I recently heard someone suggest that ‘insurance is just like gambling.’ Bit of a stretch, but I could see their point. Both are fundamentally risk-based, and it raised an interesting question - do you ever really ‘win’ in insurance?
Tucked away in a small corner of the WeWork offices in Aldgate Tower, I sat down with Ross Gallagher. Financial inclusion is the touchstone on financial products for Ross. Regular host of the Fintech Insider podcast with a history in financial services consulting and research. Ross is known around the office as a tupperware fiend and always up for a laugh but as with many people who work for 11:FS he has a real passion for finance and financial inclusion in particular.
A couple of weeks ago I went into an overpriced London salad shop for lunch. Before I could part with my hard-earned money for some wilted spinach and avocado, the connection on the iPad I was ordering on went down.
This is the second article in a three-part series on how fintech for good (FFG) is helping people and the planet. The first touched on consumer behaviour. If you missed it, check it out here.
This December 2020 cover of The New Yorker has been praised for perfectly capturing the zeitgeist of the time. Of the completely bizarre year we didn’t see coming. The illustrator draws on the mundane everyday to create an image that resonates so well with the magazine’s varied readers.
As the saying goes, “success breeds success”. And one of the things that’s interesting in our industry is the alumni of fintechs going on to do great things. It’s no coincidence - there’s a bit of a pattern emerging: The founders of some of the most successful startups of today cut their teeth at the biggest fintechs of yesterday.
It’s happening. After months of ‘will they, won’t they’, Monzo is heading Stateside.
In a recent report EY point out that the big advantage the UK has in “Fintech” is it’s progressive policy from Government and Regulators. This post examines the latest policy the regulatory sandbox; to understand how it might work, what companies entering it need to know, and how other jurisdictions could repeat the trick. Can it help financial services be a bit more awesome?
Four years ago, policymakers in the UK and EU took the first steps to enshrine open banking into law, but now we’re at a turning point for digital adoption and the old ways of working aren’t working anymore.
At this point we can all agree that the financial market as a whole has gone through a period of lows. Paired with increased inflation (even in developed countries), and the US confirming a recession, things seem to have really taken a turn for the worse - the so-called bear market.
They say time is money, right? Well, what about time to money – how long it takes for money to be available for you to use.
This week on Fintech Insider News David, Jason and Simon were joined by Innovate Finance’s Sophie Winwood and making his Fintech Insider debut, Banking Editior at The Economist, Patrick Lane, to tackle the latest news from the last week. Listen to the episode in full here or play and read below
As part of the editorial process for Fintech Insider we review a lot of stories and see how media outlets report on challenger banks. Some recent pieces had the distinct feel of unhappy incumbent bankers lobbying hard to change the narrative.
You may have heard of Marcus, it’s been kind of a big deal. But why and how? We recently sat down with Boe Hartman, CTO at Marcus by Goldman Sachs, to get the inside story.
Everyone’s got a bike these days, right? How many bikes would you admit to owning? Is your ‘multi-bike’ strategy paying off? Now ask yourself the same questions about your use of cloud.

David M. Brear joined by some great guests to talk about the one year anniversary of ChatGPT, how banks is utilising AI in its products and services, and how fintech can support the continued innovation of AI in finance.

David M. Brear and Rachel Pandyan, are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: HSBC pulls out of new markets in a bid to double down in Asia; Chip reach first monthly profit, and is Klarna taking on Shopify as it changes up its business model.

Ross Gallagher is joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Crowdcube acquires Semper, Adyen and Plaid team up in the US, OakNorth move into business banking, and N26 pulls out of Brazil.

Kate Moody is joined by some great guests to talk about how climate change is impacting fintechs, and how fintechs are supporting other businesses to achieve their climate goals.

David Barton-Grimley and Kate Moody are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: A joint venture from the biggest US banks launch digital wallet Paze, Atom Bank raise £100m in equity funding, Railsr are making a comeback, and Deutsche are closing nearly half of their branches.

L.F.G. Today we bring you a look at Real World Assets (RWAs) - what they are, discuss some of the use cases of tokenized RWA we’re seeing today, the pros and cons of bringing RWA on-chain, and where this emerging market is headed. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Benjamin Ensor and Kate Moody are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: former J.P. Morgan exec launches Refund-as-a-Service TodayPay, and Airwallex continue expansion into LATAM.

11:FS CEO David M. Brear and Deputy CEO Jason Bates come together to discuss concept of fast following. Is it always a bad thing? How can you get it right, what pitfalls to avoid getting it wrong and what is the impact on the end customer?

Our expert host Ross Gallagher and co-host Rachel Pandyan are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Goldman Sachs stepping back from consumer lending, Galileo's new BNPL offering to SMBs, and a Citibank worker who paid the price for a dodgy expenses claim.

Host Kate Moody is joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: FedNow launch a new account verification service from Orum, Metro Bank strike a rescue deal, and Nationwide unveil a new look.

David M. Brear, CEO at 11:FS, is joined by our very own CTO Ewan Silver for a fireside chat to unpick what we mean when we say the services have fallen out of financial services.

In this classic Focus episode, David M. Brear is joined by some great guests, from Visa and Capway, to really dig into the keys to successful financial inclusion in America.

Ross Gallagher is joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Apple launch open banking service in the UK, Revolut move closer to a banking licence, and Saga launch a savings platform for the over 50s.

David Barton-Grimley is joined by some great guests to unpack the six characteristics of digital commercial banking; real-time, standardised, automated, embedded, contextual, and extendable. We’ll explore what they are and how they can (or can’t) support a more efficient, reliable, and secure industry.

L.F.G. Today we bring you a deep dive on the most recent regulation bills and conversations around the legitimisation of crypto at the highest level in the US, and what that might mean for the future of crypto around the world. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Fintech Marketing Podcast Season 2: Coming soon

After Dark - Open Finance: fact or fantasy?

Banks are facing a lot of challenges compared to their fintech rivals.
Welcome to episode 5 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!

11:FS CEO David M. Brear takes to the lightboard to give us the full run-down, with examples of companies that are leading the way.
Welcome to episode 4 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
Welcome to episode 3 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!
Welcome to episode 2 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!

Welcome to episode 1 of our new video series, Decoding: Banking as a Service!

In this episode of Spotlight on LinkedIn Live, we're speaking to Paul Riseborough and Rachael Sinclair, Mission Leaders from Nationwide, about how they're switching up their business structure to ensure they are aligned to their customers and creating the most effective teams in the industry along the way.

When people discuss 'banking being broken', they often refer to the technology itself. However, that isn't necessarily the case.

Minimum Lovable Brand | 11:FS Explores

In this video, our Head of Research, Sarah Kocianski, unpacks exactly how banks make money - with the handy edition of a super cool lightboard!

Fintech is only 1% finished. But what do we mean by that? Simon Taylor, Head of Ventures at 11:FS takes us through the landscape of financial technology in this Lightboard edition of 11:FS Explores.
Just what is going on with Buy Now, Pay Later right now?

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...

