
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.

David, Jason, and Simon are joined by Fluidly Founder, CEO and OBE Caroline Plumb, and CEO and Founder of Norio Ventures, Pete Townsend for this week's news!

This week, Sam Maule talks to the wonderful Amber Baldet, Executive Director and Blockchain Programme Lead at J.P. Morgan.

Simon and Colin bring you another packed show covering the week's topsy turvy news, including SegWit2x, more on Bitcoin prices, Colin's long thing and some fantastic guests talking e-sports.

This week is an extremely special Halloween episode: After Dark II recorded in front of a live studio audience from our home at WeWork in Aldgate, London, and we're celebrating an important milestone; it's episode number 150!

In a special interview this week, David speaks to Liesbeth Rigter, CEO at MoneYou and Eric Mouilleron, CEO at Bankable, about their partnership and their plans for the future.

David introduces the second installment from our trip to Xerocon 2017, featuring Edward Berks, Director of Sales, Banking and Fintech at Xero, Ian Christie, CEO at Boma Technologies, Margaret Laidlaw, Partner at Mazars, Mark Sykes, Partner at BDO and Anna Curzon, Chief Partner Officer at Xero.

This week, Simon and Colin catch up and the weeks news and talk to Stephen Palley, Software Development Lawyer, and Jeff Bandman, Principal at Bandman Advisors and former CFTC Fintech Advisor.

Sam Maule hosts a very special episode of Fintech Insider from a flat in Toronto! Sam's joined by Mike Sigal from 500 Fintechs (part of 500 Startups), Dion Lisle from CapGemini, Jo Lang from IBM, and April Rudin from The Rudin Group.

This week Jason, David and Simon are joined by Sharon O'Dea, consultant, advisor, and blogger, and Kadhim Shubber, Tech 100 #68 and FT Alphaville journalist to discuss the week's top news.

This week Simon and Colin talk through the Bitcoin good news story as well as Tezos, R3, and much more. Plus, we hear Sam Maule talk to Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple.

This week, we cover David's time at Xerocon, where he hosted a panel on Frictionless Finance featuring Niall Cameron, Global Head of Digital at HSBC, Caroline Plumb OBE, CEO at Fluidly, Colin Goldstein, Head of Partnerships at iwoca, Stewart Roberts, Executive VP at iZettle, and Shachar Bialick, CEO at Curve.

This week Sam is joined by Kris Hansen, CTO at Koho, Dan Eberhard, founder of Koho, Barb MacLean, Director at Celero Solutions and Zac Cohen, General Manager at Trulioo in a special news show brought to you from Toronto, Canada.

In this week’s jam-packed show Nigel visits InsureTech Connect in Las Vegas and talks to Darin Reffitt, Vice President of Marketing at Splice Software; Quentin Colmant, co-Founder of Qover; Tim Hardcastle, CEO of Instanda; Chris Cheatham, CEO of Risk Genius; and Caribou Honig himself, co-founder of InsureTech Connect.

In this week’s jam-packed show Nigel visits InsureTech Connect in Las Vegas and talks to Darin Reffitt, Vice President of Marketing at Splice Software; Quentin Colmant, co-Founder of Qover; Tim Hardcastle, CEO of Instanda; Chris Cheatham, CEO of Risk Genius; and Caribou Honig himself, co-founder of InsureTech Connect.

This week Simon Taylor and Colin G Platt delve into the week's top blockchain and crypto news, and we hear from Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director at the Hyperledger Project within the Linux Foundation, and from Paul Worrall, founder of Zonafide.
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...

