

Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
11:FS
Fintech Insider is your ultimate guide to the world of finance and fintech from 11:FS - the leading independent fintech consultancy, recognised five times with the British Bank Award for Consultancy of the Year.Our expert hosts, with real industry experience, are joined by the biggest decision-makers, VCs, and reporters from across financial services including Visa, Monzo, Nationwide, JPMorgan Chase, Wise, the Financial Times, and more to discuss breaking news and deep dive into the biggest topics and trends within the industry.Our weekly news show drops every Monday and tackles the biggest news stories across M&A, open banking, embedded finance, payments, regulation and more. Then, every Thursday our Insights show dives deeper into the hottest topics shaping the industry like AI, regulation, Big Tech, the cost of living crisis, and more. Whether you’re already immersed in the world of financial services, or just keen to learn more, this is the #1 podcast for you.Want to get involved in the conversation?Connect with us now on LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 27, 2019 • 57min
325. News: Apple has my face
Hello from New York! This week, David and parts of his team are over in New York, and what an opportunity to have Sam Maule co-host this episode! This week we have some great stories for you, and of course some brilliant guests:
Anna Irrera: Fintech Correspondent and Financial Companies Team Leader at Reuters
Ian Kar: Product Consultant
We kick off the episode by taking a look at JPMorgan Chase & Co will invest $125 million in programs to encourage people to save money! The goal in this is to aid the expansion of nonprofits that help people become more financially secure. The panel discusses if this should be the banks' perogative, not to enable third parties to do it on their behalf?
Other stories include:
Plaid (kinda) takes on Zelle
Transferwise hits $3.5bn
Venmo trials a rewards programme again
Venture Funding In Brazil Soars To $1.3B In 2018
Morehouse College Graduates’ Student Loans to Be Paid Off by Billionaire
New startup Earnin taking on Payday loans:
A Biometric Backlash Is Underway — And A Backlash To The Backlash
Monzo rockets to 2 million customers
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Anna Irrera and Ian Kar.Links:
JPMorgan Chase will invest $125 million in programs to encourage people to save money - Reuters
Plaid gives digital banks and fintech a new tool to bypass traditional finance
TransferWise now valued at $3.5B following a new $292M secondary round | TechCrunch
Tencent posted record quarterly profits thanks to a fintech surge - Business Insider
Venture Funding In Brazil Soars To $1.3B In 2018
Morehouse College Graduates’ Student Loans to Be Paid Off by Billionaire - The New York Times
The fintech app Earnin claims to be a no-fee alternative to payday loans - Vox
A Backlash To The Biometric Backlash Underway | PYMNTS.com
Monzo hits two million customer milestone
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May 24, 2019 • 1h 4min
324. Insights: BlackRock WealthTech19
The world of wealth is changing and so is our mindset around money. We have new ways of saving money, and we are bombarded with new apps and services every day. We live longer but our lifestyles are changing. Still, we retire at the same age as previous generations which means our pensions have to last for a lot longer. Women and men are forced into the same pension buckets, but women often take time off their careers for parental reasons. Money and mental health are closely linked and we need to think about what money is doing to our mental health and how we can learn to cope with it. This year at WealthTech19, Simon takes the opportunity to speak to some truly inspirational industry experts on topics like generational shifts, relationship with money, investing, mental health and saving for retirement and what can be done for the future.
Joe Parkin - Head of UK Sales at iShares and Aladdin Wealth Tech distribution, BlackRock
Gonzalo Pradas, Head of Wealth at OpenBank
Mark Adams - Vice Media
Frank Cooper III - Global CMO BlackRock
Noah Kerner - CEO and founder, Acorns
Armit Bhambra - Head of UK Retirement for iShares EMEA
First up, Simon speaks to Joe Parkin who tells us what the WealthTech 2019 event is all about, and why it is focussing on wealth and wellbeing. Joe also tells us how the last couple of years have changed the way people talk about mental health. Next up, Simon sits down with Frank Cooper III to discuss what wealth and wellbeing mean in the context of brand and marketing for a financial services company. Also, what is the truth of how people live their lives?
We also have an exclusive interview with Noah Kerner, CEO and founder of Acorns talking about getting young people into investing and caring about their savings.
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Armit Bhambra, Frank Cooper III, Gonzalo Pradas, Joe Parkin, Mark Adams, and Noah Kerner.
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May 22, 2019 • 20min
Fintech Insider USA: Lowell Putnam, Plaid (S1E2)
Welcome back to the second episode of this brand new show, Fintech Insider USA! In this episode, we are extremely excited to bring you a fantastic interview with Head of Partnerships at Plaid, Lowell Putnam!
Sam sits down with Lowell Putnam, Head of Partnerships at Plaid at a very exciting time for the company! Lowell Putnam was previously the CEO and Founder of Quovo which have now been acquired by Plaid. In this interview, Sam and Lowell talk about a recent couple of busy months for the company, writing your own playbook and how being honest about imperfection can actually save your business! Lowell gives us his 30 seconds pitch of what Plaid does, and the duo discusses whether or not open banking will actually hit in America.
Furthermore, Lowell explains why you should always make sure that the elevator car has arrived before stepping into it and why you sometimes have to throw out your own ego in order to save yourself time and money. We get to hear about Lowell's vision for the future of Plaid, and what disrupting a legacy really feels like.
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guest: Lowell Putnam.
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May 20, 2019 • 1h 3min
323. News: They're coming for Monzo!
This week we have some great stories for you as Sarah and co-host Adam are joined by a couple of great guests :
Karen Kerrigan - COO of Seedrs
Romi Savova - CEO and founder of PensionBee
Iona Bain - blogger at Young Money as well as industry commentator, author and speaker
We kick off the episode by taking a look at the remedies for small businesses story. Nationwide Building Society, Investec Bank and The Co-operative Bank have been granted a total of 80 million pounds from the RBS Remedies Fund Pool B. The allocations are as follows: 50 million pounds to Nationwide, 15 million to Investec bank and 15 million for Co-operative bank. The panel discusses the three banks commitments for the money and if there is any significance in the fact that the money was largely given to incumbents? Why wasn't Monzo on the list? Maybe the government thinks that they already have everything sorted out?
Next up, we talk about Metro's big short! The bank faced a shareholder revolt when ISS recommended investors to reject Metro's pay report. Since the news, some branches had to face a "run" when rumours spread over WhatsApp that the bank was going to take control over its customer's assets and customers tried to take their cash out in pure panic. The panel discusses the damage social media rumours can have on a company and how the recent events could affect the reputation of the bank? To quote Sarah: Oh dear!
A Lady Godiva, a Commodore, Dosh, Dore or Lolly? What do you call your money? Do not miss the final news story of the episode with some hilarious slangs for money and the panel unveiling the country's number one term!
Other stories include:
HK banking licence wins
Brits don’t back banking tech
UK fintech investment keeps on growing
Silicon Valley’s newest stock exchange
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Adam Davis, Iona Bain, Karen Kerrigan, and Romi Savova.Links:
Nationwide, Investec, Co-Op Bank get cash for small business lending - Reuters
Metro Bank faces shareholder revolt
Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi units win Hong Kong online banking license - Reuters
Brits wary of new banking tech, despite high demand
SoftBank Vision fund invests $800m in UK fintech
SEC approves Silicon Valley stock exchange backed by Marc Andreessen
Decoding the dough - do you know your Lady Godiva from your lolly?
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May 17, 2019 • 48min
322. Insights: Are mortgages broken?
David and Jeff take a close look at mortgages, a painful process Jeff recently went through. Research shows that people who have gone through the process felt stressed, lost sleep, half of the couples rowed over the process and 1 in 10 couples stopped having sex! Furthermore, 1 in 10 sought GP help due to effects on mental health. What is broken here?
The duo is joined by a panel of fantastic guests to tell us more about the mortgages market, why some of these challenges exist and what changes are coming:
Maria Harris - Director of Intermediary Lending, Atom
Toril Steinmo - Head of Loans, DNB
Dan Hegarty - CEO, Habito
Vadim Toader - CEO, Proportunity
The panel discusses how applying for mortgages is one of the most stressful processes in our lives, as humans have integral anxiety about shelter for themselves and their family. The panel argues that the product is not built around the consumer's needs, but rather quite simple data made incredibly opaque. Vadim Toader explains the process like planning a wedding, you don't have any prior knowledge about the process, and hopefully, when you have done it once you don't have to think about it ever again.
Thoril Steinmo explains how the process is very different in Norway, and the panel asks, what is inhibiting the UK to have the same process as they do in Norway? Is there an urgent need for a clearer and more transparent language that customer actually understands?
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Daniel Hegarty, Jeff Tijssen, Maria Harris, Toril Steinmo, and Vadim Toader.
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May 15, 2019 • 50min
Fintech Insider USA: New York Fintech Week (S1E1)
Welcome to this brand new show brought to you by 11:FS, Fintech Insider USA!
In this week's episode, Sam Maule is at Empire Startups’ New York Fintech Week Conference where he was invited to mingle with some of the brightest and the best from the New York fintech scene and was able to record some interviews with some of the top speakers of the conference!
We hope that you will enjoy these interviews, just as much as we have enjoyed recording them!
Our fantastic guests for today's episode are:
Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Managing Partner at Inspired Capital
Henrique Dubugras, CEO and founder of Brex
Rhian Horgan, CEO and Founder of Kindur
Mariquit Corcoran, MD at Barclays US
We kick off the episode by speaking to Alexa von Tobel about her entrepreneurial spirit, her new book Financially Forward and how having control over your wallet can help you take control over your life. Alexa also explains why being an entrepreneur is like being punched in the face every day (02.01).
Alexa's book Financially Forward is out and available on this link: https://www.amazon.com/Financially-Forward-Todays-Digital-Smarter-ebook/dp/B07GMSWGCG
Next up, we talk to Henrique Dubugras, CEO and founder of Brex who tells the story of how he built an online game at 12 years old, how starting a credit card company is actually quite complicated and how sometimes you just have to walk away (16.35).
Our next guest is Rhian Horgan, CEO and Founder of Kindur. Rhian talks about how the company are trying to help baby boomers with their retirement planning, an urgent matter as up to 10.000 baby boomers retire every day! Our last guest is Marquit Corcoran, MD at Barclays US. Sam and Marquit talk about the differences in the market between the US and the UK, how Barclays are hoping to be a household name in the US and the art of good communicational skills.
All this and so much more on today's show!
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of this brand new series, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions or email podcasts@11fs.com. Stay tuned for next episode of Fintech Insider US!
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Alexa von Tobel, Henrique Dubugras, Mariquit Corcoran , and Rhian Horgan.
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May 13, 2019 • 1h 5min
321. News: Everything takes money
This week we have some excellent stories for you as David and Simon are joined by a few fantastic guests:
Rebecca Duckworth, Chief Sales Officer at Quotevine Limited
Louis Sutton, Co-Founder & Director at The Grapevine and host of I, Fintech
Valentina Kristensen, Director of Growth and Comms at OakNorth
Ryan Edwards-Pritchard, Managing Director at Funding Options
We kick off the episode with Valentina making a big announcement regarding OakNorth entering the mortgage market. As mortgage processes can be considered overlooked and underserved, the discussion goes to whether or not this product could drive incumbents to change existing mortgage processes. OakNorth are hoping that by offering a bespoke customer-centric product, it will become a major player in the sector (03:16).
Next up, we talk about Lloyds’ disappointing Q1 results and the fierce competition in the mortgage market. The panel ask where growth is going to come from and how the market is going to change with new challenger banks coming up. Being the "least worst" of the big banks is no longer what is at stake, with new challenger banks delivering new efficient processes (14:36).
Also, our recurring guest Ryan Edwards-Pritchard at Funding Options has a big announcement to make!
More information about the announcement can be found here:
https://www.altfi.com/article/5335_funding-options-and-experian-bid-for-slice-of-rbs-775m-bank-competition-fund
Other stories include:
RBS Getting Back Into Payments Ten Years After It Unloaded Worldpay
Singapore may allow virtual banking licences after Hong Kong
ATMs are vanishing
SF bans cashless shops
The Art of Losing $1BN
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins, written by Dhanum Nursigadoo and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Louis Sutton, Rebecca Duckworth, Ryan Edwards-Pritchard, and Valentina Kristensen.Links:
OakNorth enters retail mortgage market
Lloyds Banking Group: Q1 results analysis | City A.M.
RBS Gets Back Payments Ten Years After Worldpay | PYMNTS.com
Singapore May Allow Virtual Banks After Hong Kong, DBS Says
Free cash machines vanishing at alarming rate, says Which? - BBC News
San Francisco To Bar Cashless-Only Stores | PYMNTS.com
Decade in the Red: Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses - The New York Times
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May 10, 2019 • 33min
320. Interviews: Anthony Thomson, Founder of 86 400
Anthony Thomson is Founder of 86 400, Atom Bank and Metro Bank.
Simon talks to Anthony about the Australian market and how he can apply the lessons he's learned from setting up UK challenger banks to Australia's financial sector, the differences between customer needs in the two countries and how to design a proposition for a brand new market.
The pair also discuss the atmosphere Australia's regulatory environment creates for challengers and how new market entrants can operate in an area where incumbents have such entrenched power. They also take a look at Anthony's previous challenger banks and what they've accomplished so far.
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guest: Anthony Thomson.
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May 6, 2019 • 1h 5min
319. News: I'm sorry, banks
This week we have some great stories for you as David and Simon are joined by a couple of great guests:
Samantha Bedford, Head of Innovation and New Ways of Working, CYBG
Freddie Villis, Google Account Manager: Finance at Snowdrop Solutions
Oscar Williams-Grut, Senior Correspondent at Yahoo Finance
We kick off the episode by taking a look at Central banks becoming the world's newest climate change activists. An open letter in support of climate change came from the Network for Greening the Financial System (the NGFS). Simon comments that customers are making eco-friendly choices all the time as shown by the growing presence of challenger banks (03:17).
You can read up on Simon's views around eco-friendly finance here.
Next up, we talk about Open Banking one year on. According to the OBIE, in addition to helping individuals with their finances, Open Banking is using technology to combat societal issues such as access to mortgages and debt advice, with benefits for the UK SME community also being perceived. Oscar remarks that Open Banking will only be a success when we're no longer talking about it (15:16).
We also have an interview with Chris Woolard, Director of strategy and competition on GFIN's first eight firms for its sandbox (25:55).
Other stories include:
GFIN’s first 8 firms
Snoop Dogg-backed 'try before you buy' payment firm sees sales jump
Women are less aware and trusting of challenger banks
Mastercard and Visa to slash inter-regional fees for tourist cards in EU
And finally, Man dissolves credit card to make contactless ring
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Chris Woolard, Freddie Villis, Oscar Williams-Grut, and Samantha Bedford.Links:
Central Banks Are the World's Newest Climate Change Activists | Fortune
Has Open Banking changed anything 15 months on?
Global sandbox accepts first eight firms
Snoop Dogg-backed Klarna's revenues and sales rocket
Exclusive: Digital banks have won over half of Brits, but women are being left behind - AltFi News
Mastercard and Visa to slash inter-regional fees for tourist cards...
Man dissolves credit card to make contactless ring
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Apr 29, 2019 • 1h 3min
317. News: Nettles and dock leaves
This week we have some great stories for you as David and Simon are joined by a few great guests:
Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO of GoCardless
Solange Dive-Chamberlain, Head of Commercial Banking Strategy at LBG
Chris Maddern, Co-founder & CPO at Button, formerly of Venmo
Niall Cameron, Global Head of Corporate and Institutional Digital at HSBC
We kick off the episode by taking a look at Station F, could it be France’s F-You to London’s fintech hub? Opened in June 2017, Station F is the world’s largest startup incubator. Station F acts as a statement of ambition. France wants to become the number one country for tech in Europe. Hiroki notes that Paris is five years behind London in terms of fintech environment and David's not a huge fan of the name...(02:50)
We speak to Oscar Williams-Grut, who wrote the story, for a bit more insight (03:34).
Next up, we talk about the evolution of the US prepaid card ecosystem. There were 10.7 billion prepaid card transactions worth $290 billion in 2016, according to The Federal Reserve. Business Insider Intelligence expects that to grow to $396 billion by 2022. Solange notes that prepaid cards impact on the way people interact with money and each other - driving customer behaviour (13:15).
Other stories include:
N26’s Viennese whirl
Turning the Tide on business registrations
Stripe’s new SCA acquisition
Robinhood shoots for a banking charter
T-Mobile’s Take 2 on digital banking
And finally, The Germans hoard more gold than the Bundesbank
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com
This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.Special Guests: Chris Maddern, Hiroki Takeuchi, Niall Cameron, and Solange Dive-Chamberlain.Links:
Britain should be worried about France's tech ambitions
THE PREPAID CARD REPORT: What issuers can do to win market share in a period of unprecedented regulation and competition - Business Insider
N26 to open security-focused tech centre in Vienna
Exclusive: Tide to launch company formation in UK banking first - AltFi News
Stripe buys Touchtech ahead of new EU online authentication rules
Robinhood applies for national bank charter in bid to form new challenger bank
T-Mobile takes on US banks with checking account
Barren, Münzen, Schmuck: Die Deutschen horten mehr Gold als die Bundesbank - WELT
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