
There’s been no shortage of attention paid to the emergence of fintech in the Middle East recently. In fact, we wrote about the ‘perfect storm’ that was brewing in the region and recently gave an overview of the digital challengers emerging to meet these needs.

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to why mistakes are wonderful things.

Simon Taylor interviewed Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo for Fintech Insider. Listen to the whole interview in full here.

Each week, Leda Glyptis, CEO of 11:FS Foundry, creates #LedaWrites. This week, as the world continues to change, she discusses how to overcome defaulting to the comfortable way of doing things just because that's how they've always been done.

In part one of this series I pointed out that things look very, very bad for the insurance industry right now. In this blog post I will explore what might happen next.

David M. Brear, our CEO, recently asked his followers on LinkedIn the following question: What three things should every bank in the world do in the next 3 years to be successful? So many people responded to David’s post with varying opinions but one thing was clear: change was paramount and digital was the way forward.

Imagine a crane operator, but not any crane operator, this one is wearing a pair of AR goggles, in which a layer of relevant data and information about every container being moved is shown, ensuring that, not only the right job is done, but also the job is done right.

Bringing the office home with you doesn’t carry as much stigma as it once did. So what are the benefits of remote working, and how can you take advantage of them?

Until 2018 Australia hadn’t had a new, homegrown bank for decades. The Australian banking industry had been dominated by four huge banks who, facing no competition, rested on their laurels.

Each week, Leda Glyptis, CEO of 11:FS Foundry, creates #LedaWrites. This week, TV masterpiece The West Wing and what it can teach us about life, business and financial services.

After so many years and billions spent on digital transformation: design workshops, rebuilding banks to focus on client journeys and user centred design, it’s still falling down.

TL;DR: someone (we don’t know who), managed to make off with over $350,000 with a loan that in essence cost them no more than $8.71 in the murky but oh so interesting world of decentralised finance (or DeFi for short).

Each week, Leda Glyptis, CEO of 11:FS Foundry, creates #LedaWrites. This week, her thoughts turn to what transformation should look like with the lessons being learned from COVID-19.
Last year, we debated digital payments and whether they’re the future. At the time, it seemed like the answer was a resounding “yes". In the meantime, a global pandemic has emerged and transformed consumer behaviour in all areas of life — including the ways in which we pay. But the question is, will this be a permanent change or will we revert to our pre-pandemic ways once it’s safe to do so? And if we do fast-forward to a completely cashless society, what will the implications be?

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, CEO of 11:FS Foundry creates #LedaWrites. This week she reflects on inspiring bosses and the opportunities they offered.

Host David M. Brear, CEO of 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.

In this episode of Fintech Insider Insights, Kate Moody is joined by an expert panel of product leaders to unpack a question every startup and scale-up eventually faces: how do you build the dream product team?
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Host Ross Gallagher, Head of Ventures at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
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In this episode of Fintech Insider, David M. Brear sits down with ClearBank’s UK CEO, Emma Hagan, to explore how the UK’s first new clearing bank in over 250 years is reshaping financial infrastructure from the ground up.
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Host Kate Moody, Customer Strategy Director at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
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Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
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What’s next for fintech UX in 2026? Ross Gallagher, Head of Consulting at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to break down six financial services UX predictions from the latest 11:FS Pulse Report, covering the shifts shaping digital banking, customer experience, onboarding, product design, and user research.
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Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
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On this week’s episode, in partnership with Pleo, host Benjamin Ensor is joined by Jeppe Rindom, Co-Founder and CEO of Pleo; Søren Westh Lonning, CFO at Pleo; and Megan Cooper, CEO of Caywood, to explore how the role of finance has evolved over the past decade - and what it will take for finance teams to win the next 10 years.
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Host Kate Moody, Customer Strategy Director at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.
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On this week’s episode, host David Barton-Grimley is joined by Matt Weaver, Head of Solutions for EMEA at OpenAI, to explore the impact OpenAI is having on the financial services industry - and the meaningful collaborations taking place between the sector and the AI innovation giant.
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Host Laura Watkins, Director of Media & Marketing at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week.

On this week's episode, David M. Brear is joined by some great guests to tack a question on every bank and fintech leader’s mind: is AI redefining consumer-focused banking in 2026?
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In a fresh wave of fintech consolidation and strategic moves, Flutterwave has acquired Mono. JPMorgan has launched its Special Advisory Services initiative to give key clients access to consulting services drawn from the bank’s own practices. PicPay has filed for a U.S. IPO, and Mercury has applied to the OCC for a national bank charter.
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David M. Brear, Group CEO at 11:FS, sits down with two heavyweights in the payments world: Tracy Birdsall, Managing Director and Head of EMEA & APAC, Merchant Services Sales, at J.P. Morgan Payments, and Kristen Morrow-Greven, Vice President and Head of Global Payments at Netflix.

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...

