

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 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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Apr 26, 2019 • 59min
316. Insights: Customer infantstructure
Ross and Adam are taking a close look at financial literacy, how fintech is encouraging better money management from a young age and how pocket money apps are pushing forwards innovation. They're joined by a couple of experts in the space:
Louise Hill, COO of GoHenry
Will Carmichael, CEO of Rooster Money
The panel talks about the effects of activating customers early on in life, something banks have done really well with student accounts. They take a look at whether there's a responsibility to create educational tools within finance apps aimed at children, if psychological ‘nudges’ early enough in life can make someone far more financially literate as they grow older and what pressure, if any, there is from the regulator to increase financial literacy.
They also discuss the complexity of building a digital proposition for such a varied target market and whether the target audience is children or if it's really for the parents.
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, Louise Hill, and Will Carmichael.
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Apr 22, 2019 • 1h 3min
315. News: Tech for Tech’s Sake
This week we have some great stories for you as Sarah and Simon are joined by a couple of great guests:
Freddy Kelly, CEO and co-founder at Credit Kudos
Ben Gleisner, CEO and Co-founder at CoGo
Simon Vans-Colina, Engineer at Monzo
We kick off the episode by taking a look at US lenders preparing for a recession. U.S. online lenders such as LendingClub Corp, Kabbage Inc and Avant LLC are scrutinizing loan quality, securing long-term financing and cutting costs, as executives prepare for what they fear could be the sector’s first economic downturn. We hear from our Americas MD, Sam Maule for a US perspective (:).
Next up, we talk about RBS challenging the challengers with Bo. Despite buying NatWest almost 20 years ago RBS still uses different IT systems at the two banks. Bó, their new digital-only consumer bank in contrast, has been built in a little over a year on a completely new cloud-based system. It will launch to the public later this year. Sarah and Simon VC remark that if Bo are happy to be a companion bank account, the data can't be fully representatives of their customers' finances. Simon T thinks that profitability is at least a five year journey - is the importance of profit early on misguided? (:).
Other stories include:
N26 in trouble with German regulators over hypergrowth
86400 sign a partnership to offer home loans
Halifax rebrand gets slammed for copying Monzo and Starling
Ant Financial take on the Chinese healthcare market
Derek White waves goodbye to BBVA
Facebook calls time on P2P payments
And finally, Joe Lycett Impersonates RBS Boss to Get £8,000 Back to Scammed Customer
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: Ben Gleisner, Freddy Kelly, and Simon Vans-Colina.Links:
Worried a recession is coming, U.S. online lenders reduce risk - Reuters
RBS steps on to the digital challengers’ turf - Optimal Money
After Revolut, German startup bank N26 faces questions from regulators
Aussie challenger 86 400 scores home loan distribution deal
Halifax rebrand slammed for copying Monzo and Starling
Millions Rush to Join a Wild New Health Plan From Jack Ma's Ant - Bloomberg
US Bank names BBVA's Derek White chief digital officer
Facebook shuts down Messenger P2P payments in the UK and France
YouTube
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Apr 19, 2019 • 37min
314. Insights: Strong Customer Authentication
This week we take a look at something set to change payments for everybody as we talk about Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) Sarah is joined by some great guests to discuss the subject:
Nilixa Devlukia, Head of Regulatory at Open Banking
Olivier Godement, Product Manager at Stripe
Daniel Chatfield, Engineer at Monzo
Fred Liu, VP Identity and Risk Products at Visa
We kick off the episode by taking a look at what's driving the introduction of SCA and the theoretical benefits around it. The group explains what SCA is, who's responsible for its implementation and whether any existing SCA can work when SMS-based 2FA has been breached in the past.
There's a discussion around whether SCA actually allows or encourages innovation or if it's going to grind innovation to a halt. SCA has had a very fragmented introduction so the outlook isn't particularly clear and the panel discuss what the possible outcomes could be, including whether or not PIN Sentry tools may make a return.
They also examine how the payments and fintech ecosystem is preparing for SCA. There's little certainty around what SCA will actually look like and the panel discusses what solutions the people around the table are working on.
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 Chatfield, Fred Liu, Nilixa Devlukia, and Olivier Godement.
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Apr 15, 2019 • 1h 5min
313. News: Copy/paste product
This week we have some great stories for you as Jason and Adam are joined by a few great guests:
Anthony Craufurd, Director, Venture and Startup Engagement at Visa Europe
Chris Low, Senior Advisor at Motive Labs
Emily Nicolle, Technology Editor at City AM
We kick off the episode by taking a look at Standard Chartered expected to pay just over $1 billion to resolve U.S., U.K. probes. Standard Chartered Plc has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to U.S. and British authorities for conducting illegal financial transactions that violated sanctions against Iran and other countries. Chris comments on the importance of it being based on historic violations and Jason wonders if it's only the people who aren't good at avoiding AML that get caught (02:13).
Next up, we talk about London being set to lead the unicorn race. Of the 29 global unicorns, 9 are in San Francisco, 7 are in London and 38% of VC funding went to London with reports suggesting that London will overtake the US tech hub in funding this year, bringing the total number of unicorns up to match or overtake San Francisco. Emily Nicolle remarks that London is the global fintech hub and always has been and Anthony Craufurd adds that the FCA is a dark horse that everybody in the world is copying (08:16).
Other stories include:
CMA chides big banks for Open Banking delays
N26's competitive edge in Africa
Visa branches out
And finally, how your cat could be the next voice of the world's first 'miaowing' debit card.
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, Anthony Craufurd, Chris Low, and Emily Nicolle.Links:
Exclusive: Standard Chartered expected to pay just over $1 billion to resolve U.S., U.K. probes - Reuters
London startups to take fintech unicorn crown from San Francisco | City A.M.
Monzo seeks to raise £100 million in new funding
As fintech valuations soar, Tandem eyes fresh £80m+ funding round - AltFi News
SoftBank-backed Grab seeks another $2 billion funding in expansion drive - Reuters
CMA chides big banks for Open Banking delays
Challenger bank N26 hopes cashback offering will give its US launch a competitive edge - The Block
FinTech Branch Raises $170M, Partners With Visa | PYMNTS.com
This is how your cat could be the next voice of the world’s first 'miaowing' debit card
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Apr 12, 2019 • 47min
312. Insights: Live! The future of money
Live from NYC's New York Fintech Week with the DIT Sam's joined by some great guests to talk about the future of money:
Natalie Ceeney, Chair, Innovate Finance
Robin Mackenzie, Chief Marketing Officer, De La Rue
Andrew Boyajian, Head of North America, Transferwise
Farrah Lakhani, Director, Growth and Operations at OakNorth Analytical Intelligence
We kick off the episode by taking a look at the story so far and how the UK fintechs have developed world leading challenger brands offering new customer products and services that are focused on the customer.
Next up, the panel talk about how customer centricity drives innovation, how that factors in to the notion of digitalisation over digitisation and whether customer focus is something that's gathered appeal on a global scale.
They also take a look at the appetite for fintech in the US and what makes breaking America so much more difficult than the European market. And whether there's an unfair advantage built in for UK fintechs.
Payments are a major factor in the US financial ecosystem and the panel examines how cross border payments are having an effect on incumbent money transfer services and how faster payments could be brought to the USA.
Wrapping things up the group takes a look at future predictions on how UK fintech innovation will affect the global scene, particularly post-Brexit and how important it is for Lodnon to remain a global fintech hub.
All this and so much more on today's show.
We want to say a huge thank you to the Department for International Trade and De la Rue who helped make this episode of Fintech Insider Live possible. New York Fintech Week was an unmissable event and we hope you enjoyed our panel from the 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: Andrew Boyajian, Farrah Lakhani, Natalie Ceeney, and Robin Mackenzie.
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Apr 8, 2019 • 51min
311. News: Make tax great again
This week we have some great stories for you as David and Ross are joined by a couple of great guests:
Ken Hart, CEO and Founder of Snowdrop Solutions
Megan Caywood, Managing Director at Barclays
We kick off the episode by taking a look at Revolut's newest scandal reveal. The Financial Conduct Authority has made enquiries into Revolut after being contacted by an ex-employee whistleblower who passed on their concerns regarding compliance and the CEO’s conduct as far back as 2016. Megan comments that it seems to have started from the Valentine's incident and snowballed from there and wonders if it could be because the media's loving the scandal and making the culture out to be bad. Ken adds that to be disruptive you have to take risks but if you want to be a trusted financial partner then you need to pivot and do some things differently (02:14).
Next up, We spoke to Gary Turner Co-Founder and Managing Director of Xero UK & EMEA to find out more about making tax digital (08:34).
The panel talk about how making tax digital and how the initiative is going to affect 1.2M VAT-registered businesses. It's the first step in a process that ultimately aims to automate returns and payments for companies and households for all the main taxes. Megan remarks that this has been going on for a while but it's only just becoming mainstream and that it's great to see the regulator making such a strong push for digital. Ken comments that there's a lot of effort made in the UK to make digital organisation work, especially compared to his experiences with the IRS in the US (10:20).
We also talk to Luke from Monzo's vulnerabilty team to find out more about Monzo's involvement with the Big Issue to make magazines resellable (39:37).
Other stories include:
Cash probe into RBS Remedies Fund
Big banks spending billions on digital - again
Subscribe to wealth: The Netflix of Data
Kroener says auf wiedersehen to Fidor x BPCE
Pay it forwards again and again and again
And finally some of the best financial pranks across the years
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: Gary Turner, Ken Hart, and Megan Cooper.
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Apr 5, 2019 • 48min
310. Insights: Finastra takeover
David and Simon are with some great guests from Finastra, including:
Simon Paris, CEO
Eli Rosner, Chief Product and Technology Officer
Martin Haering, Chief Marketing Officer
Nicola Hamilton, Senior Director, Brand and Communications
We're bringing you an insight into how to manage diverse sets of client requirements, handling varying paces of change and overcoming the hurdles regarding legacy brands.
We also talk to Finastra about their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, how the company interacts with CSR and what the future has in store for Finastra.
Our guests talk to us about creating a platform for financial services that let banks move faster than core banking systems let them. Finastra aims to provide an open platform for innovation in the financial services industry in an age of massive consolidation and doing it in a way that deals with internal silos and prevents them from being formed. They also talk about skill transfer, enabling those without technology skills to use platforms and how big techs are creeping into the banking area.
All this and so much more on today's show.
Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review 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: Eli Rosner, Martin Häring, Nicola Hamilton, and Simon Paris.Sponsored By:Finastra
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