Learn about the latest FS trends and news, from industry experts.

The last episode of Under The Hood, the podcast series with 11:FS that took a deep dive into the banking infrastructure that is disrupting traditional banking models and shaking up the system, has been released. And looking back, I realise how many great conversations we’ve had.

There’s a lot going on right now on personal, business and industry levels. But as I sit here in my home office over the last month talking to senior people in financial services, fintech founders and project teams all over the world, one thing keeps returning to me: “See, we didn’t need more strategy”.

Customer-centric, focused on financial inclusion, helping the underserved and unbanked. Have we rediscovered the principles of the first banks and building societies?

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.

Many marketers have a story of a boss or board that wanted all the benefits of a strong brand, without the investment, hassle or commitment of having to build one. 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.

So. Let’s talk about DAO, baby.

Simon interviewed the husband and wife team Arthur and Kathleen Brietman, the co-founders of Tezos, about their recent token sale for the very first episode of Blockchain Insider.

AML is the world’s most ineffective policy experiment. Imagine if you have a car that didn’t work 99.9% of the time. That would be annoying right? 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.

Over the course of the pandemic the UK's financial habits have changed, which is no surprise when you see how people's circumstances have been impacted:

Dutch directness, failing fast and innovating endlessly are the three common themes in the interview Simon did with Benoit Legrand, CIO of ING. And they’re what drives his approach to delivering success at ING.

With remote working now the norm for most of us, the need to prioritise is more important than ever.

I’ll be honest when I joined 11:FS I didn’t really expect to end up in West Africa. But on reflection, that was pretty short-sighted. We create truly digital ventures for the good of people everywhere, and we mean everywhere.

Since the dawn of the crypto asset space with Bitcoin, the mainstream reaction has been somewhat wary and distrusting of many of the innovations we're seeing. Yet the growth of crypto assets has reached a tipping point, in my view, where it can no longer be ignored. If you consider the diamond industry is $250Bn, the crypto asset industry is at $170Bn and growing, this is something we can no longer ignore. Against this backdrop of uncertainty and potential for fraud, money laundering and consumers losing out – it would be helpful to see the development of best practice and codes of conducts. Regulators and governments could look for these practices to help a nascent industry self regulate.

We went to the IFGS to meet some of the biggest and newest names in Fintech. We’re bringing you some fantastic insights from our first five interviewees on the fintech landscape for 2018. Ross Gallagher and Simon Taylor spoke to: Benedetta Arese Lucini, Co-founder, Oval Money Charles d’Haussy, Head of Fintech, InvestHK Thomas Eyre, CEO and Co-founder LOQBOX Li Wang, Head of EMEA, Alipay James Mackonochie, COO and Co-founder, Pia Listen to all the interviews in full on Fintech Insider here or stream them below.

Payment ecosystems in the USA aren’t working. They barely exist and are far behind other countries in terms of just going from A to B, but that’s set to change.