
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.

Kate Moody and Nicole Perry are joined by some great guests, from DealStreetAsia and Fintech Business Weekly, to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Sequoia makes first investment in Pakistan, LendUp enters liquidation, and trade in your pandemic impulse buys!

David M. Brear is joined by some great guests, from Plaid, Payments Solved, and The Payments Association EU, to look at how PSD3 might influence Open Banking going forward.

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: another deep dive: this time - into remittances. What role can crypto play in this sector, and what might the future hold? All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

David M. Brear and Nicole Perry are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: European investing app Shares snaps up $40m financing round, Plaid launches Variable Recurring Payments, and we dip into the Fintech Insider mailbag!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: a special bonus interview with author and presenter Jamie Bartlett, where we chat about all things Missing Cryptoqueen, and his new book: “The Missing Cryptoqueen: The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away with It”. All this and much much more! All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

Nigel Walsh and John Bean are joined by a panel of guests from Anthemis, Flock and Instanda to talk through the biggest news of the month. Hear about: No-code insurtech scale-up Instanda raises £37m, insurance start-ups face credibility crisis, and GEICO may have to pay a woman who got an STD in an insured car. All this and much, much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

Kate Moody and Amy Gavin are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Starling pulls Irish bank application, Stori becomes Mexico’s latest fintech unicorn, and ‘Eat The Rich’ popsicles are selling fast!

Kate Moody is joined by some great guests, from Chetwood Financial, Innovate Finance, and Minna Technologies, to ask how will inflation impact financial services going forward.

EL. EF. GEE. Today we bring you: UK Treasury to introduce stablecoin regulation within weeks, MakerDAO members vote on $100M DAI vault for bank, and the FBI adds missing Cryptoqueen, Ruja Ignatova, to top ten most wanted. All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

David M. Brear 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: Klarna’s valuation slashed in latest funding round, Flutterwave has accounts frozen in Kenya, and Playboy teases pixelated mansion in the metaverse.

David M. Brear is joined by investigative reporter and author, Dan McCrum, to dive into his new book about uncovering the truth about payments company Wirecard.

Nigel Walsh and Benjamin Ensor are joined by a fantastic guests from Victress Communications to talk through all things insurance education. All this and much, much more on today's Insurtech Insider!

Benjamin Ensor and Deepa Anikhindi are joined by some great guests to talk about the most interesting stories in financial services over the last 7 days, including: Agricultural bank Oxbury raises £20m in a funding round, Payl8r calls for open banking to be legally required for credit assessing, and the world's first fintech sitcom!

We. Are. Here. Today we bring you: an episode focused on ownership. Ownership is web3’s ability to prove that digital assets are owned by users. But how exactly does it work? How is it different from the world of web2? And what changes can we expect to see in the world now that assets are on-chain? All this and much more on today's Blockchain Insider!

David M. Brear 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: Kroo lands full banking licence, Credit Suisse bank found guilty over money laundering charges, and we answer questions from the Fintech Insider mailbag!

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...

