Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS

Chris Woolard, Strategy and Competition Director, at the FCA speaks exclusively to Jason Bates about an announcement concerning their regulatory sandbox. Without giving the game away, they discuss the FCA;s latest paper about their future plans for the sandbox, how this will help companies and also take advantage of reg tech. Chris tells us about the success of the previous 4 cohorts of the sandbox to date, and what the future looks like. He explains what the Innovate department of the FCA does and what it focuses on. He tells us about the importance of regulation, especially for start ups and how the FCA is best placed to help start ups, they don't want to appear unfriendly or intimidating so that start ups actively avoid being properly regulated. Additionally they also discuss Chris' background, how he got into the role and the importance of competition in the market. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook.Special Guest: Chris Woolard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's news show Simon and Jason are joined by 11:FS NED Chris Skinner, Tanya Andreasyan, Editor at Banking Technology; Kristian Luoma - Head of OP Lab, in town from Helsinki for one night only and Cliff Evans, Head of Digital Banking at Capgemini, to take on the week’s top stories. This week they look at the monumental shifts in both global stock exchanges and crypto markets - what has been going on, can it bounce back and should we be worried?; the US take on Open Banking - what can they learn from the UK?, and exciting developments in the SME space both here and abroad. We speak to TSB Commercial Director Richard Davies to tell us more on their planned £100m injection of funds into the UK"s SME sector. The team also take on, big banks calling for regulation of tech giants, Alipay's new ventures into cashless European tourism, Penta's funding round, the death of the chatbot, the UX revolution in banking that might have passed you by, and how out of date computer systems are allowing hackers to hit the jackpot. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook.Special Guests: Chris Skinner, Cliff Evans, Kristian Luoma, Richard Davies, and Tanya Andreasyan.Links: US shares claw back ground and finish up on day - BBC News Bitcoin braces for worst week since 2013 How U.S. can avoid U.K.’s mistakes in open banking Can TrueLayer be the UK's first open banking unicorn? Finance chiefs warn on Big Tech’s shift to banking TSB to invest £100m into UK’s SME sector China cracks down on tech credit scoring Alipay crosses Finnish line for cashless payments Penta, the German digital-only bank account for startups and SMEs, raises €2.2M seed Digit redesigning app and ditching chatbots The banking UX revolution happened when you weren't looking A number of 'jackpotting' hackers have stolen over $1 million from ATMs across the US Toptal - Hire Freelance Talent from the Top 3% Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon Taylor chats to Mike Kelly, CEO and founder of Curl, a new payment network, designed around merchants and consumers. It works via usernames and bank transfers, and is built around Open Banking, and the opportunities that's developed in the market. Simon and Mike dig into what makes the Curl payment network stand out, what the rationale is behind the usernames, and the opportunities available with the arrival of Open Banking. They talk about Curl business model, how it helps both consumers and merchants alike, what the technology is behind the network and how it processes payments, and introduces us to the idea of "hands free" payments. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook.Special Guest: Mike Kelly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon Taylor speaks to Scott O'Malia, CEO of ISDA, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. Kicking off: what IS ISDA? Why is standardisation so important? How do companies work with ISDA? Scott tells us all. He also tells us about his unique background and career, from a front row seat to the financial crisis to regulating for the future to avoid future crises. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook.Special Guest: Scott O'Malia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's show the team take on: whether Brexit really is more of an opportunity than a threat to fintech, as the MP involved seems to believe, your weekly dose of Open Banking insight, plus special mention of Credit Ladder's new use case for open banking, and the stepping down of Anthony Thomson, Chairman of Atom Bank. They also discuss the Gaurdian's story that 7 in 10 UK workers are “chronically broke”, and why that could be and are people just missing opportunities to save? Opinions are divided on this highly contested topic. Meanwhile in the US millennials are seemingly more financially secure that we thought. Simon takes on Robinhood's cryptotrading and its appeal to the millennial market, could it be using crypto as a way of luring users into their app to make other more traditional trades and investments? We speak also speak to PensionBee CEO Romi Savova about HER open letter to Aegon, accusing them of bullying and preventing users from transitioning out of Aegon into PensionBee. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook.Special Guests: Caroline Plumb, Charlie Wood, and Romi Savova.Links: The MP who heads Parliament's fintech group says Brexit is 'more of an opportunity than a threat' ‘I wouldn’t use open banking’, say three in four Moneywise users Open Banking makes its debut in the rental market following new CreditLadder launch Anthony Thomson to step down from Atom Fintech PensionBee hits out at “corporate bully” Aegon - AltFi News Dear Mr. Grace your arduous pension transfer approach is out of line Seven in 10 UK workers are 'chronically broke', study finds Millennials with savings of $100,000 or more are on the rise Robinhood adds zero-fee cryptocurrency trading and tracking U.S. banks’ Venmo alternative, Zelle, moved $75B last year, says 100,000 people enroll daily | TechCrunch ABN AMRO : Tikkie success reaches 2 million users Bitcoin news: Arsenal signs cryptocurrency deal in world first | City & Business | Finance | Express.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mental health affect us all, not least when we have financial difficulties or worries. Time to Talk Day opens up the conversation around mental health and removes the taboo, asking all of us to be more open about our mental health. Simon Taylor chaired a panel discussing how financial services can be more astute about mental health and how they can improve the relationship between their products, customers and mental health challenges. We invited along subject matter expert James Routledge from Sanctus, an organisation specifically challenging perceptions of mental health, with the aim of normalising conversations around mental health and how workplaces can better accommodate this, as well as FS experts Ghela Boskovitch and Jo Ann Barefoot and the FCA's Nick Cook to tackle how financial services can offer more frictionless services that better accommodate customers' mental health as well as financial situation. If you’d like to know more, do take a look at some of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute’s work in the area, and if you’d like to talk about some of the issues raised in the show, visit Sanctus.io, jsbarefoot.com or fca.org.uk. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook.Special Guests: Ghela Boskovich, James Routledge, Jo Ann Barefoot, and Nick Cook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coming to you from Kabbage offices in Atlanta, where Sam and our wonderful guests delve deep into the Fintech hub over some beverages. San Francisco has Silicon Valley and Atlanta is has 'Transaction Valley'- but why? Well 70% of payment transactions come through a company listed in Atlanta. If there's someone in fintech in the payment space, they're either in Atlanta or have something to do with the area- safe to say Atlanta really does live and breathe payments. The team also talk about fintech education, organic company cultures and building the backbone of payments. They also take a look at some topical news stories in the payments space. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook. Special Guests: Ginger Schmeltzer, Joe Kleinwaechter, and Kathryn Petralia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our show begins by discussing why Fintechs and Banks are duelling for talent, as financial technology startups go in hiring overdrive- thus butting heads with the incumbents for the very best candidates. Are banks worried about losing out on top rate talent? Next we explore some pretty damning stats, as the U.S. big four retail banks dealt with almost 20% increase in credit card losses last year. Financial crash anybody? The team get their bear masks on and discuss how growing credit card debts in individuals could be increasingly concerning for incumbents and the economy in general. Staying with empty bank accounts....Wells Fargo apologise for a a glitch that emptied out bank accounts. According to reports, a glitch caused online bill payments to be processed twice which led to some customers with very unhealthy bank balances. Moving across the world, Australia plan to introduce industry-wide platform for real-time payments called the NPP (New Payments Platform). The infrastructure will allow payments between business accounts and customers at different financial institutions in Australia. Next and staying the the outback, Westpac brings back transactions via text messages. Westpac's new iMessage shortcut will allow customers to make payments. Is this secure? Our team discuss whether or not customers will trust payments via iMessage and whether or not anyone even uses the service anymore! On to technology, Google and Tencent team up agreeing to share patents in a global tech alliance. The 2nd and 5th large companies in the world have teamed up and this should allow Google to rebuild its presence in China. Partnerships continued, Transferwise and Flinks partner up in Canada-which will facilitate instant account verification and will act as the link between Transferwise and the Canadian banking world. We wouldn't want to bring you an episode without some regulatory news and to give you your fix on today's Fintech Insider news show, we discuss 'seven key facts about PSD2 could cause some head scratching'. Our panel run through this story and discuss how some of these could be interpreted. Finally, the man who ordered £3,000 worth of Bitcoin gear online was furious when he received a Boss Baby DVD. Think it's safe to say he was not impressed, and the team discuss whether or not the film itself is worth it? Finally 2.0, 'Grumpy Cat' wins a $710,000 payout in copyright lawsuit. Grumpy Cat Limited sued the owners of coffee company Grenade for exceeding an agreement over the cat's image. You can imagine the cat's owners were 'feline' great after that mega payout! We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook. Special Guests: Patrick Lane and Sophie Winwood.Links: Banks and Fintechs Are Duelling In a ‘War For Talent’ Business schools have a problem with fintech What is Fintech? And how to build a career in Fintech U.S. Banks Suffer from Big Credit Card Losses Wells Fargo apologizes for glitch that emptied out some bank accounts Australia to introduce industry-wide New Payments Platform for real-time payments Westpac brings bank transacting to text messaging Google, Tencent Agree to Share Patents in Global Tech Alliance Transferwise partners with Flinks to power its instant account verification process Seven key facts about PSD2 that could cause some head scratching Man who ordered £3,000 Bitcoin gear online furious after being sent Boss Baby DVD instead Grumpy Cat wins $710,000 payout in copyright lawsuit - BBC News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many financial services companies are trying to build from the ground up, creating new banking systems or products that are more in line with creating an efficient and customer centric front end. Avoka on the other hand, are creating acquisition products that work in tandem with core banking systems. Chief Experience Officer Derek Corcoran talks us through how Avoka are creating a platform for better customer experience. Indeed, opening current accounts and signing up for a credit card can be tedious, and it's definitely not mobile friendly. Instead of going through 30 layers of customer on boarding that most users fail to do all in one go, Derek discusses how their business model centres around the 'one and done' instantaneous form submission that makes sign-ups all so simple. Not only is their process faster and more convenient, there's also an added element of security- photo ID recognition means users take photos of their driving licences or passports making the sign-up faster and safer. They handle this transaction layer, until it's ready to be delivered to core banking layer. The culture at Avoka is 'we are going to be successful by making our clients successful', and indeed Derek talks about a meticulous iteration process of creating product after product that aims to satisfy their clients as much as possible, and in turn satisfy the customers they are trying to bring on board. Data analytics are central to these iterations, creating analytics engines which show Avoka where in the application flow the customer is lost. This is imperative to the evolution of their products but also the specificity to each client- they can use this data to show banks exactly what they're missing, and exactly how they can improve upon that. We also discuss Derek's unique role and job title at the company and what being a 'Chief Experience Officer' actually means. He splits his role into 3 parts,The first is of which is thought leadership around this space, Looking at experiences that banks are putting in to the market, to understand who is doing well. The second component is product development, by analysing customer needs and what other platforms/products are succeeding, Derek also helps in terms of innovation. Finally, the third component is client strategy and relations, they have 3 of the 10 top global banks using their platforms so it's key these relationships are managed accordingly to maintain integrity and credibility to Avoka. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook. Special Guest: Derek Corcoran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So what is an investment platform? According to our panel it's much like a supermarket- you go in and buy lots of things, however you're also doing all the cooking! We discuss how robo advisors can disrupt investment platforms, by scaling the 'do it for you' investment model through technology, and how this interesting supermarket analogy gets altered due to it. We then move on to Millennial wealth and investment, exploring how newer generations don't have the benefit of buying property and seeing prices skyrocket, whilst also being saddled with debt as they begin their working lives. But how does a generation that has grown up with social media, a generation that is exposed to instant gratification so often- grow to understand the non-immediacy of investment? Or is this the responsibility of investment platforms- does this area need to be more accessible? Mitigating the jargon and bridging that financial literacy gap is imperative, but could governments rather than financial isntitutions be the answer in educating? But is the challenge with long term investment an economic one rather than educational-inflation currently sitting at 3% means that many cash ISA's aren't really working. To quote our guest Jon Willis: "you may as well keep your cash under your mattress" and this is very much the view financially literate millennials take- citing the lack of excitement a reason for disinterest, hence- Bitcoin. So how do we make it more accessible? Since millennials don't trust banks, as they have grown up with other brands and services that this generation of users are comfortable with e.g Facebook and Amazon. Is it through gamification? Is that the best way to bridge this literacy gap and make investment more accessible? Our wonderful guests dive deep into this subject and how the challenge posed to investment platforms can be answered. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook.Special Guests: Adam French, Jon Willis, Pete Townsend, and Shaun Port.Links: Tencent gets a licence to sell mutual funds to WeChat’s 1 billion users in China Tencent to sell mutual funds to ‘WeChat’ users - Citywire Digital asset management and crypto funds - how has the model changed? - 11:FS BNP Paribas Asset Management completes fund transaction blockchain... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices