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.

Benjamin Ensor is joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: HSBC partner with Nova Credit to offer international credit history checks, Mercedes-Benz roll out in-car payments, and Standard Life launch a pensions dashboard.

Ross Gallagher is joined by some great guests to talk about recruitment in financial services, how today's applicants can stand out, and also what institutions can do to support diversity, equality & inclusion and create a culture for success.

11:FS CEO David M. Brear and Visa's Sophie Schulman are joined by some great guests to look at how fintech can support and shape the US creator economy.

David Brear and Ross Gallagher are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Monzo's new investment platform, India hit their financial inclusion targets 41 years early, and cash payments are on the rise.

Laura Watkins is joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Adyen get a UK banking licence, Perfios eye UK & US expansion, and a new campaign tackles the gender investment gap.

What is the best metric for measuring the success for fintech? In this rewind show from the archives, Benjamin Ensor is discussing the answer to that question, joined by some great guests, from Allica Bank, Anthemis, and This Week In Fintech.

In this second episode on our deep dive into embedded finance in APAC, David Barton-Grimley and is joined by a fantastic guest, from GoPay, to talk about how embedded finance is opening up access for the unbanked in Indonesia and beyond.

Klarna rebuts misconceptions about their business model as losses narrow, more than one in eight bank branches are expected to close this year, Airwallex and Public team up for a new investment platform, and Switzerland want to impose the highest ALM standards in Europe. Kate Moody is joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including Alia Mahmud from ComplyAdvantage, The Financial Times' Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, and Dann Bibas from Public.com.

David Brear is joined by a panel of experts from Cleo, Feedzai and Starling Bank to look at how financial services need to adapt to the changes brought by AI, where it can have the most influence and where the human touch is still needed.

L.F.G. Today we bring you: a super interesting discussion on the current status of stablecoins in the US and beyond and with the launch of PYUSD from PayPal what might the wider impact be? Are stablecoins going mainstream? All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

JP Morgan increases its investment in Brazilian neobank C6, as Goldman Sachs sells its PFM unit, African fintech investment surpasses $2 billion, as M-Pesa enter Ethiopia for the first time. Benjamin Ensor and David Barton-Grimley are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including Sarah Kocianski and Samee Zahid from Chipper Cash.

Benjamin Ensor is joined by some great guests from Orum and Consult Hyperion to talk about the recent launch of FedNow in the US and what the impact will be in the US and globally.

David M. Brear is joined by some great guests from Visa, BigPay and Wise to discuss the evolution and growth opportunities of embedded finance in Asia-Pacific!

Ramp raises $300M (and that's a down round!), Goldman Sachs plans sale to concentrate on the ultra-wealthy and Monzo is named best bank - Kate Moody and Benjamin Ensor are joined by some great guests from CCG and Lightyear to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days.

David Brear is joined by some great guests from Fireblocks, DigitalX and Moniflo to talk about how financial services are actually using blockchain technology and how they choose an option that works best for them.

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...

