In short
Fintech Insider News episode 1062 covers (1) UK FCA “targeted support” rules for personalized investment/pension suggestions, (2) FIS partnering with Anthropic to deploy agentic AI for financial-crimes/AML, (3) Monzo launching in Spain after getting an EU banking license in Ireland, and (4) Amex Global Business Travel being taken private in a $6.3B deal betting on AI-driven travel automation.
Guests
Rosie Lee (Senior Customer Strategist at 11FS; works on discovery-to-design for banks’ customer experience), John Reynolds (fintech reporter at Tech.eu; focuses on EU/UK AI and fintech news), Oban McTavish (co-founder/CEO of Spade; builds payments data intelligence for banks/fintechs to improve fraud prevention, authorization, and AI product development).
Key claims
Targeted support could close the guidance-vs-advice gap but may confuse consumers and needs trust/clear communication. FIS–Anthropic aims to cut AML investigation time from hours to minutes via co-designed agentic AI; success depends on data ownership/terms and bias risks. Monzo’s Spain entry is risky due to different banking culture and competition; it must deliver value for older, branch-reliant customers. AmexGBT acquisition frames AI “roll-ups” and automation, but customer experience and cost-cutting tradeoffs remain uncertain.
Notable examples
7M UK adults with £10k+ cash; fewer than 1 in 10 receive regulated advice; UK adults already using AI chatbots for financial guidance; FIS–Anthropic rollout includes BMO and “Amalgamated Bank”; Monzo Spain offices in Barcelona/Madrid with 50+ employees and Francisco Sierra as country manager; Monzo Spain strategy discussion includes Spain’s “I’m old, not stupid” petition; AmexGBT deal described as a 60% premium and AI roll-up strategy.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOUK's Targeted Support Rules for Financial Guidance
1:54 to 4:47
Discussion on the new rules aimed at expanding access to financial advice.
“I'm also delighted to welcome John Reynolds, fintech reporter at tech.eu.”
The Impact of Targeted Financial Advice
4:47 to 9:46
Exploration of potential benefits and concerns surrounding the new framework.
“I think if it's delivered in the right way, it could signal a massive shift in how we deliver, consume and act on financial advice.”
Comparative Analysis: UK vs North America
9:46 to 13:44
Panelists discuss differences in investment participation between the UK and North America.
“if it's going to be delivering value for the customer, which I think it could.”
The Role of AI in Financial Advice
13:44 to 14:01
Discussion on how AI could enhance the scalability and effectiveness of financial guidance.
“Do you agree with this point about fees?”
AI's Role in Financial Engagement
14:01 to 16:29
Discussion on how AI can enhance financial advice delivery.
“if it can't keep up with the way that people want to consume content, then it's going to land flat.”
FIS and Anthropic Partnership
16:30 to 19:18
Exploration of FIS's partnership with Anthropic for AI in banking.
“are signaling a new era of AI infrastructure in banking.”
Implications of AI in Financial Crime
19:19 to 23:44
Examining the impact of AI on financial crime and regulatory compliance.
“So I'm really excited to see how this plays out.”
Insights Show Promotion
29:02 to 29:28
Explore a new discussion about targeted support in finance.
“This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.”
Monzo's Launch in Spain: A Strategic Move
29:28 to 30:28
Discussing Monzo's expansion plans into the Spanish market.
“So our next story, which I think may well have been written by John, is that Monzo is to launch in Spain as it ramps up.”
Challenges for British Banks in Spain
30:28 to 32:16
Analyzing the competitive landscape for Monzo in Spain.
“Yeah, well, thank you for recognizing my story.”
Show all 23 chapters
Cultural Barriers for Digital Banking
32:16 to 35:28
Exploring the cultural differences impacting banking in Spain.
“in Madrid, and expect to win Spanish customers, right?”
Strategies for Monzo's Success in Spain
35:28 to 38:34
Considering strategies Monzo should adopt to succeed in Spain.
“which, I mean, yes, it started in the UK, but very quickly moved to other countries.”
Future Prospects for Monzo's Expansion
38:34 to 40:41
Assessing future growth opportunities and challenges for Monzo.
“And it needs to do this by focusing on the local banking needs.”
American Express Global Business Travel Acquisition
40:41 to 42:00
Details on the acquisition of American Express Global Business Travel.
“So the competition is weaker in Germany.”
AI in Corporate Travel Management
42:00 to 45:20
Exploring the potential of AI to transform corporate travel through automation and efficiency.
“Do you think there's a lot of opportunity for AI to improve sort of travel and expense management?”
Customer Experience Challenges
45:20 to 47:20
Discussing the complexities of customer experience in corporate travel management and the implications of AI.
“Because in this case, the users are presumably all the employees, you know, people who are booking travel through their companies.”
Human Touch vs. AI in Travel
47:20 to 49:20
Debating the importance of human travel agents versus AI in providing effective travel solutions.
“I'll make a plug for human travel agency.”
The Future of AI in Travel
49:20 to 51:00
Examining the potential pitfalls and benefits of integrating AI into travel booking processes.
“So I guess it's an interesting opposite view anyway.”
Brazil's Ban on Prediction Markets
52:30 to 54:40
Analyzing Brazil's decision to ban prediction markets and its implications for regulation.
“Okay, now for a quick look at a story we don't have time to cover in full, which is that Brazil is banning prediction markets and blocking 27 platforms.”
Evaluating Airwallex's Campaign
55:30 to 56:00
Discussing the effectiveness of Airwallex's marketing strategy and its target audience.
Exploring Airwallex's Advertising Strategy
56:00 to 56:43
Discussion on Airwallex's new ad strategy and its potential effectiveness.
“They have their podcast where John Colson sits down and has a pint with people and thought, why don't we try to run this back with, you know, hopefully some Arsenal mega fans are really big in the B2B payments.”
The Role of Fintech in Football
56:44 to 57:46
Conversation about making financial concepts more relatable through football.
“Do you think this is a good way for Airwallex to try and reach its B2B audience?”
The Future of Explaining Financial Concepts
57:47 to 59:15
Ideas on how to use cultural references to explain financial services.
“and someone starts talking about cross-border payments.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:04This is Fintech Insider News. This week, the UK introduces targeted support rules to expand access to financial guidance. FIS and Anthropic signal a new era of AI infrastructure and banking. And Monzo is to launch in Spain as it ramps up its European expansion plans. We'll be tackling all of this and more on today's news show. We're the Hartford, with decades of experience insuring millions of unique small businesses. When it comes to your small business insurance, one size absolutely does not fit all. Get a quote or find an agent today at thehartford.com slash smallbusiness.
0:54Hello and welcome to episode 1062 of FinTech Insider News, brought to you by 11FS, the five-time consultancy of the year that works with financial providers big and small to build the next generation of financial services. I'm Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11FS. To help me unpack the biggest and most interesting stories from fintech and financial services in the past week, I'm joined by a brilliant panel of three guests. First up, we have a welcome return to the show for Rosie Lee, Senior Customer Strategist at 11FS. Thank you, as always, for joining us, Rosie. Could you remind our listeners a little bit about what you do at 11FS, please?
1:32Sure. I'm Rosie, a Senior Customer Strategist here at 11FS. I'm part of the research and strategy team, so I work with our clients on projects from from discovery through to design, helping banks and financial services to improve their products, their services, their customer experiences. Excited to be here today and ready to dig into this week's news stories. Likewise. I'm also delighted to welcome John Reynolds, fintech reporter at tech.eu. Welcome to the podcast, John. Please can you let our listeners know a little bit about TechEU and your role? I mean, to the extent that's not obvious from your Well, yeah, well, thank you very much for the invite.
2:11I'm very grateful. So as you say, I write for TechEU and we cover startups and tech companies across the EU and UK. And I've primarily got a focus on AI companies and to a lesser extent, FinTech. And I do mainly write news stories, but I also host an ad hoc podcast and do some profile interviews too. Fantastic. We like a bit of journalism and a bit of podcasting. And also a big welcome to the podcast for Oban McTavish, co-founder and chief executive officer at Spade. Welcome. Please, could you also introduce yourself and Spade to our listeners? Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Oban.
2:58I'm the co-founder and CEO of Spade. We build data intelligence products for banks. What that really means is we work with large financial institutions and fintech companies across North America to help them deeply understand their payments data. At the core of it, we're just transforming those really low-quality payments objects you guys are probably familiar with when you swipe a credit card into really valuable data for banks and helping them stop fraud, authorize transactions, and launch AI products. Thanks for having me. Welcome. Super interesting stuff. Okay, well, we've got a panel, so let's get started.
3:28So our first story is that the UK has introduced targeted support rules to try and expand access to financial guidance. So the new regulatory framework, which is known as targeted support, launched in the UK, enabling or allowing rather banks and financial institutions to offer personalized investment and pension suggestions to customers. The initiative, which was introduced by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, is designed to bridge the gap between generic financial guidance and fully regulated financial advice, which is often inaccessible and expensive for many consumers. Under the new rules, firms can suggest products based on what they would recommend to customers in similar circumstances, without crossing into fully personalised or tailored advice.
4:13And the move is aimed at fixing a substantial opportunity, in that around 7 million adults in the UK hold£10 ,000 or more in cash savings that could potentially be invested more effectively. The FCA and indeed the government hope that this will help to address low levels of retail investing in the UK, where fewer than one in 10 people currently receive regulated financial advice. And many are turning instead to social media. So let's start with the big picture. This is quite a big shift in how financial advice is delivered in the UK. Rosie, how big is this? Is this a big deal or not really? I think it could be.
4:55I think if it's delivered in the right way, it could signal a massive shift in how we deliver, consume and act on financial advice. We've not had a regulated framework in the UK before. So regulated targeted advice could close the gap that we've seen between generic information on a website and actual advice that's applicable to a customer's situation or more applicable to their situation. and this gap has existed for a long time. So if this is implemented in the right way, then it could really change the way that not only advice is delivered, but also consumed and acted on. John, what do you think?
5:38Does this start to sort of solve the accessibility problem? Is it going to mean that lots of people in the UK start getting more better sort of financial advice and guidance? Or do you think it's not really going to move the needle? Yeah, to an extent, I agree with Rosie. I think it's very well intentioned as you Benjamin laid out the challenger, but I'm not really sure this is the best way to go about it. And it might add a layer of complexity and confusion. I'm just thinking about, I know there's a slight difference between guidance and advice, but there's so much guidance and advice out there from banks, social media, Martin Lewis, influencers, independent financial advisors.
6:17And I'm not even if I look on my own phone, I've got three challenger bank apps. And if I go onto the homepage on one of them, I can look at my current account. And if I scroll down, then I've got suggestions for getting an overdraft, getting the credit card. And I know this is a government backed initiative. But I'm not sure how this kind of fits in. And it might be confusing for the for the consumers out there. Does this take precedent over other advice? I don't think it's clear, I guess, what would be key, I think, kind of raise a hint of that this is how it's communicated. Yeah, it's definitely interesting.
6:50And it's interesting you make, you mentioned the point about the government, because the open to sort of bring you in here that, you know, the British government's sort of been perturbed by realizing that over the past few decades, British people have become less and less likely to invest in the markets. And that's, you know, starting to affect, you know, London's sort of dominance as a financial center in Europe. And of course, it's potentially leading to bad outcomes for consumers because people are sitting on cash instead of putting into the stock market. Do you see anything sort of different in North America that's sort of encouraging more North Americans to invest in the markets than British people?
7:27Is it having more marquee brands? I mean, I realize you're not necessarily an expert on British consumer behavior, but any thoughts on what might be holding people back from investing? I am Canadian though, so I'm not that far away. I live in New York, but I think we're connected by, you know, the monarchy and stuff like that. But I think it's interesting, like, there was a wave of accessibility and competition driven by like the Robin Hoods of the world coming into the United States that really did drive down fees to engage with the stock market. We saw that, I mean, Canada, funnily enough, kind of lagged behind that where, you know, we did not see as much participation.
8:02I think there's obviously a history of these great sort of opportunities for American companies to invest in the stock market, buying into IPOs and things like that, that I think just drive interest. And then if you combine that with like low cost trading, it becomes a big catalyst there. I think the question is always just like, what role do banks play? And I think having a framework that allows banks to, you know, within, you know, the right guide rails actually make recommendations based on data that's not, you know, protected in some ways, I think can be very valuable. It's one of the big challenges I think we see connecting it back to underwriting in the States where by loosening some of these standards, enabling you to sort of make recommendations that are based on other interesting pieces of data, you can drive accessibility for people who normally couldn't get it because it becomes a lower cost to serve them.
8:47So I think it's really interesting. I think those things usually have some knockout effects, but I'd be curious to see how it plays out. Really interesting. Rosie, of course, you are an expert in sort of customer behavior. What do you think is behind it? Do you think it's a lack of confidence, a lack of trust, inertia, people just can't be bothered? I mean, why do you think so many people in this country, in Britain, are sitting on cash that could be invested into stocks or indeed into Bitcoin? Yeah, when I was reading the article, I kept coming back to the word inertia because it's something that comes up in our interviews time and time again.
9:25Customers are scared of making the wrong decision. They're scared to make a mistake. It's real money that's on the line here for them. They lack the knowledge and the skills and the experience to know whether they're making a financially smart decision. And so it's that fear that's holding them back of taking any action in the first place. So I think that what the targeted support would need to do is to really help them to even take that first action, if it's going to be delivering value for the customer, which I think it could. I wanted to echo what has been said already in that. I think it could improve accessibility.
10:03A lot of investment advice is held for wealthy people who can afford a financial advisor. And if we're going to be improving accessibility, if we're going to be, it's not just, you know, some information on a website. It's also not social media. Social media is not regulated. That is not good advice. And if that's where people are turning, we should be giving them other ways of accessing good investment advice. I mean, there is some good advice on social media. There's just some really awful advice as well, isn't there? It can be wrong. It can be dangerous because it's inaccurate. John, one of the interesting things here is this sort of behavioral angle and the idea of potentially firms are sort of nudging customers and reminding customers, you know, to Rosie's point about inertia.
10:53do you think that could help people who who who maybe just putting it off a bit scared whatever lazy do you think that those sort of nudges or reminders would be helpful is that just more noise more noise on your phone more notifications on your app no i think it could be helpful if as i said if the communication is done well i mean if it's but i guess if it's a case that if i go to my bank's website and a message pops up suggesting that I consider investing a proportion of that money. I'm not sure how much, I guess I would think I was quite a typical user. I'm not sure how much I'm going to heed that advice.
11:29I think it will benefit me, but I'd also be thinking that it's going to benefit the bank too. So I probably want a third party kind of verification. And I think this whole, the whole idea about being government backed, I think it'd be better if it was kind of a whole centralized government, if it was the government taking the lead and then they'll kind of link into the banks rather than the other way around. So I think if it's a government-led, the user, the punter, will understand that it's kind of independent and the banks are kind of, you know, overtly benefiting from it, I think. Yeah, that's a really, really interesting point, isn't it, about sort of whether people trust financial firms.
12:09I mean, the reason, of course, the UK's got into this state is this sort of unintended consequence of, you know, regulation years ago to try and create independent advice and separate that from firms recommending their own product. But the unintended consequence of that is that independent advice became so expensive that most people never got it. Rosie, to build on what John was saying, do you think there is a better way? Do you think there is a way this could be done better? Or, Oben, maybe you can tell us how Canada is doing it better. I'm happy to start. I mean, I don't know if there, it's a really sticky problem, I think, is because, like you said, the cost to serve really effectively is generally high.
12:48If the moment you take that away from sort of a blended revenue model for a bank who can afford to subsidize these things with other forms of revenue from a customer, I think it can become very hard to get a really high quality of advice without sort of merging these things together and creating bad incentives when they are just trying to push through their products. I do think competition can help make these lines a little clearer and that when we got rid of, when free trading came out, mutual funds became less popular. Fee-free ETFs really blew up in North America. People felt empowered that they could get a very similar performance or experience by buying a fee-free ETF versus going to a mutual fund because I think we realized that most actively managed mutual funds are maybe not worth their costs.
13:30And so I think a lot of it comes down to cost and making the products available, which drives down competition with these large financial institutions to offer actually competitive products. and then they can sort of give it to their customers in a way that actually meets them where they are. What do you think, Rosie? Do you agree with this point about fees? Yeah, I was going to come at it from a slightly different angle and just maybe go back to what we were saying about the way that content is delivered and the way that people want to consume information is always evolving. And if the way that nudges and targeted advice can't, if it can't keep up with the way that people want to consume content, then it's going to land flat.
14:10People aren't going to want to engage with it. So I think a lot of it does just come down to how do people want to consume content? Are they going to act on it? I think that's, yeah, a big part of it. Yeah, so sort of coming back to the point you were making, John, about, you know, this really depends on how this is delivered. Well, we can't talk about anything without talking about AI. So quick throwaway question to you, Oban. Does AI help make this scalable? I mean, does it, do you think AI will be part of the answer here? I mean, I think so. I mean, I think cost has, I'm sort of echoing what I said before, the cost.
14:47But I mean, to what Rosie and John were saying, like, meeting people at the medium they're interested in is super important with these things. And if we're really talking about driving accessibility, AI does reduce the cost to serve some of these people in terms of giving them an actual place they can engage, ask questions of, and sort of build their own knowledge, which I think is a model we hope would drive more engagement with financial products. I think financial education is just a challenging problem, though. I do think that I'd like to envision a world where instead of having to rely on your parents, giving you the advice to invest, you could engage with something with your financial institution that feels unbiased and can give you that advice.
15:21So I think it could definitely help from both the content creation side and driving stuff that actually meeting people where they are and also the cost. It's definitely that unbiased point, isn't it, John? I mean, that's sort of what you've been saying is a well-executed unbiased is what we're looking for here. Yeah, I think on the AI point, I mean, I think I was looking at some stats before, and I think there's 56 % of adults are already in the UK. I think 50 % of UK adults are already using one of the kind of big AI lab chatbots for financial guidance, whether it be Claude, Gemini, or OpenAI.
15:55And I do know that the UK government has a partnership with OpenAI, and I guess, you know, that could be one avenue, this being a government-backed initiative, That would be kind of one avenue where they could pursue going, you know, working with one of the big labs on this venture too. That might be a way of kind of resting. I guess the banks wouldn't like that though to an extent. Yeah, but you're right. People are already using ChatGPT to get information about their finances and social media. So it feels like this regulation is a step in the right direction, but maybe 10 years too late. Okay, well, let's move on to our next story, which is that FIS and Anthropic.
16:33are signaling a new era of AI infrastructure in banking. So the US financial technology provider, FIS, has announced a partnership with Anthropic, the AI provider, to bring agentic AI into banking, starting with a financial crimes AI agent designed to cut anti-money laundering investigations from hours to minutes. Canada's BMO and the US's amalgamated bank are set to be among the first institutions to deploy the technology, with a wider rollout scheduled for the second half of 2026. Anthropics, Applied AI Team, and Forward Deployed Engineers, FDEs, are embedded with FIS to co-design the financial crimes AI agent and transfer knowledge so FIS can build and scale additional agents independently over time.
17:21So this shifts a broader shift in how AI is being deployed in financial services with a focus moving deeper into core banking operations, into areas like compliance, fraud, and decision-making, where accuracy, auditability, and trust are crucial. Oban, I think it's natural to come to you first as someone who works with AI a lot and also someone who's a Canadian living in the States. How important is this partnership? I mean, it looks like a cracking deal. You've got FIS gets access to cutting-edge AI, Anthropic gets a route to market. What did you think of this? I think it's something, I mean, I feel like we've been talking about this this day for a really long time.
18:08Financial institutions have been sitting on really a goldmine of first-party data. Like even ignoring things like, you know, open banking that allows you to drive data from other accounts. The reality is financial institutions have been sitting on all of the information they've ever wanted to know about their customers, and they've never been able to use it. whether that be because the actual data underneath there is really hard to work with. I'm not sure if any of you have ever seen core data, but that is a sight to behold and that it's really challenging to work with. A lot of the time it lacks the context.
18:35And then beyond that, I think there's always been a question of like, can banks actually execute on these sort of digital transformation initiatives? I think you guys are consultants. I'm sure you talked to banks and how challenging it is to just get them into a data lake, let alone building a cutting edge model. So I think this is maybe a signal to where the market is moving, trying to give banks the opportunity or platforms like FIS a way to show top-line revenue growth and not just cost-cutting. FIS is likely seeing this as a new opportunity to charge more money to their banks, build their foothold within the banking universe who's moving further and further away from the core.
19:06So I think it's super exciting. I think we're going to see more and more of this where banks are going to be pushing OpenAI and Anthropic to allow them to own the IP rather than lease it from them as a service provider because I think they see this is a durable mode in their own data. So I'm really excited to see how this plays out. We were actually just in Orlando at the big FIS conference. So it's been fun. That point you're making about owning versus sort of leasing models and data is really, really interesting. John, I'd love to bring you in as well because we tend to focus on, or it's easy to focus on the sort of superficial or the obvious aspects of AI, you know, chat, GBT, Claude, perplexity, all the sort of consumer-facing models or, you know, people with AI-generated images of themselves as a doctor or whatever it might happen to be.
19:53But actually, is there a really significant bit what's happening sort of behind the scenes in all of those sort of deeper workflows within financial services and other industries? I mean, what are you seeing as a journalist? Are you seeing AI development really focused on the front end or are you seeing a lot of work going into sort of back-end workflows and things like that? You're right. I think what happened as a journalist, When OpenAI did the deal with Klarna, which was maybe two years ago, to kind of power its customer service agents, subsequent to that, there was a flurry of announcements from Challenger banks.
20:29So you'll know these Challenger banks. There was Luna and Bunk both came out with similar offerings. And then I think Klarna kind of retracted a bit on their customer service chatbots. And to be honest, I've not heard much in terms of consumer facing stuff from the fintechs in terms of AI at all now. I mean, quite an aside issue and I'm not name dropping here, but I always remember talking to, whose name escapes me now, the boss of Thought Machine, who is quite high profile. He used to work at Google. And I remember him asking him about AI a couple of years ago and how they were implementing it.
21:07And he was saying kind of at the bleeding edge of the stuff that they do, it was pretty useless. And again, name dropping. I remember speaking to TS Anil, Monzo, the ex-Monzo boss. And he was pretty circumspect and cautious about how they're using AI. But I agree with all Oban's points. But on this deal, I think my first thought was this was quite a defensive move from FIS. because I remember when Anthropic released Claude Cowork earlier this year, when there was all this talk about it had a massive impact on the stocks of SaaS companies. And I think this was included FIS. It's got kind of a Claude Coworks got a financial services plugin.
21:47So in a way, this could be seen as a defensive move by FIS because I think Anthropic could have been out could have been out partially to eat their lunch shoulder floor. Yeah, I think it's so interesting, isn't it, seeing Anthropik partnering with a big financial tech provider like FIS because it is a really good move by FIS, but it's also a really interesting move by Anthropik because it means they don't have to sort of try and get to market and do deals with like 20 ,000 financial institutions. Oban, do you think this is going to open doors? I mean, presumably financial firms will feel a bit more comfortable working with an established financial technology provider rather than maybe working directly with an AI company and maybe the regulators will be more comfortable too?
22:36I mean, is that a factor in this? I think the biggest question is going to be what's in the terms of conditions of what's underlying this contract? Where does the data sit? Who owns the data after the fact? I mean, I think there's definitely, I love what you're saying about like the distribution opportunity. I think that's very real. I mean, FIS, Pfizer, Jack Henry, and you know thought machine these other cores uh have always offered themselves as very much like one-to-many distribution and i think anthropic as it looks to build a larger enterprise footprint is doing the natural thing i do think the question is though that you know if if you're anthropic you're fis the big argument is going to be can anthropic trade on your data because i think even more than a distribution opportunity i think this is seen as an opportunity to access data that is not publicly available i mean payments data is one of the last bastions of things that ai models that the large language models we all know and love actually don't have access to.
23:26And I think one of the big things we may look at is not just the distribution opportunity, but also the opportunity to get access to this data in a way that has historically been locked on-prem and is now being made available. So I think there's a couple angles here that I'd love to read the terms and conditions of this. I'm probably never going to do that, but it's super interesting. Yeah, you're right. So does it let FIS build models using Anthropics technology? Does it actually give Anthropics direct access to the data? So yeah, that's a really interesting point. Rosie, I'd love to bring you in.
23:57One of the things that strikes me about this is, we're all getting super excited about all the potential for AI and so on. But at the same time, there are enormous costs that sit behind AI. Not only the cost of the data centers, but the potential environmental costs of all the electricity. If you look at the kind of stock market valuations of some of these companies, clearly the stock markets are expecting these AI companies to make a fortune, to generate vast revenues and vast profits, to justify their stock prices. But who ends up paying for all of this? Like, I mean, is it us as consumers? Is it the financial services industry?
24:32Who's going to pay the bill for all of this? Okay. Yeah, so I am by no means an expert in this area, but from kind of preparing for this and doing some research, my understanding is that the logic makes sense possibly more for the institutions and maybe not as much for the customers. at this stage, a huge proportion of the investigations that banks currently run are actually investigations into ordinary people doing ordinary things. And so these false alarms have consequences. Sort of money laundering things and things like that. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of changing the way of our conversation a bit.
25:12But so if AI can reduce the number of people who are negatively affected by these investigations and these false claims, then it could be a real improvement for customers. But we know that AI learns from data from historical records of what previous compliance teams decided was suspicious. So the problem is that if those previous teams were biased, which they will have been because they are human, then there's a problem there for the AI learning to flag people based on those previous human biases. That's a really, really interesting point. And also, of course, if you start developing new types of financial crime in an automated way, that those may scale up faster than, you know, a backward-looking model might recognize.
25:59Yeah, there's a whole ton of stuff going back under here, isn't there? Okay. Open, back to the anthropic FIS thing. Did you think it was interesting that they started with financial crime as their sort of first use case. I mean, Rosie's sort of pointing out, you know, it's a really common problem across financial institutions. Is that quite a good place to start, do you think? I think it's one of the most natural places to start. I think if you look at the products and the businesses that are currently being adopted by financial institutions that are leveraging AI extensively, of all the agent type use cases, they've been really focused around fraud and financial crime because it is one of the most headcount heavy organizations in the financial institution stack.
Read the full transcript
26:40So there's a real ROI play when you go to a bank and you say, hey, we can remove the number of investigators you have. We can reduce case times. Fewer customers have to be falsely investigated. You can make it so there's no requests for information because if you've ever been investigated for something like this, you know, maybe right now you have to phone and provide all this information. But realistically, the bank already had it. It's just hard to get to. So I think it makes a lot of sense. I think it's maybe regardless of what the stock market thinks, because FIS popped, I think, 5 % on this announcement, which is, you know, a non-significant number number.
27:11I think the reality is for the for these valuations to make sense, the banks need to figure out how they can turn AI into a way that benefits their customers and benefits their revenue. And I think a lot of banks see that as personalization, which I think is like the next frontier of where banks are going to be taking this, whether it be personalization of advice, as we were talking about earlier, personalization of products, like, I think that is one of the underexplored areas. But I think it makes sense given what we see in the market broadly of use cases being tackled, but I had to start with financial crime.
27:40And I think everyone likes the idea of fighting crime and makes for a great headline, which I think is really important with these big announcements. Well, it's true, isn't it? I mean, nobody likes to see the criminals winning, particularly, you know, particularly given the amount of money that's then funding organized crime and, you know, making all of our communities less safe. So yeah, definitely with you on that. Okay. Well, on that note, we'll take a quick pause here and be back very shortly.
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29:08So before we get back into the news, we wanted to tell you about our latest Insights show. So if you enjoyed the conversation we just had about targeted support, I've got good news. We got a whole further discussion about it in our most recent episode where we explored the gap between guidance and advice. It's out now. Just head to the episode below this one. Now, back to the news. So our next story, which I think may well have been written by John, is that Monzo is to launch in Spain as it ramps up. its EU expansion plans. So Monzo is set to launch in Spain, marking a significant step in its European expansion strategy.
29:44The European Digital Bank has established offices in Barcelona and Madrid, with more than 50 employees already in place, and plans to grow the teams further. It has also appointed former Western Union and N26 executive Francisco Sierra as country manager. The move follows Monzo securing a European banking license in Ireland, enabling it to operate across the European Union and offer products such as deposits, lending, and mortgages. Spain will become Monzo's second European market after Ireland, and it enters a competitive landscape that already includes digital banks like Revolut, N26, and Santander subsidiary OpenBank.
30:23John, let's bring you in first. How big a deal is this move into Spain? What do you think? Yeah, well, thank you for recognizing my story. I do appreciate that. I might just bore you very quickly there's an annoying trait of journalists when they talk about stories they nearly ran but couldn't quite get over the line and without sounding conceited i did kind of know this was going to happen and i did take this to monzo at the end of last year that they were going to launch in spain and the reason i i'm really sounding big-headed now the reason i knew this is one way journalists get stories is to look at um job openings on websites and monzo's had scores of job openings for jobs in Spain for about a year.
31:06So I kind of knew it was going to happen. But when I took it to Monzo, Monzo played it down and said, we're just setting up an engineering hub and we're not actually launching in Spain. So I've picked myself up a bit there, but it wasn't a massive surprise to me. It's good for me because it gives me something else to write about. I guess they're always going to, I mean, I guess I'm not an expert on challenger banks. But I mean, I guess there was only a few markets that were going to go they've launched in Ireland, as you said, I guess they're either going to go, they're going to go into a big Western market.
31:38So it was either going to be France, Spain, Germany, or Scandinavia, maybe. And I wish them well, I'm just thinking that the idea of a challenger bank seems quite passé and old fashioned now to me. So if I'm living in Spain, and I see a TV ad or a billboard for a new challenger bank. If I saw that 10 years ago, I might think, wow. But if I see that now, I'm thinking, kind of, so what? I think, but I do wish Monzo well. I do too. Rosie, let's bring you in. John makes a great point there. I mean, what gives a British digital bank the right to go and set up in Spain, in Madrid, and expect to win Spanish customers, right?
32:21You know, when Monzo launched in the UK 10 years ago, its proposition was well ahead of where the British banks were at the time. But at that point, the Spanish banks were ahead of the British banks. And banks like BBVA, Santander, CaixaBank, they've got strong customer propositions. Like, how is Monzo going to make this work? What do you think? Yeah, I think, well, the branch network in Spain has collapsed by 54 % since 2008. And so there is a large underserved population who need better financial tools. But Monzo entering Spain isn't the same as Monzo entering Ireland. Spain's bank culture is different.
33:03It's a country where financial trust is built face to face. And Monzo's entire brand architecture is built completely on the opposite of that. So, yeah, I think it's risky. it's definitely quite a different market isn't it from the UK I remember, I'm going to show my age here if you're going to Spain 10, 20 years ago there were an awful lot of branches I mean you could walk a few hundred yards and you'd come across yet another branch so the fact that the number of branches has gone down isn't surprising because there were just so many but I think you're making an interesting point there that when the weather is better than it is in this country or indeed in Canada open people are a bit more willing to go to a bank branch Go outside.
33:48Speak to people. Oben, what do you think of this? How easy is it for a digital bank to just move into another market? I mean, you know, we've seen digital banks trying to move into various different countries. I think we've had a few foreign banks trying to come into Canada. We certainly had a number trying to launch in the States. How easy is it to cut through, do you think? Yeah, I mean, as someone who moved from Canada to the States, obviously I went from a market with almost no digital banks. I think we had the big six, and then we had a couple that started to crop up to a market. It's incredibly dense with challenger banks, neobanks, what have you.
34:29And it's incredibly difficult. I mean, I think Revolut, rumor has it, is going to make another swing at the US. Monso just made a swing, and it's now maybe not. Nubank as well. And these are incredibly successful, in many cases, high cash-flowing businesses in other countries. I think every market has completely different competitive dynamics. I think Rosie's point about banking culture can't be forgotten. There's even in the United States versus the UK, there's a big enough difference that the cost to acquire a customer in the United States is exponentially higher. You compare that, I'm not sure about somewhere like Spain, but I'm sure these are real sort of mathematical equations that can break these business models very quickly.
35:05So I think you want to wish anyone luck for their global sort of world domination goals, but I think it's an incredibly hard proposition. And I don't think we've ever really seen someone do it that successfully when they've built up a huge customer base in one country and then expanded. I think, you know, the new bank model worked incredibly well in South America. And it's an interesting question whether or not they can make that work in North America. Well, I suppose the counter example is Revolut, which, I mean, yes, it started in the UK, but very quickly moved to other countries. I mean, John, is Monzo just too late?
35:36I mean, because Revolut started expanding into other European countries almost immediately, you know, within a year or two of launching, they were operating in various other European countries, whereas Monzo's waited and waited and waited and waited. Is Monzo just too late to move into the rest of Europe? I think that's a great point. I think in hindsight, the Revolut model would have been easier because, yeah, as you say, Revolut's kind of launched products and gone into markets very quickly after launch. And I think maybe Monzo's partly been hamstrung by what it was doing. I never really knew what they were doing in the US.
36:10They applied for a license, then they retracted, and then they were kind of there for a bit. And I guess in hindsight, it might have been better just to focus on either the US or Europe and just go for one license and then launch the product very quickly. Because, you know, I guess not to reiterate what I said before, It's kind of like Monzo's been around a long time. So why are they doing it now? So I don't quite get it, really. Rosie, let's imagine that sort of Monzo pulled us in and was asking for our help, which, to be clear, they're not going to. What would they need to do here to try and sort of figure out a viable strategy in Spain?
36:53I mean, they say they're going to listen to customers, which is a very good starting point. But can you see a sort of path forward for them? I actually think that the way that Monzo focuses on listening to their customers is a great strategy for Monzo. They do it more than other banks do. And you can see it in their products and their services and the way that they organize their app. You can see that they're doing it based on what their customers are asking for. So Spain has one of the oldest populations in Europe. Does it? With 20 % of its citizens being over the age of 65. And so these customers are the core deposit base of the incumbent banks in Spain.
37:39And this is interesting because when I was doing my research, I came across a petition that was started in 2022 by a 78-year-old retired doctor. And it was named, I'm old, not stupid. and he'd been trying to perform basic banking tasks after his bank removed the people at the branches and the ATMs changed and everything was replaced with apps. And so the petition went viral. The Spanish Banking Association was forced to sign a protocol committing to longer in-person hours and better ATM assistance and the Spanish government also launched an elderly digital inclusion program in response to this.
38:21And the campaign sparked a nationwide conversation about what banks really owe their customers. And I think it's important as it's something that Monzo is really going to need to consider when entering this market. As a digital only bank with no branches, it needs to focus on delivering real value to its customers. And it needs to do this by focusing on the local banking needs. Interesting. though of course Monzo typically you think of Monzo as going for younger customers and it's partly because younger customers are more open to embracing new things but I mean I imagine Monzo would be more likely to focus on younger customers in Spain.
39:03We saw that Revolut last week was opening a branch in Barcelona. John I don't know if you have a scoop based on Monzo advertising for office managers or branch managers in Madrid and whether there's a branch coming for Monzo. But any thoughts on what Monzo might do next in Spain? No, I mean, I'll give the point I would make. I mean, it would be a blow if it doesn't work out for them in Spain. But I think, as I think two of you have mentioned, I can't think of any example of a challenger bank which has been a big success in an overseas market. So I don't think it would be the end of the world. It'll always be a core UK bank.
39:46So if it doesn't work, I'm sure it'll work out for them in Ireland, but if it doesn't work out for them in these European markets, I don't think it would be the end of the world. But I think we'll see. I mean, I guess if they made something of a success of it in Spain, then maybe they'll go into France and Scandinavia. And maybe, I mean, you mentioned the Revolut story. That's quite an interesting story. So, I mean, I don't know if that's another potential path that challenger banks can go down to increase brand awareness is have these kind of Apple-like stores. So we'll have to see how that works out for Revolut anyway.
40:20It's certainly been a strategy pursued by other firms in Spain. Firms like ING have had branches in prominent locations. It's more of a sort of advertising trick rather than actually expecting to serve lots of customers. However, I personally, I think Germany might have been an interesting market because not only is it a big market, but the German banks are much less sophisticated than the Spanish ones. So the competition is weaker in Germany. But let's see. So best of luck to Monzo. But yeah, a tough challenge that they've taken on there. Okay, our final story that we're going to go into in detail this week is that American Express Global Business Travel is to be acquired in a$6.3 billion deal.
41:03So American Express Global Business Traveler is set to go private in an all-cash deal for$6.3 billion, which is a vast amount of money, as investors bet on transforming the business through AI. The focus is on using automation and intelligent systems to improve areas like booking, disruption management, and overall travel administration, modernizing what is still a highly complex, operationally heavy space. MXGBT, as it's known, has already been investing in this direction, with acquisitions like CWT and partnerships such as with SAP Concur, along with new AI-powered capabilities across its platform.
41:39The move signals a broader push to modernize enterprise travel and expense management, which remains fragmented, complex, and operationally heavy. John, perhaps I can bring you in first. Do you think this is an exciting deal? Is this about the sort of fundamentals? Is this sort of technology transformation story? Do you think there's a lot of opportunity for AI to improve sort of travel and expense management? Yeah, I think you're right. Well, I think it is a tech transformation story. I mean, it's a good deal for shareholders. They're getting a 60 % premium on the company's stock price. But I guess what jumped out with me about this was the Long Lake, which is the company that's taken it private, is backed by General Catalyst, which are a big US VC firm.
42:33And they're making a big play in what's called AI roll ups at the moment, whereby they're backing companies in particular sectors, for instance, residential sectors. And they're backing companies who are acquiring other companies in these fields, which they think they can leverage AI and take out kind of improve the performance and take out costs of the company. So I think from my understanding, corporate travel management in some parts is right for disruption because it's behind the curve. So in terms of American Express global business travel, I think there might be opportunities to automate some of the, you know, some parts of the low hanging fruit with the business I would have thought.
43:20So, Huber, what do you think? Does that roll-up strategy sound right? You know, acquire a bunch of related businesses, put in some AI, strip out some people? I'm maybe being unfair on the venture capitalists behind it, but... No, I think you got it right. I think it kind of has echoes of private equity. I think what's really interesting is that, you know, the private equity pitch for a long time was by companies that are encumbered by overly, you know, generally high headcount and cut headcount and bring out efficiencies through technology. and now this is just has an AI lens. I think the AI rollout strategy is being played out across big funds like Thrive Capital.
43:55I guess, you know, they have a perpetuity fund. I think they even famously bought a massive group of accounting firms because there's a belief that you can transform these services into service businesses into something that looks closer to a tech company. I'm really curious to see how this plays out. I mean, I think a business like this is reliant on its quality. And I think there's always question marks when you start pulling out headcount of like, how real is this? I think we've seen even tech companies like the Klarna example we talked about earlier where there was big promise they were going to cut all this headcount and they cut all the software spend and then suddenly you start, you know, it's trickling back in and, you know, people are rolling, walking things back as they talk about it on, you know, X or Twitter.
44:37So I think it's, I'm really curious to see how this plays out. I think this is a very common strategy. I think we're going to see more of this. I think this is maybe a unique example of a, this is, it was 50 % owned by Amex. So I'm very curious to see how the cost structure looks now that it's been completely taken private because Amex is maintaining their relationship. So there's probably, it's going to be one of the biggest customers, if not the largest customer of this, even post-take private. So I'm super curious. I don't know if it's going to work. I think it's big promises, but I'm very curious to see what the cost structure looks like under the hood at scale.
45:09Yeah, me too. Rosie, what do you think about the, what do you think this might mean for customers and customer experience? Because sometimes you get a problem with customer experience, or you get bad customer experiences where the buyer is different from the users. Because in this case, the users are presumably all the employees, you know, people who are booking travel through their companies. But the buyer is actually someone in corporate purchasing or something like that. So this is the kind of scenario where companies can deliver fairly lousy experiences because the buyer is not the same person as the users.
45:41I mean, do you buy into this story that, you know, you can use AI and just greatly improve things? Or do you think this is really just about financial engineering and taking people out? Do you think there's going to be a better experience here? I know it's impossible to say, but... Yeah, well, I think the travel industry does need improvement. It's just everything about booking a flight on a hotel is just awful. Oh, that's harsh. It is. It's like, who built these apps and these websites? It's just, I don't, yeah, it's just like you're in the dark ages. So if AI could actually, if it could actually improve things, if it could actually reduce booking time and proactively make changes to people's travel plans, then it would be transformative for the end user.
46:30But I think the question is whether AI can actually do this and it can keep up with the way that travel behavior is evolving and the way that companies book trips. Like people are buying more linked trips or multi-destination travel. They're also taking longer trips and day trips, shorter trips are reducing. So if the customer behavior is evolving, can AI keep up with that? Can AI perform the level of complexity that customers need it to? But then also, do customers want to hand over that level of autonomy? It will probably make mistakes. Does the customer actually want the AI to do that for them?
47:20I'll make a plug for human travel agency. I mean, when you're doing a complex trip, it's an absolute joy to speak to a human travel agent who really knows what they're talking about and can enable you. when you're trying to put multiple pieces together, if you're just booking one flight, one train ticket, fine. But if you're actually trying to explore a place or get recommendations or whatever, human travel agents are just a blessing. See, I've never spoken with a human. That's because you're young, Rosie. Yeah, yeah. You should try it. I was just going to say, I feel like with all of these deals, you hit it on the head, Rosie.
47:52Like, is this actually going to be better? And I think if this just ends up where now, every time you try to book a flight, you talk to an AI and it does a pretty terrible job. And then now you have to ask to talk to a human three times. Three times. I think it's like the worst case scenario. Not only will this financially not make sense, it'll also be the worst possible customer experience. Because I feel like there's tons of examples. I mean, you know, if anyone's ever tried to like get through to like, I don't know, a doctor's appointment or something like that, book something in. Like how many times you have to go through a prompt menu to try to get to a person and just be like, hey, this is what I want to book.
48:24So it's I think that's like the worst case scenario here is not only is it bad financially because they can't get rid of the people. It's also bad, you know, experientially because like you said, there's, it's actually way more complicated than I think maybe we're giving it credit for. Well, slightly related. I mean, there was an interesting story which came out of Germany last month, which was Trade Republic, which I guess people know they're like a European rival to Robin Hood. And they've completely, well, they've ditched their AI chatbot. It's a bit like a klarnakaze really they've completely ditched their ai customer service chatbots and have actually employed a thousand humans simply because they were getting really bad customer service feedback from their customers across their core markets of germany and austria and that's really trade republic are a kind of high tech cutting edge on the cusper things and if they're kind of reverting back to human agents that kind of puts a different kind of light on all these voice AI startups too.
49:20So I guess it's an interesting opposite view anyway. It's certainly an interesting example of technology being employed a bit too far, a bit too early. Maybe, Oban, you know, maybe you've got a view on that. I mean, we all get excited about AI. AI, it's remarkable. It's amazing what it does, but it isn't perfect. And maybe that's one of the challenges here, right? I think it does some things exceptionally well. I think there's tons of examples across our business where we've been able to hire fewer people, able to validate things faster. I mean, software engineering, that is real. People are more efficient.
49:57We're actually hiring more software engineers right now, which is maybe a contrarian take. We can build more stuff. You can tackle more problems because it unlocks all these new opportunities. So you actually hire more software engineers. So I don't see that stopping anytime soon. But I think the question from my perspective with these sort of pitches is always like, what does it actually look like under the hood? But like, you know, meta or, you know, technology companies where all of their data is neatly structured and they've been using the cloud since inception can't figure out how to pull out some of these costs.
50:24I think the assumption that a legacy business that I'm sure, I mean, is probably still running on mainframe somewhere can do this easily, I think is going to be the question. And how does that actually play out? And I think there's always this game. I think General Catalyst and these other large funds are betting on the fact that even if it's not so great for the next year, model capabilities take another leap forward. And suddenly in the year, we're all like talking how amazing it is that we have this personalized travel assistant. I'm very curious. Like I've never booked any travel using AI.
50:55And when I've tried to ask it questions about like a trip I'm taking, it's, you know, sometimes makes a pop, which is a little horrifying. But I'm really curious to see how it goes. you're going to book your honeymoon and suddenly you find yourself suggesting a restaurant that doesn't exist so maybe it's going to be I guess we're going to have to see how it plays out you can definitely imagine an AI agent helping you book a trip to some kind of fictional destination and you know you even get the human horror stories of people booking flights to Sydney and discovering it's Sydney Nova Scotia not Sydney Australia or whatever that's a horror story if you want to Bondi Beach alright well on that note we'll take a quick pause here and we will be back very shortly.
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52:38Okay, now for a quick look at a story we don't have time to cover in full, which is that Brazil is banning prediction markets and blocking 27 platforms. So Brazil has blocked access to 27 prediction market platforms, including Polymarket and Calci, after introducing new rules that effectively classify many of these services as gambling. The regulation bans contracts linked to sports, politics, elections, and cultural or social events, with the government citing concerns around consumer protection and rising debt linked to online betting behavior. There is an exception for contracts tied to financial benchmarks, but anything event-based is now off the table.
53:17Brazil joins a growing number of countries taking a tougher stance on prediction markets, While in the US, regulators are still debating whether these platforms should fall under financial regulation or gambling laws. The move could also affect domestic innovation with Brazil's stock exchange previously exploring event-based contracts ahead of the 2026 elections. This is an interesting story. I'm always keen to see controls being placed on things like gambling to help people avoid getting into trouble, avoid getting into debt and so on. And people can get overexcited by prediction markets. But realistically, if people are going to bet on things, they're going to bet on things.
53:59So I think what you actually need is better enforcement of gambling regulations rather than necessarily blocking the platforms. And there is one use that prediction markets have, is that they're quite good at exposing insider information, because often people who are betting on prediction markets know things that other people don't know. They do things that maybe they shouldn't know. And they're actually quite a useful signal to other people about what might actually happen in politics, in an election, maybe not sports so much, there's much more room for misdemeanors. misdemeanors. So I think it's a shame that Brazil has done that.
54:38I think there might have been better ways to regulate that. However, if you want to go deeper, check out our related insights episode 1049, Can You Trade the Future? The Rise of Prediction Markets. So and finally, if you ever thought B2B finance was missing a bit of North London pub energy, this one's for you. So Airwallex has launched its biggest ever ad campaign with Arsenal FC, directed by Spike Lee. So just in time for Arsenal's appearance in the Champions League final, Airwallex has launched its biggest UK marketing campaign to date, partnering with Arsenal FC and filmmaker Spike Lee for a new ad called Who Are Ya?
55:18The film is set in a North London pub and features Arsenal legends like Thierry Henry, current players including Kai Havertz, and a mix of actors and superfans, all discussing B2B payments and global finance. the idea that football fans might actually understand cross-border transfers and financial complexity much better than average thanks to years of obsessing over transfer fees contracts and club finances um i don't really know where to start on this i think this is kind of really a good idea who's a huge football fan here um over over to over to you what what do you reckon Is this going to cut through?
56:01I don't think so. I feel like they're trying to. They saw what happened with Stripes. They have their podcast where John Colson sits down and has a pint with people and thought, why don't we try to run this back with, you know, hopefully some Arsenal mega fans are really big in the B2B payments. I don't know. I'm maybe a skeptic and maybe I'll just like raise a hand and say like, I think there's a big trend right now with fintech companies in particular doing very flashy launches, videos, all these very high production things. And I do actually wonder how many bankers, how many people, how many people are actually looking for a B2B payments cross-border solution or tuning into things like this.
56:36So I don't think it's going to cut through. I think it maybe might miss the bark, but, you know, good on them for taking a big swing. It's going to be exciting to see regardless. What do you think, John? Do you think this is a good way for Airwallex to try and reach its B2B audience? Airwallex isn't as well known as Stripe, right? Does this help? that's definitely true i'm not a creative advertising expert i did see the ad and on the on the face i did quite like it i did notice as you've mentioned spike lee who i think famously is known as an arsenal fan and i think it's set in a north london pub there's nothing in the ad that felt kind of incongruous or kind of shoehorned in everything kind of fitted in with um people the people in the ad were Arsenal players or there was some association with Arsenal.
57:27As I say, I'm not a creative expert, but it was quite a breezy ad and I thought it got the point across quite well. So, I don't know, I think it's a bit of a free hit for Wallach. So, yeah, on the face of it, I quite like the ad, but whether it'll move the needle and kind of massively increase brand recognition, I don't know about that. So, Rosie, you're sitting in a pub and someone starts talking about cross-border payments. Do you get up and leave? Or do you stay? That's happened with you and I before. I think you stayed. Yeah. Well, I think the only thing I would say on this is that maybe it goes back to what we were saying about making things to do with finances more accessible to people.
58:13This could be a way to do it. What do you think, Benjamin? If we're explaining fintech through football, what industry might be next? I think analogies can be really helpful. You know, if you want people to understand things, analogies can be a really good way of helping people understand it. I think, you know, cross, you know, footballers are a great example of a sort of globally mobile workforce and exactly the sort of people who've got complex cross-border financial challenges, just like Open Here does, because you live in one country and you work in another or, you know, you're brought up in one country and you live in another and you expect potentially to retire into a third country or whatever.
58:54So I think it's a really clever idea. What's next? I can't tell you because I'm not super creative, but I see our producers are proposing that KYC should be explained through Love Island. I know, just my mind is slightly boggling.
59:14All right. Well, I think we're sort of descending into territory of slightly silly. So why don't we wrap up? This has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you so much to the three of you for joining us. Where can people find out a little bit more about you and your company's open? Let's start with you. Where can people find out a little bit more about you and a little bit more about Spade? Yeah, our website's the best place, www.spade.com, S-P-A-D-E. so definitely check us out there. I'm on LinkedIn so that's usually where I'm, Oben McTavish. I think I'm the only Oben McTavish on LinkedIn because I think I have like the LinkedIn URLs just at like slash Oben so that's great.
59:56I'm there and then on X slash Oben McT so thank you so much for having me. This is great. You might be the only Oben McTavish in the world. It's not that common a name, right? That's the hope. John, where can people find out more about you and about tech.eu? Yeah, you can go to the tech.eu website. And I'm also on X. I'm just looking at my Twitter handle now, which is at John Eddie Reynolds. And I know you've got a vast FinTech audience. I'm always interested in hearing from people with FinTech stories. So just please contact me. Fantastic. And Rosie, where can people find out more about you? You can find me as Rosie Lee on LinkedIn.
1:00:35You can also find me here at 11FS. You can check out some of my recent articles as well as briefest podcasts on the 11FS website. And as for me, Benjamin and Soar, you can also find me on LinkedIn. So that wraps up today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to today's show. If you like what you heard, please do follow us on your favorite podcast platform of choice and do recommend us to your fintech colleagues. If you want to join the conversation, seek us out on social media, just search for 11FS or Fintech Insider or you can email us at podcasts at 11fs.com. So thank you again to my three panelists.
1:01:13Thank you again to all of you for listening and goodbye.
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From the publisher
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:
Rosie Lee - Senior Customer Strategist at 11:FS
John Reynolds - Fintech reporter at Tech.eu
Oban MacTavish - Co-Founder and CEO at Spade
Stories/timestamps:
Intro - (00:01)
UK introduces ‘targeted support’ rules to expand access to financial guidance (03:13)
FIS and Anthrophic signal a new era of AI infrastructure in banking (16:13)
Monzo to launch in Spain, as ramps up EU expansion plans (28:16)American Express Global Business Travel to be acquired in $6.3bn deal (39:42)Brazil bans prediction markets and blocks 27 platforms (50:28)Airwallex launches biggest ever ad campaign with Arsenal FC, directed by Spike Lee (52:39)
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About Fintech Insider:
Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a bi-weekly podcast that covers everything from finance and banking to technology and the latest trends in financial services.
Our expert hosts, with hands-on industry experience, are joined by key decision-makers, VCs, and top reporters from across the financial landscape, including guests from companies like Stripe, Revolut, Plaid, PayPal, and Monzo. Together, they break down the biggest news and innovations shaping the space.
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