Fintech Insider By 11:fs

About this episode: Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week. This week's guests: Dave Morris - CEO of FoundryOS  Stephany Kirkpatrick - Founder and CEO of Orum, which joined Stripe in 2025 Chantal Swainston - Founder of The Heard Plus soundbites from: Joe Colchester - Head of Product at 11:FS Pulse Rory O'Neill - CMO at Checkout.com Timestamps/stories: Intro - (00:01) Nubank advances US launch with OCC approval - (03:28) Checkout.com announces strategic partnership with Spotify (15:19) London fintech Teya launches in Spain and Italy amid European expansion (26:19) Robinhood UK rolls out stocks & shares ISA with 2% cash bonus (33:34) Chase Enters UK Insurance Market With Launch of Insurance Bundle (42:23) Starling sets sights on US expansion by licensing its banking platform (45:23) Super Bowl Fintech Quiz (49:08) Support our sponsors: Us

About this episode: What’s next for fintech UX in 2026? Ross Gallagher, Head of Consulting at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to break down six financial services UX predictions from the latest 11:FS Pulse Report, covering the shifts shaping digital banking, customer experience, onboarding, product design, and user research. This week’s guests: Joe Colchester - Head of Product at 11:FS Pulse  Oliwia Wasik - UX Research Analyst at 11:FS Pulse  Evan Simmonds - Principal Product Designer at Up  Download your copy of the 2026 11:FS Pulse Report Links to check out: ⁠After Dark tickets⁠ Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the inside track on all all things 11:FS, as well as having your say on the things we should be paying attention to. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://chat.whatsapp.com/KpA4gFbbWDlLFm7kx39raf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our sponsors: Use code FINTECHINSIDER at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/fintechinsider -- Gra

About this episode: Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week. This week's guests: Ziad Mabsout - Co-founder and CEO of Vennre  Sarah Kocianski - Fintech Consultant & Advisor  Matthew Ford - CEO and Co-founder of Sidekick Stories covered on the podcast this week include: Capital One’s planned acquisition of commercial finance platform Brex in a $5.15bn deal; Vennre, a wealth-creation platform helping HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet) access private-market opportunities, closing a $9.6m Pre-Series A round; JPMorgan Chase agreeing to acquire UK pensions technology firm WealthOS as it deepens its retirement and personal investing offering; ClearScore acquiring mortgage technology firm Acre Platforms; and Revolut rethinking its US strategy again, dropping plans to buy an American bank. Timestamps/stories: Intro (00:01) Capital One acquires Brex for

About this episode: On this week’s episode, in partnership with Pleo, host Benjamin Ensor is joined by Jeppe Rindom, Co-Founder and CEO of Pleo; Søren Westh Lonning, CFO at Pleo; and Megan Cooper, CEO of Caywood, to explore how the role of finance has evolved over the past decade - and what it will take for finance teams to win the next 10 years. We discuss how expectations on CFOs and finance teams are changing; why decision overload and decision-freeze are becoming more common; and how finance leaders can balance pressure, uncertainty and strategic influence. The panel also looks ahead to what finance teams need to focus on now - from better tools and data to confidence and capability - to drive better decisions and stronger businesses. This week’s guests: Jeppe Rindom - Co-Founder & CEO at Pleo Søren Westh Lonning - CFO at Pleo Megan Cooper - CEO at Caywood Find out more about Pleo at Pleo.io -- Links to check out: After Dark tickets Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the

This episode was recorded before the news broke that Capital One is buying Brex (thanks for that one, guys!). We’ll be covering it on next week’s pod. About this episode: Host Kate Moody, Customer Strategy Director at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week. This week's guests: Nicolás Di Pace - Managing Partner and Co-founder at adn.vc  Samuel Norman - City Reporter at City A.M.  Peter Briffett - CEO and Co-Founder of Stream  Stories covered on the podcast this week include: Stories covered on the podcast this week include Revolut applying for a full banking licence in Peru, marking its fifth expansion in Latin America. Stream (formerly Wagestream) has raised $90m in Series D funding, taking its total funding to $228m. BNPL provider Affirm is planning to roll out instalment loans for renters in collaboration with Esusu. Wise recorded a 26% surge in cross-border volumes to £47.4bn in its latest quarter as i

About this episode: On this week’s episode, host David Barton-Grimley is joined by Matt Weaver, Head of Solutions Engineering for EMEA at OpenAI, to explore the impact OpenAI is having on the financial services industry - and the meaningful collaborations taking place between the sector and the AI innovation giant. We discuss how AI is becoming the operating system for financial services as institutions move beyond chatbots and experimentation; how OpenAI is helping Europe’s financial sector adopt AI safely and responsibly; and how AI can strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in financial services. This week's guest: Matt Weaver - Head of Solutions Engineering - EMEA at OpenAI Support our sponsors: Use code FINTECHINSIDER at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/fintechinsider -- Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/fintechinsider to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 additional months on top! It’s completely

About this episode: Host Laura Watkins, Director of Media & Marketing at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week. This week's guests: Matthew Goldman - Founder of Totavi Shah Ramezani - Founder and CEO of Noah Veronica Glab - Strategic Partnerships Lead at Juice Plus soundbites from: Amina Taher - Chief Marketing Officer at Wio Bank Joe Colchester - Head of Product at 11:FS Pulse Stories covered on the podcast this week include: Trump says he wants a one-year cap of 10% on US credit card interest starting 20 January 2026; Noah and NALA have partnered to use stablecoins for cross-border settlement, initially targeting Africa and Asia; Wio Bank has launched the UAE’s first bank account designed specifically for content creators; new research from Innovate Finance shows that global fintech investment began growing again in 2025, rising 21%; and Nationwide Building Society has launched a scam-checki

About this episode: On this week's episode, David M. Brear is joined by some great guests to tack a question on every bank and fintech leader’s mind: is AI redefining consumer-focused banking in 2026? Using our Digital R.I.C.H.E.S framework, we explore how AI is changing the way financial services meet customers at their point of need, from real-time insights and smarter personalisation to context-aware experiences. This is what truly digital banking looks like now, what’s hype versus reality, and what consumers should actually feel and benefit from as AI becomes embedded in everyday money management. This week's guests: Ross Gallagher - Head of Consulting at 11:FS  Fernanda Dobal - Product Director at Cleo Megan Caywood - CEO and founder of Caywood.io Support our sponsors: Use code FINTECHINSIDER at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/fintechinsider -- Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/fintechinsider t

About this episode: It's our first news pod of 2026! Host Ross Gallagher, Head of Consulting at 11:FS, is joined by some great guests to discuss the biggest stories from the world of financial services over the past week. This week's guests: Sarah Kocianski, Fintech Consultant & Advisor Benjamin Dada - Fintech operator & Founder, Condia Miguel Armaza - General Partner at Gilgamesh Ventures  Stories covered on the podcast this week include: In a fresh wave of fintech consolidation and strategic moves, Flutterwave has acquired Mono. JPMorgan has launched its Special Advisory Services initiative to give key clients access to consulting services drawn from the bank’s own practices. PicPay has filed for a U.S. IPO, and Mercury has applied to the OCC for a national bank charter. Timestamps/stories: Intro - (00:01) Flutterwave buys Nigeria’s Mono in rare African fintech exit - (05:10) JP Morgan forms “special advisory group” to share its “secret sauce” with clients - (18:45) Brazi

About this episode: Ever wondered what goes into making a blockbuster payments system? In this episode, David M. Brear, Group CEO at 11:FS, sits down with two heavyweights in the payments world: Tracy Birdsall, Managing Director and Head of EMEA & APAC, Merchant Services Sales, at J.P. Morgan Payments, and Kristen Morrow-Greven, Vice President and Head of Global Payments at Netflix. They dive into the systems that most people don’t notice until they break: reliability, scalability, resiliency, infrastructure, and jaw-dropping transactions-per-second numbers that keep payments seamless at scale. Drawing on J.P. Morgan’s Payments Unbound, Volume 3, the conversation reveals how Netflix processes millions of payments globally without missing a beat keeping subscribers happy and systems running flawlessly. Grab your popcorn and tune in, this behind-the-scenes look at payments is nothing short of epic. Learn more at⁠⁠: ⁠https://www.jpmorgan.com/payments/payments-global⁠ This week's guests:  Tracy Birdsa

About this episode: Happy New Year and welcome to the first episode of Fintech Insider of 2026! In this episode, the team are kicking things off with bold predictions for the year ahead, some you might have seen coming and some that might surprise you. They stake their reputations, embrace a bit of friendly ribbing, and share their most daring forecasts for the future of fintech. To uncover these insights, Laura Watkins, Director of Media and Marketing at 11:FS, brings together a SWAT team of fellow Elevens and Fintech Insiders, experts who have spent the past year closely analysing the signals shaping the fintech landscape. Join them as they explore what is ahead for 2026 and the trends that could define the industry. This week's guests:  David M. Brear - Group CEO at 11:FS Kate Moody - Customer Strategy Director at 11:FS Ross Gallagher - Head of Consulting at 11:FS -- Links to check out:  Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the inside track on all all things 11:FS, as

About this episode: Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by a fantastic panel of guests as we dive into some of the biggest stories from the worlds of fintech, banking, and wider financial services this week. Stories covered on the podcast this week include: On this week’s final news show of the year, we hear from GoCardless about their exciting acquisition by Mollie. It’s been a big week for Monzo, which has secured an Irish banking licence and acquired UK mortgage brand Habito. We also take a look at Orange Payments and Visa’s new partnership, aimed at accelerating online payments across the African market. Finally, as a festive finisher, we examine the latest Gen Z Christmas spending habits which sparks a wider conversation about our panel’s worst Christmas gifts. This week's guests: Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO at GoCardless Jas Shah,Fintech Product Expert & Author @Fintech: Under the Hood Timestamps/stories Intro - (00:00)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GoCardless acquir

About this episode: Join host Laura Watkins in this episode of Fintech Insider as we reflect on another wild year in fintech. She’s joined by 11:FS experts Joe Colchester and David Barton-Grimley to break down the year’s most memorable moments. From the fintech feel-good story of the year and the buzziest new term, to the partnership that caught everyone off guard and the glow-up that wowed the industry - we cover it all. Plus, we revisit that one jaw-dropping moment that made everyone say, “WTF?” This week's panel: Laura Watkins - Director of Media and Marketing at 11:FS Joe Colchester - Head of Product at 11:FS Pulse David Barton-Grimley - Director of Strategy and Head of Product at 11:FS -- Links to check out:  Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the inside track on all all things 11:FS, as well as having your say on the things we should be paying attention to. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://chat.whatsapp.com/KpA4gFbbWDlLFm7kx39raf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sup

About this episode: Host Kate Moody, Customer Strategy Director at 11:FS, is joined by a fantastic panel of guests as we dive into some of the biggest stories from the worlds of fintech, banking, and wider financial services this week. Stories covered on the podcast this week include: On this week’s podcast, we dive into Airwallex’s massive funding raise and explore what it could mean for the company’s future. We also discuss Abu Dhabi’s launch of a new fintech centre with a focus on digital assets, featuring insights from our panel. New data shows that US fintech funding is projected to drop by 6% in 2025, as big-ticket deals over $100 million slow down - but what do our panellists make of this trend? We also cover PensionBee’s call for the government to end pension transfer gridlock. What could this mean for everyone’s pensions? Kate shares her thoughts on Fifth Third’s new Commercial Card and Brex’s Financial Technology Powered solutions. Finally, inspired by all the Spotify Wrapped buzz, we get

About this episode: Banks aren’t just building apps anymore - they’re building digital CFOs. Join Kate Moody in this episode of Fintech Insider as she explores how SMB banking is evolving from simple dashboards to intelligent financial guidance. Small businesses don’t just want to see their balance - they want insight, advice, and a GPS for their finances. Tune into this episode, in partnership with Pleo, to discover how to navigate smarter, save time, and unlock the path your SMB really needs. This is the GPS your SMB has been waiting for. This week's guests:  Kunal Galav, VP of  Pleo Embedded Simon Gilson-Fox, SVP Small & Medium Enterprises , Mastercard Europe Learn more at⁠: https://embedded.pleo.io/ -- Links to check out:  Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the inside track on all all things 11:FS, as well as having your say on the things we should be paying attention to. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://chat.whatsapp.com/KpA4gFbbWDlLFm7kx39raf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

About this episode: Host David Barton-Grimley, Fintech Strategy Director and Head of Product at 11:FS, is joined by a fantastic panel of guests as we dive into some of the biggest stories from the worlds of fintech, banking, and wider financial services this week. Stories covered on the podcast this week include: Wise has received its first regulatory licence in Africa. This licence allows Wise to offer cross-border money transfers to personal customers in South Africa, giving users access to faster, lower-cost international transfers with more transparent exchange rates than many legacy remittance services. HSBC and Mistral AI have joined forces to accelerate AI adoption across the global bank. We take a closer look at what this partnership could mean for the wider industry. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched proposals to regulate ESG‑ratings providers, aiming to rebuild trust by introducing new rules for transparency, governance, and oversight. But can it deliver on these promises?

About this episode: Benjamin Ensor takes you deep into one of digital finance’s most complex - and fastest-evolving - frontiers: stablecoin regulation. With the US GENIUS Act reshaping digital-asset oversight, the EU’s MiCA rules setting a unified standard, and the UK opening the door for stablecoins as an official form of payment, one thing is clear: stablecoins are going mainstream, fast. In this special episode, brought to you in partnership with Formance, we break down what fintechs, platforms, payment players, merchants, and corporates need to know right now. If you want the shortcut to becoming stablecoin-ready, you’re in the right place. This week's guests:  Thierry Coopman - Partnerships and Payments Lead at Formance Inna Kostiuk - Business Development Manager, Crypto vertical at Worldline Dea Markova - Director of Policy at Fireblocks Learn more at https://www.formance.com/ Links to check out:  Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the inside track on all all things 1

About this episode: Host Ross Gallagher, Head of Consulting at 11:FS, is joined by a fantastic panel of guests as we dive into some of the biggest stories from the worlds of fintech, banking, and wider financial services this week. Stories covered on the podcast this week include: On this week’s episode, Tide has expanded its SMB offering with the launch of its latest connected insurance product. Klarna has entered the stablecoin market, and we dig into what this bold move means for the BNPL giant. Over in the UAE, Wio Bank has introduced Wio Family, a first-of-its-kind banking experience in the region. We also break down why Chase’s new partnership with TfL has everyone buzzing about its cashback promises. In other news, Wise has become the first non-bank to go live on Japan’s Zengin system — we explore why that’s such a big deal. And finally, we look at what David Beckham is doing with Bank of America, which naturally leads us to the very important question: Who would be your dream fintech ambassad

About this episode: In this special episode David M. Brear digs into what it really takes to succeed as a fintech startup in the Middle East. At the first-ever Money 20/20 Middle East in Riyadh, the fintech startup scene was buzzing with energy - from the celebrations and free swag to the steady flow of Arabic coffee. One real highlight was the Money Surge competition: 15 founders, 3 minutes each, and a shot to win serious funding. The winners - Orbii, Eddekhar, and Zest - impressed with their innovation, resilience, and readiness to thrive in a crowded, competitive market. This episode explores: The real challenges of launching a fintech in the Middle East How founders are navigating a complex, fast-evolving ecosystem The strategies, mindset, and grit required to succeed in 2025 Listeners will gain insight into why the region is a hotbed for fintech innovation - and what it takes to stand out and thrive. This week's guests:  Abdulkareem Alkhiary - Co-Founder & CTO, Eddekhar

About this episode: Our expert host, David M. Brear, and co-host, Kate Moody, present Fintech Insider News live from Village Underground in London, joined by some fantastic guests to discuss the biggest fintech and financial services stories of the week. Stories covered on the podcast this week include: With help from our live audience, we dive into Nationwide’s pledge to keep all their high street branches open until 2030. Visa is trialling stablecoin payouts and we ask whether this new crypto solution is really the answer to getting paid faster? We also explore Revolut and Booking.com’s new partnership, looking at who benefits most and whether Revolut is still the best bank for travellers. There is even time for some festive fun as our audience decides what should be on the Fintech Insider Christmas wishlist... This week's guests: Thomas Easterby, - Head of Fintech at HSBC Innovation Banking  Denise Johansson - Co-founder and co- CEO of Enfuce Richard Davies - CEO of Allica Bank T