
I’ve been thinking about HENRYs recently. Not the Henry who asked me to marry him - I was 8, he was 5 - although he does cross my mind occasionally. HENRYs, short for ‘High Earners Not Rich Yet’, was coined as a label by Shawn Tully in 2003.

If you listened to the headlines, you'd think the competitive race in financial services is about one thing: building the smartest AI. We think that's the wrong way to look at it.

Embedded banking without strategic intent is expensive theatre. Lots of APIs, lots of partnership announcements, lots of pilots, but not much revenue. And that’s the risk facing corporate banks right now.

AI assistants already help people compare products, check availability and plan purchases. Agentic commerce extends that role to placing the order: a customer sets a budget and a few conditions, then gives the software permission to complete the purchase.

For most people, the month falls into two phases - before and after payday - when balances jump, debts feel manageable, and financial intentions come back within reach. But in most banking apps, payday is treated as a passive event.

Financial institutions are moving quickly into agentic AI. Coding agents, workflow agents, document agents, service agents and operational agents are already entering the enterprise. Many will create useful gains, some of them genuinely impressive. But that is not the real test.
Barclays is acquiring the UK arm of GoHenry, a money app for 6 to 18-year olds. With a reported price tag of £180 million for around 500,000 active accounts, £360 per head is a chunky investment.

For the past decade, the banking industry has been focused on developing frictionless interfaces. Financial institutions have prioritised seamless transactions, instant gratification, and engaging gamified features in a bid to build the ultimate digital financial experience.

The need for better, tailored support through the customer experience is clear, but few are accounting for the fundamental shift that financial services has experienced with the introduction of AI.

Loyalty is defined as “a strong feeling of support or allegiance”. However, in the context of financial services, it is more accurately defined as engineered persistence: a series of subconscious cues that steer customers toward familiar choices.

For years, banks have relied on OTPs as a second factor for logins and sensitive actions. Sent via SMS, these short codes were designed to add security on top of a password. But they have become one of the weakest and most frustrating parts of the banking experience.

The people using business banking tools don’t necessarily have financial backgrounds. Many smaller businesses can't afford a dedicated finance team. Yet banks keep building products that assume expertise their customers don't have, leaving them to figure things out on their own.

As our financial lives become more complex, there is a growing expectation for banks to offer more support, be more relevant, and generate greater everyday value. One of the clearest places this shift is starting to show up is in subscription banking.

On the latest episode of Insurtech Insider, Sarah sits down with Jonathan Roomer and Oliver Ralph to discuss Life Insurance. Sarah also has a couple of great interviews with Adam Erlebacher and David Vanek.

On this week's news show, Ross and David are joined by a great pair of guests, Eric Fulwiler and Teana Baker-Taylor to talk about the latest and greatest fintech news stories this week.

Sam Maule interviews Angel investor Howard Lindzon on what it means to be a CEO, being in the right place at the right time, data, and the value of scarcity.

On this week’s episode, Sarah and Sara sit down to discuss some of the most intriguing stories in blockchain as investors get serious about crypto. We also bring you a panel on institutional crypto led by Simon at the Europa conference.

On this week's news show, Sarah and Simon are joined by a great lineup of guests including: Bryan Glick, Nina Mohanty, and James Safford to discuss the latest and greatest news in the fintech space.

Today's show charts out the banking journey from legacy to cloud. Simon Taylor explores how old programming languages have created a new kind of cowboy, untangling legacy systems, and how banks should approach the powers of AI - which isn't quite the magical word everyone hopes it is.

Simon and Sara are joined by Noelle Acheson and Joon Ian Wong from Coindesk to talk about the latest and greatest blockchain news. Including a brilliant tweet of the week.

On the latest episode of Insurtech Insider, Sarah and Nigel sit down with SMB insurtech experts to give you an enlightening discussion on how SMBs are starting to have access to tailor-made insurance policies and what insurance they need. Joining our hosts today are Alex Wheal, Commercial Client Manager at Hiscox and Ania Kubow, Co-founder of Nimbla.

On this week's news show, Sarah and David are joined by journalist Monty Munford and Husayn Kassai, CEO of Onfido to discuss the latest and most interesting news in the fintech space.

In our final One Fintech Nation episode David takes a look at how fintechs and banks can work together. Our series with Tech Nation has looked at fintech solving real problems, UK fintech from an international perspective, and what's happening in UK fintech outside of London. This episode brings it all together.

Sarah and Sara are joined by Maya Kumar from Luno to talk about the latest news in the blockchain world.

Simon is our lone host on the show today. But he's joined by our four fantastic guests: Freddy Kelly, CEO of Credit Kudos, Veronique Barbosa, Co-founder and COO of FLUX, Tanya Andreasyan, Editor at Banking Technology, and Philip Clarke Founder of Hunch.

Sarah Kocianski is joined by Pete Rizzo and Anastasia Andrianova to discuss the latest news in the blockchain world.

In this episode Sarah takes a look at how fintech in the UK is making positive changes for all kinds of people. In association with Tech Nation we examine what real problems fintech is solving for customers across the country.

On the latest episode of Insurtech Insider, Sarah sits down with insurtech experts to give you an intense roundtable on accelerators, hubs, and innovation labs. Joining our host today are:James York, CEO and Founder, Worry+PeaceLiam Gray, Head of Research & Partner Management at Startupbootcamp InsurTechTshidi Hagan, Program Director at StartupbootcampTobias Taupitz, CEO and Co-founder at Laka

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?
It's not just a buzzword.
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.

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...

