1005. News: Are Checkout and Monzo reviving the British fintech invasion?

25:23We've removed such a massive friction point from customer and merchant journeys with that deliverable of that product. And yeah, well, congrats to Yappily, really. I love to see partnerships like this taking place. Absolutely. Dan, obviously, as Grant alluded to, we've talked a few times on the show about the kind of emerging debate around open banking in the U.S. How does it feel to kind of be sat in Washington kind of reading this sort of announcement about how open banking developments are unfolding in other markets compared to where you guys are sat there? Yeah, great. And yeah, let me say congrats to Stefano.

25:57That's wonderful. I love to see it. And as a fintech person here in D.C., I want all things fintech to be as validated as possible. So this furthers the case. So yeah, I mean, D.C., what's good about living here is no one really knows nor cares what I do, but everything on the Hill has major ramifications for what it is that we want to grow and innovate within the sector. So I'm able to kind of get into rooms and kind of see, okay, where are things moving left, right, or center here? I mean, I think the idea of open banking not taking off at some point or other in the U.S. is, in my opinion, I mean, we're on an upward, we're on an up into the right trajectory.

26:42So I think it's just a matter of time for things to become more widespread adopted. I think the debates around the cost of it, who's paying for it, it reminds me a little bit of the tariff discussion. I mean, at some point, yeah, maybe someone's going to insert some costs and then who's going to end up bearing the actual cost of that? you know if things cost money they do need to be paid for and if ultimately because if they continue to run a loss for a service that's important then the whole the infrastructure of open banking would be at risk so the idea that there needs to be some introduction of a cost is not one I necessarily disagree with a matter of who should be paying for that I think that's that's up for discussion so you know I these things Google partnering with startups to show how this data be in the hands of users can provide more than just the use case for, oh, let me pay this over here is an important one.

27:37So again, I think it's just a matter of time before the adoption follows a lot of what has happened in Europe now. Again, how it will be implemented. There's a lot of influential lobbyists and government affairs officials from different organizations trying to put their imprint on various statutes and regulations. So we'll see how it all plays out. Yeah, for sure. Stefano, obviously, it's super exciting what you're announcing today. I suppose I'm also keen to get your perspective on what do you think comes next within Open Banking, particularly with that business lens. We've seen lots of developments in applications and use cases for retail customers, but it feels like we're just starting to scratch the surface and how Open Banking is deployed for business customers.

28:21What is it that you are most excited to see happen next in this space? As a founder, I'm very excited and optimistic about a lot of things. But open banking is reaching, let's say, the maturity level for which, let's say, big company decided to invest. Both from a retail standpoint and SME. Our first customer six years ago was QuickBooks,$200 billion market cap organization. So it's not like enterprise were not looking at it for a long time. And simply now, I think a lot more organizations are investing in it. I think last time I came on the show, it was to announce Adyen that was going live with us, which is another fantastic, let's say, proof of open banking being, let's say, at the mature stage.

29:14What excites me a lot is definitely the premium API. Maybe 12, 18 months from now, we will finally see them, let's say, being adopted more widely. There is a lot of activity and work done by the ecosystem, especially in the UK, to have an alternative to cart and files and debit cards. Sorry, ender and debit via premium API. At the moment, open banking was designed for a user to be there and approve every single transaction rather than giving a mandate to merchants to, let's say, approve a recurring transaction. So premium API will significantly increase the adoption of open banking. So if you look at the retail side, if you look at the SME side, it's always been an underserved market.

30:10So the opportunity there, both from data and payment, is simply gigantic, in my opinion. And so it's great to see that more companies are using open banking to enhance their SME services. On the SME front, we have, as I said, from the QuickBooks of this world, the PLE, so many that are already leveraging open banking. I just want this to grow even farther. So when I look across the ocean, the U.S. also excites me, if I have to be honest. There are currently 80 countries more or less around the globe that are embracing open banking in one way or another. So it's a rising tide around the globe. The difficult thing is, as Dan was saying, is understanding the how is better to proceed.

31:04Once it's decided that if someone pays, who pays, how it's paid, the ecosystem will come around and we'll find a solution to make it work. What is a bit difficult is to build a business when there are so many moving parts and so many people trying to change things in one direction versus the other. So as soon as there is more clarity, I think there will be a further acceleration in the U.S. as well. Let's not forget the first open banking player in the world was Yotli. in 1999 it was a US company and after that we had so many other US companies that leveraged open banking or let's say a variation of it so it's not new in the US there are probably more than 100 million users on a monthly basis already leveraging a shape of open banking Yeah, no, absolutely Well, I mean, again, we need to wrap on this story but I just really wanted to conclude by just saying another massive congratulations to you on the team on the partnership and everyone at 11 of us is kind of excited to see what you guys do with it next.

32:08So all the best to you and the whole team with it. So on that note, we're just going to take a quick pause here, we'll be back very shortly.

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32:50Before we dive back into the news, a quick heads up on our latest insights episode. We're talking about stable coins again. Yep, again. But this time it's more than just hype. The market caps jumped from$200 billion to$270 billion. Monthly transactions have hit$1.3 billion, matching Swift's volume. And real use cases are finally generating real revenue. In this episode, in partnership with Fireblocks, David Barton Grimley and an expert panel are getting practical. How do you actually operationalize stablecoin payments? We cover architecture, compliance, KPIs, and the common traps to avoid. Catch the episode now.

33:24It's on the same feed as this one. And now, back to the news. Our next story comes from Finextra And that is YUP raises$32 million for Southeast Asian Digital Bank YUP, a Singapore-founded startup, has raised$32 million US dollars In its C1 funding round, bringing its total funding to over$100 million US dollars The bank is targeting working and middle-class customers in Southeast Asia Aiming to be a principal payment tool for them YUP has seen its revenue double each year for the past three years and expects growth to accelerate further in 2026 and 2027. The new funding will be used to expand into new markets, including Hong Kong, Vietnam and the Philippines.

34:04YUP expects to reach break-even by the end of 2025. To tell us more about this raise, we have a voice note from David Barton Grimley, Strategy Director and Head of Product at 11FS.

34:17Southeast Asia just has massive potential for fintech growth and has been attracting a lot of investment in recent years. This whole idea of trying to launch a pan-Southeast Asian bank is not new. It's been a big theme. I think lots of players have explored it and have failed. I think one of the biggest challenges, of course, with that is that, like any region, but Southeast Asia in particular, these countries are very, very different. The languages are vastly different. The regulatory regimes are vastly different. cultures are just really different. So the idea that you can have a single bank like Neobank somehow dominate the region just hasn't really materialized.

35:04However, if there was one player that could potentially do it, I think it is YUP. And the reason that is, is their Indonesian focus. So, you know, Indonesia is one of the largest emerging middle-class markets in the entire world. so in some ways it very much does resemble brazil it's very difficult to get a license in indonesia and they've they've gone and done it and you know they are in some ways headquartered in singapore you know the technology is built out of singapore so they have the regional hub there as well um so it'll be very interesting to see what they do with this money and how they put it to good use but i think this is a very important move for fintech in the region

35:54Awesome. Thank you, David. Dan, as our funding expert, I'd love to come to you first on this. I mean, how much of your time do you spend focusing on Southeast Asia? I'm conscious that for you, North America probably keeps you pretty busy as it is, but yeah, what's your take on this? Yeah, I spent much of the last decade, I was on the board of a couple of companies based in Hong Kong. Look, Southeast Asia, half of the world lives in a concentric circle that's all focused around Indonesia itself being the fourth largest country in the world. I mean, so the population itself warrants a great deal of attention.

36:28And I think what's also very attractive about that region is that there is very little rip and replacing that's required. The lower and middle classes, everyone that's of this cohort generationally has grown up with newer technology, newer modalities of communication. The internet is now really the first way many of these communities have started to communicate. And so rather than having to change patterns of how individuals and communities engage with their money and engage with these financial decisions, you're able to start with a fairly fresh plate. And I think that's why new players can come in and really build businesses fast.

37:14because they don't necessarily have to rip and replace what otherwise are fantastic experiences that they've been sitting on for the last, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. So the conditions are there in these emerging markets with such great population and a lot of economic growth on top of that for, you know, it's no wonder that great companies, great founders will choose the region to try and build generational businesses because all the ingredients will be there. Yeah. But yeah, as David alluded to in his voice note, Like it's a huge opportunity, but also huge challenges, right? Like this isn't just, you don't just walk into this market and roll something out and it just is automatic success, right?

37:52Have you got any learnings from your time in the region about kind of what you think it requires to be successful here? Yeah, I was on the board of a company named CompareAsia. And I think one thing they did very well was it was a pan-regional business, but they really had local headquarters throughout. Now that has its own challenges because now you have, you know, who's really calling the shots if you're trying to run a multi-geographic business. But the head of Singapore says, I need the site to look like this versus that. So I think they grew a lot by learning from those challenges. But I think, you know, there are horizontal best practices.

38:33Like, okay, what are the types of financial products that this fairly common economic strata requires? So I think product-wise, you could build fairly horizontal the services and the offerings, but then the distribution will have to be slightly different from region to region. The types of ecosystem evangelists and thought leaders in each region will be slightly different from one to another. So I think there's a way to do it, but certainly not without challenge. But again, I think that's why we love what we do. There are brilliant founders who can solve otherwise solvable problems. But I think the underlying requirement for fairly well-known products and well-known services, well-known offerings are there.

39:16And it's a matter of what are the right distribution methodologies to be able to attack each country and each region specifically. For sure, yeah. Grant, I'd be interested to get your take on, they've talked about trying to become the principal payment tool rather than sort of going after kind of a full banking relationship. So what was your take on that? Yeah, I mean, Southeast Asia, there's a lot of similarities to what's gone on in LATAM and everyone wants to be the next new bank or the next Pixright. And by targeting a specific demographic of customer base, they feel that they can go on that quicker growth journey because there's a couple of poster childs there in terms of recent significant growth.

39:59There's a huge amount of investment going on in that region. I mean, I was at NomuPay before joining WorldPay and SoftBank investing in payments companies like those guys because some of the licensing that they had, an Indonesian acquiring license, for example, which to Dan's point is like gold dust, right? It's not that easy to go into these markets and get a local acquiring license very easily. I think with PIX as a payment method, one of the main reasons they saw such significant growth so quickly was the central bank was backing and supporting it as a payment method, right? So if you get the regulators and those sort of driving the banking ecosystem on side sooner, your route to scaling will be faster.

40:35and it does look like a slightly more convoluted market with some of the existing players that are on the ground there. So they might face some challenges from incumbents. But the opportunity in terms of the demographic they're going after, the population that exists there certainly is so vast that if they get it even slightly right, they probably are going to go on a growth journey to the one that they're talking about going on. I just think it's a fascinating market because there's so many different local payment methods and alternative payments methods, even in a huge amount of these Southeast Asian countries that I do slightly feel like becoming a dominant player is going to be harder than maybe it would be in certain other markets just because there are QR codes right out there.

41:18We got QR codes in COVID and we thought we were rewriting the wheel and you go out to Southeast Asian and you're like, oh, they've had QR codes literally for everything for years and years and years. So yeah, it's interesting that the money is certainly moving in that region at the moment, but we'll watch with interest from over here, I think. Yeah. Stefano, what captured your interest most about this story? As Gerd was saying, Fastest Asia is a super, super interesting part of the world where everybody is digitally native and they are a lot more advanced than we think we are here in Nero. QR code is everywhere and everyone's life tends to be in a wallet or in a super app.

42:01And all of these are now embedded into everyone's life. So I think as a new entrant, I think trying to displace, for example, in Indonesia, a company like Dana, which is embedded in everyone's life. There are so many, let's say, regional champion already. It's going to be difficult to displace them, potentially partnering with them and being more complimentary could be a way to go. everybody use Alipay as a payment method or they use a local wallet so I think the opportunity is huge because everybody is native with QR code and payment and their life is in the wallet they use the most but the challenge is equally significant Yeah we'll have to wait and see what they do with that $32 million but congratulations to the team and I think year, they've had multiple raises in a really short period of time.

43:03So obviously on an exciting growth journey, fingers crossed. Okay, our next story comes from the Financial Times, and that is Monzo plots new move for US banking license. Monzo is reportedly considering a new application for a US banking license, aiming to re-enter the prospect of becoming a US lender. The renewed interest is driven by a more favorable regulatory environment with both the OCC and FDIC, having eased guidance that previously made banking charters harder to secure. Monzo had previously withdrawn its US license bid in 2021 after regulators signaled low chances of approval at a time when Monzo was under financial pressure.

43:38If successful, Monzo hopes the license would strengthen its US expansion, enabling it to offer banking services directly rather than via partner banks. Obviously, I guess a couple of overlaps with our first story in terms of the trials and tribulations of US banking licenses. Dan, again, I'll probably come to you first on this. Do you think this is the right time for Monzo to be dipping its toe into the licensing waters again? Yeah, look, I mean, it's never going to be an easy time. But I think given some of the signals from this administration and the regulatory bodies, they'll have a better chance.

44:16They probably are taking the calculation that if we want to go for it, we likely should while these current factors are in play now in the United States. again, I think it's taken a while for the U.S. to adopt a lot with what the U.K. started adopting last decade, which is making it a bit more clear, providing more clear guidance on what it takes to be able to foster more competition among some of these fintechs in the U.S. So again, I think we're on the long road up and to the right where we'll see that ecosystem open up or the environment become a bit more friendly to that. But certainly the regulatory environment is a bit more friendly now than it was under the prior administration.

44:52So I think Monzo is taking a good calculated risk that they should begin that process now. Obviously, they are a well-established name. They have a strong financial backing. They have a terrific team. So all the ingredients are there that should look good on paper to be able to have a good chance to secure that license. And of course, if you're able to, and Monzo is in the business more than just merchant acquiring, for instance. So it makes sense for them to go for a more wide-ranging charter to be able to offer lending and other deposit and other banking services. So it makes all the sense in the world to me that they feel that they're in a position to be able to do so now compared to a few years ago.

45:31And the window is more open now than it was. So it makes sense to me. Stefano, another UK business trying to break the US. Are you similarly excited about this? And what What do you think is different for Monzo? I'm always very happy when I see European companies succeeding abroad. That's for sure. I think Dan said it very eloquently. I think that Monzo is now a different company from four years ago. It's much more established, more robust. It's much bigger, better capitalized. So potentially from an internal perspective, they are in a much stronger position to go for a banking license and also regulatory views change, regulator change, administration change so maybe they think it's a better timing to try again so I'm sure they have a lot higher chances this time around and so I wish them best of luck yeah no I think definitely we all want to we all hope that they can be successful um Grant what do you reckon are you you backing them or do you think it's going to be difficult oh man I'm going to get my violin out for the LSE I think to be honest with you because it just feels like the beginning of that US listing um journey that that Monzo is going to go on right and you know they've got every right to do that I think people were looking at the struggles they had a few years ago and what was going to be the the position that Monzo ended up in they've massively turn the corner.

47:02I mean, I'm a massive fan of Monzo, as most people know, but it is a shame that it does look like this is heading towards what will be a US listing potentially for Monzo in the longer term, I feel. And they'll have to grow in the US a little bit more probably before they make that decision to ring the bell. But you can't really blame them with everything that's going on as far as the differential between the two markets is concerned. Dan mentioned, obviously the open door policy maybe that's going on under the current administration, which is a great place for financial services and fintech businesses.

47:35We've seen crypto obviously booming again over in the States. So timing is everything with these things and it is a shame and hopefully we don't continue to, yes, to Stefano's point, great news to see UK companies doing really well in other markets, but it's also disappointing that it does feel like that will mean that they're probably not going to list in the UK maybe. and I know that they've been a little bit coy around what that decision might look like, but my personal opinion would be that it does feel like they're leaning towards the US and you can't really blame them when you look at the amount of other companies that are deciding to list there currently rather than the UK.

48:10So we need to look internally in the UK market as to what we can do to actually resolve this from continuing to happen and there's a lot of good commentators around things that could change at the moment and yeah, we'll see what happens, I guess. I agree with you, Grant. It's a shame if they don't list in the UK, but the government has time to make some changes. It's difficult to be doing a successful listing unless you're core business in the US. And I think for Monzo might take a couple of more years to get there. So, you know, my optimistic side, this gives time to our current government to make the changes that might make the decision of Monzo.

48:53A bit more challenging than it is now. As you said, probably a lot of the company are leaning for U.S. listing. But they have to make U.S. the core market first. Otherwise, for investors, it's difficult to really see the valuation that they offer to local company. And maybe just the one more thing I'd add, because I think some of the topics we talked here is like, oh, if you can, great, then go get a charter or something. And I think that's oversimplifying, I think, what it means if you are a chartered institution. So I'll obviously give a plug to some of my old colleagues at Fifth Third and New Line, where it is a cost center to run everything you need to do to now be under the purview of a regulator, whichever regulator there might be.

49:39and there's much more risk of screwing something up. And if you screw something up, like game's over. So as we've seen from a lot of the other sponsor banks in the U.S. So I have no doubt that when folks like Monzo or others take the decision to go for it, like they understand that the apparatus and the infrastructure that we're going to have to put in place is going to be significant. And of course, they've made the decision that that's going to be of better ROI than partnering with a bank or what have you, whether they think it's for their own control or for economic benefit. But there is getting the charter and then there is like, okay, now we're operating a bank.

50:13Let's make sure we don't have any regulatory actions against us, any warnings or what have you like that. So it is not for the faint of heart, even if you are in a strong position to go get a charter. Um, and maybe the last thing I'd say is I've, I've always been a London enthusiast. And I think what, uh, um, what has always been great about the London fintech market as, as unimportant as it, as it sounds is like, you know, you have all of the government, you have all of the old school financial services and you have all the tech in one location, which provides for significant, uh, speed of getting things to market, which I think has always been a big advantage for London.

50:55I think in the U.S., what, you know, yes, this administration, I think, has taken a different approach to opening doors up, but we still have dislocation between New York, where you have the old guard of financial services, you have the Bay Area, obviously, where tech is coming, and in D.C., which, although today is more open, it is more unpredictable. I mean, you just don't, like, so the unpredictability of what will happen is now, I think, forcing folks to say, oh, well, let's go ahead and grow the bank. Why are we seeing a lot of bank M &A happen? Because like, if we're just larger, it'll be easier for us to insulate against what we don't know about the future.

51:29Folks like Monzo, let me get the charter now because I don't know what's gonna happen in the future. So I think, you know, obviously the US is the US and will always be a behemoth. But I think, I hope markets like London and others around the world lean into the advantages that they have, which is like, we can get things to market faster because we have such a cooperative ecosystem of all those, particularly in fintech, you need regulators, you need old banks and the old guard and tech to work together to really bring things to market. So I'm not quite ready to put the death knell in London yet, but also that might be the East Coast bias where I want both my right and my left to succeed.

52:07So no, I think there's also a risk. Sorry, I was going to say that there's a risk then as well that we have companies building in London, getting to a certain size and then going, thanks for all that speed and innovation and delivery that helped us go to market. We're going over to the States to list now, right? But it's good for me because I've got early stage Crowdcube investment. So yeah, fingers crossed that's not going to dust that down and hopefully benefit from that in the long run. Yeah, no, fingers crossed. No, absolutely a ton of great points, I think, on multiple fronts. Our office is actually just across the road from Monzo's, so I feel like I'm going to have to get the binoculars out and start trying to peer through the windows to get some early insights.

52:47But yeah, we'll wait and see whether this attempt comes to life and whether it's more successful than their previous adventures. Okay, on that note, we're going to take a very quick pause here. We'll be back shortly.

53:04Okay, now for a quick look at one more newsworthy story this week that we don't have time to cover in full, but we think you'll find just as interesting. This story is taken from Finextra, and that is big issue partners Fumopay to let sellers accept open banking payments. The Big Issue, a UK-based social enterprise and weekly magazine, has teamed up with open banking payments provider Fumopay to enable its magazine vendors to accept instant account-to-account payments via QR codes. Here we go, here they come again. No card readers, no Wi-Fi required. The pilot aims to help vendors who might be excluded in the shift away from cash.

53:36With cash transactions in the UK massively down, many vendors risk losing sales without digital options. The enterprise provides people experiencing homelessness or facing poverty with the opportunity to earn a legitimate income. vendors involved in the trial report benefits faster access to earnings increased sales and greater confidence in handling digital payments versus traditional card solutions the initiative complements big issues broader efforts in financial and digital inclusion and may be expanded to more vendors over time um yeah we've obviously touched on on qr codes a bit earlier in this show as well we spent a fair bit of time in our recent live after that podcast talking about a new qr code based payment experience being offered by whatsapp in india so um i feel like i'm surrounded by qr codes at the moment but you know that's I guess that's the way the world is moving but the use case here seems pretty clear this feels like a really smart initiative to give these sellers more ways to take payments by the sounds we get the money into their pockets much faster so my main concern is I'm obviously going to have to rethink my typical excuse of sorry I don't have any cash which I've used to hopefully politely in the past decline the opportunity to buy a magazine but I am going to have to come up with something a bit more imaginative now which is is a good thing because it's a very good cause and people should definitely support it they can.

54:44Okay, and finally, now time for something a little bit different from the world of business to finish this week's news show. This story comes from The Guardian, and that is, new California law bans loud ads on streaming services for peace and quiet. California has passed Senate Bill 576, a new law requiring streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Disney +, to ensure commercials as volume matches the audio level of the content they interrupt. This law extends the principles of the federal Calm Act, which already regulates loud ads on broadcast TV. The legislation was inspired in part by a complaint that a newborn baby was woken by a loud ad, highlighting how intrusive loud ads can be in households.

55:23Streaming companies have until July 2026 to comply. The law could effectively influence industry standards nationally. Who is the most excited about this? I am very excited to read about this. As someone that has a nine-month-old baby who has definitely had their baby woken up by the TV. I feel like this is something that's not spoken enough about in society. Grant, were you thrilled at reading this? It's the decibels, isn't it? Like, you know, you're watching a nice relaxing show and then more and more of the platforms have gone paid service now as well. You have to pay more to not have adverts.

55:57If you're a bit tighter for a platform, you use less, you've suddenly got these adverts shouting at you now. So yeah, I'm all for it. Can we have it over here as soon as possible, please? Yeah, Dan, I mean, is this something that's impacted your life? Are you looking forward to seeing this roll up? It's, you know, it's funny. I have not been following this. So I was still a conspiracy theorist thinking that I didn't know that they were actually doing that. So I was like, wait, but they are. So I assume they were. And so I am thrilled to hear this because also my youngest is now three years old.

56:28So I'm a little bit out of the newborn phase. But the number of times when this would happen and my wife would yell, I'll be turned them down. I'm like, it's not me. So this is great. Very, very validating. And I'm not crazy. So that's great. Think about the ripple effects this could have for, you know, marital harmony across the U.S. Divorce rate will start plummeting, I think. Yeah, fingers crossed. I mean, Stefano, do you think we need something similar to like fintech push notifications? Obviously, there are lots of things which jump into our lives and for good or bad reasons. On the main news, I don't watch enough TV, but I think applying to real life, I would love to turn the volume down on a lot of things coming our way.

57:12You said push notifications on certain services, cold calling and all the spam that we receive in our phone, having more control and all of that probably would affect my life a little bit more. At home, we don't watch enough TV. My son is four years old. He's not authorized to watch TV yet. My wife agreed that when he turned five, we will be able to switch on the TV. So I have a few years of peace for the moment, but in my life, I would like to turn the volume down on a lot of things. Oh my gosh, you've done so well if you've not started using TV with your kids already. It's like one of my main parenting tools.

57:47Shame to admit. Okay. we all get one thing that we can ban by law. Grant, what are you choosing to ban? It's going to be train related for me because I like to rumble on about the British train network but it's not going to be loud people talking on the train. It's something that's crept into the UK whereby people feel that they can eat really inappropriate food on a train journey now. So I'm not going to ban eating on the train but if we could scan in people with their chicken katsu curries that decide to sit right opposite me on a long train journey, that would be greatly appreciated. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't happen to be very often because I live a very sad life.

58:24But after we recorded the live After Dark show, I did end up getting the last train home out of London Waterloo. And I do feel like I sort of, you have like passive smoking, don't you? You sort of like ingest other people's themes. I felt like I passively consumed at least like five McDonald's because everyone around me was just drunkenly necking McDonald's. So I can definitely, definitely get behind that. Stefano, what are you going to ban? I'm going, I don't know. if I would make friends or not. I would like to ban social media below 18 years old. It's affecting society a bit too much. But I hope this will be in place before my son understands how to use my phone.

59:03Yeah, and I'm definitely hoping for the same thing. Yeah. I mean, obviously, Australia are kind of trying to push the boundaries there. So maybe not quite as far off as we might think. Fingers crossed. Dan, what about you? What will you get a ban? Well, you know, I think societally we once lived in a time where you're not supposed to talk about religion or politics. So I would love to maybe find a way to ban it. But then again, all of a sudden now I'm infringing on free speech, which all of us now I've entered into the political realm. So it's just, I don't think there's any solve for that, but that would be great to be able to engage in discussions, particularly where I live and not have to veer directly into the political realm.

59:41I think that would also probably have a good impact on like divorce rates as well, probably. that's right that's right yeah I think oh god if I was going to ban something I've got a really ridiculous phobia of polystyrene so like that packaging that kind of surrounds like whenever you kind of receive something in packaging so I'd like to claim that I'd like to ban that for sort of environmental purposes but it's really just because every time I open a parcel and it's got polystyrene around something I just have to put it down and run away just because the noise of it just fills me with fear but And yeah, that would be what I would ban.

1:00:18Okay, on that note, I hope everyone has FinTech Insider set to an appropriate volume and that we've not interrupted your babies or woken anybody that was having a nice nap on the sofa. That wraps up today's news. Thank you so much to today's guests. Where can people find out a bit more about you and your companies or the work that you're working on, Dan? Yeah, like I said a few months ago, I rejoined Ruth Foxblader here at Fox Capital. We're investing in pre-seed and seed companies and fintech and fintech adjacent areas. And as I said, stay tuned in the next few weeks and months, we'll be announcing a new fund, which we'll be excited to talk about.

1:00:53But until then, we are investing like normal. Awesome. Watch this space. Brilliant. Stefano, what about you? You can please find me on LinkedIn or reach out to me directly via email. So yeah, looking forward to engage with anyone that is interested in knowing more about open banking. Fantastic. And yeah, best of luck with the partnership as it rolls out. And Grant, what about you? Yeah, we're on platforms.worldpay.com if you want to find out a little bit more about our embedded payments engine. And me personally, I'm readily available on LinkedIn. So drop me a message on there. Awesome. And as for me also on LinkedIn, Kate Media, you can drop me an email, kate.learnfest.com.

1:01:32Thank you so much for listening to today's FinTech Insider. If you like what you heard, please make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast platform of choice. And if you really like what you've heard, why not share the podcast with a colleague or friend? And as always, if you want to join the conversation, find us on social media. Just search for 11FS or Fintech Insider or email podcasts at 11FS.com. Thanks again and goodbye.