Fintech Insider By 11:fs

About this episode: Join David Barton-Grimley of 11:FS and a lineup of expert guests as they explore the biggest fintech and financial services headlines of the week. Stories covered on the podcast: Zopa launches a current account offering 2% AER interest on balances, along with 2% cashback on bill payments. Coinbase has introduced a stablecoin payments stack to make it easier for online merchants worldwide to accept USDC. Finom, an Amsterdam-based fintech serving SMBs, has raised €115 million (approximately $133 million) in a Series C round. TBC Bank Uzbekistan has secured a $12.5 million loan to boost financial inclusion. Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland has launched a new “Smart Start” account for children aged 7 to 15 - a first of its kind in Ireland. We also talk about our favourite biscuits. This week's guests: Timestamps/stories:  Intro - (00:00) Zopa has entered the UK current accounts market with its new flagship current account, “Biscuit” - (05:01) Coinbase launches stablecoin service - (14:

About this episode: On this week’s Fintech Insider Insights, in partnership with LexisNexis Risk Solutions, we’re diving into one of the most pressing challenges in financial services: digital identity. Every time someone opens an account or logs into a service, one big question needs answering: is this person really who they say they are? Fraudsters are getting smarter - using deepfakes, synthetic identities, and AI-driven attacks to fool even the most advanced systems. In fact, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions, 1 in 11 new accounts is now fraudulent. So, how do businesses balance fraud prevention, regulatory pressure, and customer experience - without adding friction? And could the very tech that’s fuelling the problem also be part of the solution? To unpack all this, our host Benjamin Ensor is joined by a fantastic panel of guests. This week's guests: Lorraine Salmond - Head of Identity Strategy, UK and Ireland at LexisNexis Risk Solutions  Katryna Dow - CEO and Founder of Meeco 

About this episode: Join Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11:FS, as he's joined by great guests to dive into the biggest news stories from the week. Stories covered on the podcast: Chime climbs 37% after debut of $364 million IPO.Walmart and Amazon eye the potential of stablecoins as U.S. regulation advances. We take a look at the launch of Up’s in-app group money feature - an Australian banking first. Pix Automático, Brazil’s first recurring payment feature, is rolled out to millions of Pix users. We also learn more about high street lender Metro Bank’s takeover approach. And finally, would you speak to a CEO via an AI hotline? This week's guests: Alex Johnson - Founder of Fintech Takes Miguel Armaza - General Partner at Gilgamesh Ventures Evan Simmonds - Principal Product Designer at Up Also featuring a voice note from: Sebastian Fantini, Director of Product at EBANX, about Pix Automatico. Timestamps/stories:  Intro - (00:00)  ⁠Chime Climbs 37% in Debut After

On this week’s Fintech Insider Insights, we’re bringing you something a little bit different! Our CEO, David M. Brear, recently headed to the Point Zero Forum in Zurich, where he moderated a panel all about AI innovation - and what it takes for countries to stay competitive in this space. It was a super insightful conversation, and the brilliant team at PZF were kind enough to let us share it with you all. Hope you enjoy it! This week's guests: Catrin Hinkel, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Switzerland, Microsoft  Daniela Stoffel, State Secretary, State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF)  Dr. Jochen Papenbrock, Head of Financial Technology - EMEA, NVIDIA  Dr. Christopher Purves, Global Co-Head UBS Group Emerging Technology, UBS 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: Join Ross Gallagher, Head of Consulting at 11:FS, as he's joined by great guests to dive into the biggest announcements and stories from the conference. Stories covered on the podcast: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has partnered with Nvidia to launch a ‘Supercharged Sandbox’, enabling firms to safely experiment with AI. Starling Bank has introduced an AI-powered chatbot - marking a first in UK banking. Meanwhile, Enfuce has teamed up with Octopus Energy’s Electroverse, Europe’s largest EV charging network. Revolut is partnering with Euro 6000 to give users access to cash withdrawal services across Spain. And finally, the Irish fintech sector continues to show strong growth. This week's guests: Monika Liikamaa - Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Enfuce Elliott Locke - Co-Founder and CEO of abroaden  Dimitri Masin - CEO at Gradient Labs Also featuring a voice note from: Colin Payne - Head of Innovation at the FCA  Timestamps/stories:  Intro - (00:00) UK F

About this episode: On this week's episode, in partnership with Plaid, host David Barton-Grimley is joined by some great guests to dive into the world of credit. For decades, traditional credit scores have been the foundation of lending - but in 2025, they’re starting to show their age. These outdated models are struggling to reflect how people actually live, work, and spend today - especially gig workers, freelancers, immigrants, and younger borrowers. So, what’s gone wrong with our credit systems? And more importantly - how do we fix them? This week's guests:  Zak Lambert -  Head of Product, Europe at Plaid Ankur Sisodia - Head of Product, Lending & Savings at N26 Alexander de Rafols - Director of Product at Affirm  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 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Support our charity partne

About this episode: Host David Barton-Grimley, Director of Strategy at 11:FS, is joined by a fantastic panel of guests live at Money20/20 Europe, to dive into the biggest announcements and news stories from the conference. Stories covered on the podcast: Griffin announces the launch of its MCP server, AI Griffin. Openpayd expands its offering into stablecoins with infrastructure designed to better move and manage money globally. Mastercard announces major partnerships to drive the adoption of tokenisation, Click to Pay, and passkeys. We also hear about GoCardless’s new outbound payments feature, payabl.’s virtual business card launch, and Zilch’s partnership with Visa to offer a physical card. Plus, our three panellists share some personal Money20/20 highlights. This week's guests: David Jarvis - CEO at Griffin Lara Barbuto - Director of Compliance, Compliance Officer & MLRO at OpenPayd. Brice Van de Walle - Executive VP, Core Payments Europe at Mastercard Also featuring voice notes from:

About this episode: On this week’s episode of Fintech Insider Insights, recorded live at Money20/20 Europe in partnership with Adyen, host David Barton Grimley is joined by some great guests to take a deep dive into the pain points of spend management - and how embedded finance can help solve them.Now, we’re all aware of spend management, but how important is it, exactly, for small and medium-sized businesses in particular?At the forefront of addressing some of these challenges is a new partnership between Adyen and Spendesk.So, how is embedded finance better serving SMBs, and what role can new technologies play in harnessing its capabilities? This week's guests:  Stephane Dehaies - CEO of Spendesk Financial Services Joëlle Bønding - VP of Vertical Strategy for Platforms at Adyen 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

About this episode: Host  Laura Watkins, Director of Media and Marketing 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: Curve launches Curve Pay to compete with iOS in Europe. Google pushes ahead with its AI offering with an agnostic shopping experience. We talk through what the CFPB’s ruling means for the future of banking in the US. We also take a closer look at the South Korean payments market with Kakao’s acquisition of SSG Pay and Smile Pay to further digital optimisation in the country. There’s also been a boom in UK fintech hiring — and are Singapore really considering corporal punishment as a consequence for scamming? This week's guests: Aditi Subbarao - Strategic Partnerships Lead at Instabase Edoardo Volta- SVP Partner Marketing and Business Development at Curve Kate Flocken-Principal at FS Vector Timestamps/stories:  Intro - (0

About this episode: On this week’s episode of Fintech Insider, in partnership with Skaleet, host Benjamin Ensor is joined by some great guests to take a deep dive into the unbundling and rebundling of financial services. Now, you’ve probably heard the terms thrown around – but what does "unbundling" really mean?  Is it just a flashy way of saying financial services firms are breaking up their services? Or is it a deeper transformation of how financial institutions operate, innovate, and serve us all?  And if firms get this right, how will financial services look different in 2030? This week's guests: Martin Della Chiesa - CEO of Skaleet  Christian Rau - Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships Crypto, Digital Assets and Fintech at Mastercard  Emilia Bayer -  Senior Sales & Strategy Lead at Primer 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. ⁠⁠⁠⁠

About this episode: On this episode of Fintech Insider, host David Barton-Grimley sits down with Matej Pfajfar, Group CTO at Monzo Bank, to talk about one of the fintech industry's least glamorous - but most critical - topics: outages. With banking apps now at the core of how we manage money, a few minutes of downtime can spark serious disruption. Back in February 2025, a wave of UK bank outages affected millions and it feels like the problem is only getting worse. So, how is Monzo planning to stay ahead? Enter Monzo Stand In, the bank’s behind-the-scenes solution designed to keep essential services running, even when things go wrong. On this episode we unpack what an outage actually means in modern banking, why they’re so hard to avoid, and how Monzo’s unique culture and architecture enabled them to build resilience into their platform by design. This week's guest: Matej Pfajfar - Group Chief Technology Officer, Monzo Bank Advertisements: If you're running an early-stage business with Seed o

About this episode: Host  Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research & 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: Revolut, Europe’s largest digital bank, has announced plans to invest over €1 billion in France over the next three years, including establishing new headquarters in Paris and securing a French banking licence. Meanwhile, UK regulators are cracking down on the ‘wild west’ of Buy Now, Pay Later schemes with tougher regulations—raising questions about the impact on major players like Klarna. We also speak with JPMorgan Chase about the launch of their FintechForward Programme and the importance of supporting underserved founders and SMEs. Global fintech Airwallex has raised $300 million in a Series F funding round, bringing its total valuation to US$6.2 billion. In India, Paytm, the country’s largest digital payments platform, has intro

On this episode of Fintech Insider Insights, in partnership with Visa, host David M. Brear is joined by an expert panel to explore the future of payments through two lenses: the real-world challenges merchants and payment providers face today, and the innovations shaping how we’ll pay in 2030. We look at: Why the post-2020 payments world demands more than just speed The rise of invisible payments and omnichannel expectations How AI and tokenisation are reshaping both security and customer experience What’s holding merchants back from adopting cutting-edge solutions The bold strategies and tools needed to future-proof the payments experience This week's guests: Triona Smith -  Director, GTM at Visa  David McGuiness - Chief Product Officer at Frisbii   David Messenger - CEO of Global Businesses at PingPong Enable the future of digital payments Guide your merchants toward more secure, seamless and consistent payment experiences whilst improving customer loyalty, reducing fraud

About this episode: Host Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research & 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: Monzo eyes up a potential IPO on the UK market whilst Chime announces their listing on the US market. Stripe and Ramp team up to enhance cross border payment solutions using Stablecoins. The Nordic countries are looking to collaborate on an offline card payment system for internet outages, helping to minimise cyber security issues. We also take a look at Monzo’s new product development and discuss if Klarna is rejecting AI in favour of a more physical workforce.. This week's guests: Monika Liikamaa - CEO and Co-founder of Enfuce  Jason Mikula - Founder of Fintech Business Weekly  Dave Morris - CEO of 11:FS Foundry Plus a voice note from: Andy Sacre - Head of payments at Monzo Timestamps/stories:  Intro - (00:00)

About this episode: In this episode of Fintech Insider Insights, host David M. Brear is joined by Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank - the UK’s fastest-growing fintech focused on serving established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Richard shares how his unique background at traditional giants like HSBC and Barclays, combined with his time at fintech innovators like Revolut and OakNorth, has shaped his mission to build a better bank for UK businesses. We dive into Allica’s rapid rise, its unique approach to relationship-led banking, and what’s next in their journey towards unicorn status. We also discuss: How Allica Bank is redefining SME banking in the UK The strategy behind its record-breaking growth Competing with neobanks and embracing AI Why branding (hello, orange bowler hat!) matters in fintech This week's guest: Richard Davies - CEO of Allica Bank  Links to check out: Join our WhatsApp community, where you can get the inside track on all all things 11:FS,

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: Tide is expanding its B2B offering, rolling out its Credit Flex feature for all its customers following a $100million debt raise. Paypal launches its first contactless wallet in Germany, its biggest product development investment in the country to date. Employer.com continues their ‘shopping spree’ acquiring Mainstream.com to bring their value to $700m. Santander has announced it is selling 49% of its Polish business, the former Bank Zachodni, to Austrian bank Erste Group. And we take a look at the FCA’s latest crypto ban... This week's guests: Raphael Landesmann - Director Regulatory Counsel at GSR Carl Hazeley - CEO of Finimize Mathieu Limousi - Chief Marketing Officer at Thunes Timestamps/stories:  Intro

About this episode: In this episode of Fintech Insider Insights, David M. Brear welcomes Francesca Carlesi, the CEO of Revolut UK, for an in-depth conversation about one of the most transformative years in Revolut’s history. With a strong background in fintech and traditional banking, including co-founding the UK’s first digital mortgage lender, Francesca has brought a wealth of experience and entrepreneurial spirit to her role at Revolut. Over the past year, Revolut secured its highly anticipated UK banking licence, crossed the milestone of 10 million UK customers, and made significant strides towards becoming the primary bank of choice for millions. Francesca shares the inside story of what it took to achieve these milestones, how Revolut’s fast-paced, customer-first culture enabled rapid innovation, and what building a “super app” for financial services really looks like from the inside. The conversation also dives into Revolut’s bold expansion into wealth management, SME banking, lending products,

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: Robinhood publishes its Q1 results showing an increase in both revenue and profit as it launches its latest offering, Robinhood Gold , to the wealth management market. Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) has approved Nubank Mexico’s banking license enabling the firm to evolve into a full service bank. Cross border payments company Thunes furthers its expansion into the US market with a $150million raise in a Series D funding round. Crypto giant Coinbase have teamed up with venture studio, Founders Factors to launch a UK based crypto and AI accelerator and we take a look at Revolut’s first movements into the mobile markets as they launch phone plans. This week's guests: Steve Quirk - Chief Brokerage Office

On this special edition of Fintech Insider Insights, David M. Brear, Group CEO at 11:FS, is joined by Ian Rand, CEO of Monument Bank - a pioneering digital private bank designed for mass affluent individuals. Ian took the helm at Monument in 2022, bringing extensive experience from Barclays to lead the bank through a period of rapid growth. We dive into the key ingredients behind Monument’s success and explore what’s next for the future of high-end banking. -- Advertisements: Sign up for a new account on Lightyear and receive $15 worth of a US fractional share when you use this link: http://lightyear.com/11fs or enter the code 11FS manually in the Promotions section. Code conditions: Complete onboarding and fund at least £50 into your General Investment Account after entering the code. The code can only be used if you haven’t redeemed any code before. Once conditions are met, you’ll get $15 worth of a US fractional share of your choice.Capital at risk, ISA rules apply. Provider of the investment servi

Advertisements: Sign up for a new account on Lightyear and receive $15 worth of a US fractional share when you use this link: http://lightyear.com/11fs or enter the code 11FS manually in the Promotions section. Code conditions: Complete onboarding and fund at least £50 into your General Investment Account after entering the code. The code can only be used if you haven’t redeemed any code before. Once conditions are met, you’ll get $15 worth of a US fractional share of your choice.Capital at risk, ISA rules apply. Provider of the investment services is Lightyear U.K. Ltd for the UK and Lightyear Europe AS for the EU. Terms apply: https://lightyear.com/terms. Seek qualified advice if necessary. This is not investment advice. -- For those listening in GCC and Turkey, this episode is sponsored by XM: https://bit.ly/FintechCopyTrade  -- About this episode: Host Laura Watkins, Director of Media & Marketing, 11:FS is joined by a fantastic panel of guests as we dive into some of the biggest stories from th