
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.

In this very special show, we let our sister podcast Blockchain Insider takeover the mics, as Simon Taylor leads a roundtable focusing on blockchain and insurance and the different opportunities and ways of thinking that can be tapped into using smart contracts and DLT, while co-host Colin G Platt interviews Stephan Karpischek, Co-founder of Etherisc, who are building decentralized insurance applications.

In this episode, we bring you our fourth After Dark special, recorded in front of a live audience as Jason and Simon are joined by Niall Cameron, Ross Gallagher, Sarah Kocianski and Valentina Kristensen to discuss the week's biggest and silliest stories.

In this episode Simon is joined by Sara Feenan in place of Colin this week to cover the week's top stories and we have a fantastic interview from Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset.

In this episode, Simon and Jason are joined by Chris Skinner, Tanya Andreasyan, Kristian Luoma and Cliff Evans, to take on the week’s top stories.

In this episode, Simon, Colin and guest Sara Feenan dissect the week's news and we have a fantastic interview from Jameson Lopp!

In this week's episode we focus on the Sharing and Gig Economies and changing insurance models as a result. We also chat to co-founders Mike Rudoy & Luke Cohler from New York based start-up, Jetty.

In this episode, Simon Taylor speaks to Scott O'Malia, CEO of ISDA, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association

In this week's episode, Jason, Simon and David are joined by 11:FS Research team's Ross Gallagher, Capco's Charlie Wood and Fluidly CEO Caroline Plumb.

Yesterday (1st February) was Time to Talk Day, a day dedicated to mental health awareness, and opening up the conversation around it in the aim of removing the stigma. In conjunction with this, Simon Taylor chaired a panel discussing Financial Services and Mental Health with James Routledge form Mental Health foundation Sanctus, and finance experts, Jo Ann Barefoot, Nick Cook and Ghela Boskovitch.

Sam Maule is joined by Kabbage co-founder Kathryn Petralia, payments guru Ginger Schmeltzer and Worldplay's VC of innovation Joe Kleinwaechter to discuss Atlanta's Fintech scene and payments!

Simon Taylor, David M. Brear and Jason Bates are joined by The Economist banking editor Patrick Lane & Innovate Finance's very own Sophie Winwood to discuss the war for talent between the Fintech and Banking worlds.

Founded 15 years ago, Avoka offer banks and financial companies customer-centric digital transformation through various acquisition products. Derek talks us through the business, his unique job title and how Avoka are working with legacy core banking systems to transform customer experience.

After the fallout from the crypto bloodbath last week, Simon and Colin discuss how regulators continue to monitor these monumental price spikes and subsequent dumps. We also bring you interviews with bitFlyer's CEO and founder Yuzo Kano and COO Andy Bryant

Simon Taylor was joined by a superstar panel including 11:FS Asset Management lead Pete Townsend, Scalable Capital CEO Adam French, Nutmeg CIO Shaun Port and Calastone CCO Jon Willis as they discussed investment for future generations.

Today our wonderful guest host Sarah Kocianski leads us into a great discussion all about autonomous vehicles and changing insurance models.

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...

