
It's a truism that the hardest job in engineering is that of 'Tech Lead'. You're the person who's not only writing code, but simultaneously leading a small group of other engineers and spending large amounts of time talking to stakeholders and the Product Manager (or, ten years ago, *Project* Manager). 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.

London’s been at the centre of the fintech bubble for over a decade now, and the rest of Europe isn’t far behind. One of the few silver linings of the coronavirus pandemic could be that it might act as a catalyst for a tonne of investment into fintech, as more and more people recognise the need to go digital. Despite the trend for falling investments in 2020, the UK fintech sector is still looking flush thanks to investments of over $1.84 billion. To give you a heads up on the next big companies on the scene, we’ve rounded up the hottest startups on our watch list 🔥

As we roll into 2018 thoughts inevitably turn to the big themes that we might expect (and hope) to see for user experience in the financial services industry this year.

Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) is a theory. Its main aim is to explain why customers start - and stop - using different products and services in the market. Stripped down to the essentials, it’s a fairly straightforward concept first introduced by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen that can be adapted into a useful tool for product development.

There’s been a huge leak of files from FinCEN, the US-based Financial Crime Enforcement Network. Over 2000 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and hundreds of other documents appear to show how banks have been unable to prevent trillions in money laundering, tax avoidance and criminality over the past decade. But there's a more in-depth story to uncover here.

David M. Brear interviewed Jonathan Larsen, CIO, Ping An and CEO of their Global Voyager Fund, a $1bn investment fund, specifically for fintech. He tells David all about the fund and the innovations in fintech coming from China and making a huge impact worldwide.

Guest author Richard Davies shares his reflections as he transitions from his role as Revolut’s COO to Non Exec at Revolut, and CEO of Allica Bank. As fuel for the future he looks at his learnings from Revolut as well as his wider experiences and inspirations over the last decade in financial services and fintech.

Good working culture is impossible without motivation. Therefore, it is essential to follow a model of organisation design that supports the conditions in which motivation can be maximised.

At 11:FS, we build digital financial services, primarily banks. ‘Bank’ is a very broad term, of course, and our focus on client needs and ‘Jobs To Be Done’ approach (“People don’t want a mortgage, they want to buy a house”), means that we rarely set out to build a pure bank.

The research on retail payments that I have done over the past couple of months had me thinking about my own payments journey and left me wondering how my own behaviour has evolved and what drove me to make such payments?

How can community banks remain competitive as large financial institutions gobble up more and more of the market?

It’s the 5th of April and that means one thing to us at 11:FS and that is that it’s our birthday! Four years old. Damn. And what a strange time to be in celebrating everything we’ve achieved with everything that’s going on.

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.

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.

We’ve sifted through the data to find out what 11:FS Pulse users have been loving and where their focus has been for the last 12 months.

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.

In this episode, we're exploring what it takes to build modern banking technology from the ground up. Host Ross Gallagher - Head of Consulting at 11:FS - joined by Sam Everington, CEO of Engine by Starling, and Jody Bhagat, President of North America at Engine by Starling.

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.

In this episode, we're diving into one of the biggest challenges facing fintech growth right now: standing out. From brand building and customer acquisition to AI-powered marketing and community-led growth, we unpack how fintechs are finding, engaging and retaining customers in an increasingly crowded market. Laura Watkins - Director of Media and Marketing at 11:FS joined by marketing experts of the sector. In this episode, we're diving into one of the biggest challenges facing fintech growth right now: standing out. From brand building and customer acquisition to AI-powered marketing and community-led growth, we unpack

Host Ross Gallagher - Head of Consulting at 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 special episode of Fintech Insider Insights, recorded live at Stripe Tour London, we're joined by two Stripe leaders to explore how the internet economy is evolving - and the infrastructure powering its next chapter.

Host Laura Watkins - Director of Media and 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.

What do Arsenal, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and the Home Nations football teams have in common? They're all partnering with fintech brands.

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.

Are stablecoins actually breaking into the mainstream financial system - or are they still largely trapped inside the fintech bubble?

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.

Is regulation really the thing slowing innovation down — or is the bigger challenge how firms respond to it?

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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As AI moves from supporting investment decisions to making them, what happens to trust, accountability, and control?

Host Laura Watkins - Director of Media and 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.

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?

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!

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...

