Goldman Sachs to talk about some great topics, including the origin story of Marcus and what's driven its success to date.

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: N26’s US launch, Revolut’s big bank new hires, and: CEO’s sneakers - KSwiss’ new range just for CEOs! All this and much more on today's Fintech Insider.

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...

