FINTECH UNPLUGGED

Robert and Suresh play host to podcast royalty as David Brear, CEO and co-founder, 11FS, joins them to discuss topics ranging from the origins of the business, his father’s career advice, when the challenger banks might start making any money and how to run a proper podcast.

Scott Abrahams, Group Head Acceptance and Emerging Payments, Mastercard, joins Robert and Suresh to discuss topic including how to spot a bad fintech idea, Facebook’s Libra, the environmental impact of cards, payments in China and advice for entrepreneurs looking to sell their businesses to a major payment scheme for a few billion.

Robert and Suresh are discussing the film Social Network and the history behind the Winklevoss twins. The boys decide to give Julian Sawyer a call to invite him onto Fintech Unplugged. Julian discusses why his new role with Gemini, the crypto venture back by the Winklevoss twins, makes sense after Starling Bank. Julian reveals whether he has ever purchased anything with crypto currency, discusses stable coin and whether wall street has been ‘asleep at the wheel’ when it comes to crypto currency. We also find out why asking closed questions doesn’t make for good podcast conversation.

Robert and Suresh are off to the North West of England to catch a Stone Roses show. However, on their way they end up coming across an even bigger queue. They find out that the queue is made of 100s of students trying to get an appointment to open a bank account. The boys run into Muhammad Asim from Arro Money where he explains more about the situation. Topics covered: - How Asim started Arro Money and the lessons he's learnt - The Fintech industry we are in today - The struggles of opening up a bank account - An exclusive announcement on Fintech Unplugged from Arro Money

Please note: This episode was recorded prior to the announcement by N26 that it intends exit the UK market. In this special episode, Robert and Suresh are LIVE at Fintech Connect 2019 and managed to trick Georgina Smallwood, Chief Product Officer at N26, to talk about payments, the orgins of the N26 name and what the future holds to a jam packed audience. Topics covered: - Dispelling the N26 naming myths - What the future holds for N26 - How and why trust is important for the banking industry, especially for challenger banks - Product vs Marketing - And much more

As Suresh educates Robert about cloud infrastructures and data centres, they happen to run into Neira Jones, Payments Advisor and International Speaker. The boys take the opportunity to talk to Neira about data breaches, cyber security and regulation. Topics covered: - Her career as one of the early female professionals in the payments and cyber security industry - Data breaches and cyber security in the media - Where regulation and compliance is heading - What is dirty data and the opportunties it holds - Cloud storage, fraud prevention and much more

After a chat about tech companies surviving and dying, Robert and Suresh look towards the future and stumble into the Telefonica accelerator, Wayra. The boys run into Daniel Lesnick, a mentor in residence for Blockchain and AI at Wayra and corner him for a closer look at Blockchain. Topics Covered: - Blockchain and it's applications - Buying Bitcoin in 2014 and the Bitcoin community - The implications of Libra it's real end goal - Bad comedy and much more

Robert and Suresh are back for Series 8 of Fintech Unplugged. We're are kicking off 2020 with a special 'new year’s regulation' episode with Nilixa Devlukia from Payments Solved. After bumping into Nilixa at a New Year’s Eve party at one of Robert's usual stomping ground, the boys take the opportunity to question the mind of one of the most knowledgeable fintech and payments regulation experts in the industry! Topics Covered: - Nilixa's background and what she learnt on her regulation journey - A discussion on Facebook's Libra project from a regulatory point of view - Comparing the UK to other foreign regulatory boards - Taking a closer look into the FCA - And much more

Dive into these hilarious bloopers from season 7 featuring our guests over the past 6 episodes!

Robert and Suresh are off to LendIt and bump into the experienced Ali Paterson from Fintech Finance. The boys take a behind the scenes look at Fintech Finance, the lowdown in the payments space and take on questions from the BIN of Confusion all live at LendIt. Topics covered: - The rise of Curve - Glint heading into administration (now exiting) - How to make Fintech Exciting - How can Fintech make a greener impact on the world

As they try to find a hospital for Robert's burnt hand, the boys stumble into Mansion House and manage to navigate through the moving boxes and grab the Lord Mayor of London, Peter Estlin, for a special episode of Fintech Unplugged. Robert, Suresh and Peter talk about the digital skills gap, entrepreneurship, the internet of things, innovation and much more! Topics covered: - The Lord Mayor's role clarified - The digital skills gap and what we can do to help - Brexit and how the UK can continue to be a Fintech leader - Where the city stands on the idea of a cashless society

Robert and Suresh find themselves at a local school and end up bumping into one of the teachers (and former MasterChef contestant), Ketan Makwana, from Enterprise Lab. They then take the opportunity to discuss a range of important FinTech and UK issues surrounding education, the current state of FinTech talent, women in FinTech and much more! Topics covered: - How to encourage the next cohort of FinTech and tech entrepreneurs - What should the FinTech sector do to help develop talent into the industry - Character types: Introverts and Extroverts - Why we need to support UK micro-businesses - Diversity and inclusion in tech industries

Description: The travelling continues for Robert and Suresh as they take to the Australian jungle where they meet Daria Rippingale from Bankingblocks. Topics covered: - The current neo-banks and their (or lack of) revenue model - Women in Fintech - The differences between EU and other fintech markets - EU regulation - And much more!

Robert and Suresh are off on a trip to South Asia and after a mix up with the seating, the boys bump into Chris Davison and Salim Dhanani from BigPay who were just leaving after visiting Money20/20.

As we build up to the launch of Series 7, we take a look back at some of the questions and answers we've uncovered from the Man On The Street over the past few seasons. From finding about what the public thinks about blockchain to asking if prepaid cards have any negative connotations, we've put together the best questions and answers for your enjoyment!

Dive into these hilarious bloopers from season 6 featuring our guests over the past 6 episodes!

Wine tasting and fintech discussions are combined together for a live podcast at Fintech Connect. Robert and Suresh are joined by Soren Mortensen from IBM for a special blockchain focused episode covering: - The uses of blockchain and the ecosystems you can build - The public's opinion on blockchain - Will quantum computing kill blockchain? - Libra updates

Craving Peking duck and pancakes, Robert and Suresh are out in Chinatown for some food when they 'accidentally' stumble into Susanne Chishti from FINTECH Circle. The new party head off to a nearby restaurant to discuss everything Fintech from: - The orgins of the term Fintech - Where the next stage of Fintech innovation will take place? - Why London has been so successful in 'raising' Fintech unicorns and start ups - The rising talent gap

After a night out in Amsterdam, Robert and Suresh rush off to Money20/20 stage where they recorded a live recording of Fintech Unplugged with special guests Mark Barnett from Mastercard and Nick Ogden from ClearBank. In front of a packed audience, Mark and Nick talk about upcoming regulations including SCA and open banking, the dreaded 'B' word, voice authentication methods and much more!

Description: Robert and Suresh are back again after managing to wrangle their way into the Mastercard office and grab Edoardo Volta, who now leads the Fintech and EMI Division, for a chat. Edoardo talks about the new set up at Mastercard, the hottest innovation regions in Europe, what Mastercard have planned for blockchain and much more.

Emily Baum joins Robert and Suresh for episode 2 of Fintech Unplugged! Our hosts happened to catch Emily performing at a comedy gig and scored a backstage chat about the importance of UX/UI, what advice she has for the legacy banks and much more.

Series 6 kicks off with an an exciting and special episode as Conservative MEP Syed Kamall joins Robert and Suresh for Episode 1 of Fintech Unplugged, Series 6. Syed covers a range of topics from the fintech political landscape, to the implications of Brexit, life as a politician and much more! You don't want to miss out on this one.

Dive into these hilarious bloopers from season 5 featuring our guests over the past 8 episodes!

Paul Swinton from PIF joins Robert and Suresh for episode 8 of Fintech Unplugged, Series 5. Paul talks about why he got involved with prepaid regulation and what processes are involved, how prepaid cards are perceived and much more!

Fintech Unplugged's latest live episode comes from EPA PAY360 Conference on 17th March. Robert and Suresh take on the 'Bin of Confusion' with Julian Sawyer, Head of Banking Services and COO, Starling Bank. Robert, Suresh and Julian dive deeper into Starling Bank's business model, how Julian defines Fintech and opens the questioning to the live audience.

Darren Deal from MasterCard joins Robert and Suresh for episode 6 of Fintech Unplugged, Series 5. Darren talks about what life was like when prepaid cards were introduced, if we will ever see a cashless society and much more.

Diane Brocklebank from PIF joins Robert and Suresh for episode 5 of Fintech Unplugged, Series 5. Diane talks about how the media can affect the perception of prepaid cards, what PIF do to safeguard the prepaid universe and introduces the new PIF chairman.

Thish De Zoya from Their Perfect Gift joins Robert and Suresh for episode 4 of Fintech Unplugged, Series 5. Thish talks about the business models of fintechs, payments and find out why he describes the prepaid industry as Narnia!

Kriya Patel from Transact Payments joins Robert and Suresh in this next episode of Fintech Unplugged. Find out what Kriya believes Brexit will mean to payments, what are his views on crypto and most importantly, the Bin of Confusion asks what would we find on Kriya's typical BBQ?!

David Parker from Polymath Consultancy joins Robert and Suresh for the 2nd episode of Fintech Unplugged, Series 5. Find out what David's views are on cryptocurrencies and if we should regulate them, what he sees as the latest innovations in crypto and have the card schemes changed their views on this type of currency? The Bin of Confusion asks what is the difference between a challenger bank and a bank challenger? Where does David see the push of biometrics going in payments? What is the longest sentence he say with the most number of acronyms? And, are legacy banks dragging their feet with open banking?

KBW’s Sanjay Sakhrani joins Robert and Suresh in a special investor episode of Fintech Unplugged to kick off Series 5! Sanjay is a Senior Fintech Analyst from investment bank KBW, that specialises and focuses on financial services and fintech. What are investors really looking for in companies? How has the investor landscape changed? What are the best buzzwords to use in a pitch? If you want to find out more about anything in this episode please get in touch via our LinkedIn account. Happy New Year!

The bloopers from season 4!

Get into the festive spirit with this very special Fintech Unplugged Panto! Blue Train Marketing presents classic crowd-pleasing panto antics loving mixed with a large helping of fintech jokes to bring good cheer to all men (or it could be a woman). A wicked duo with a murky past plan to take revenge on the world of fintech. They capture former number one in the Payments Power 10, Suresh Vaghjiani, and hatch a plan to claw back choice, value and payment convenience from innocent consumers. Can Robert Courtneidge and a host of supporting fintech stars save the day?

In the 7th episode of Fintech Unplugged, Robert and Suresh are joined by Bill Gajda from the global payments technology company, Visa. Discussing the latest innovations in Fintech, secure payments and customer authentication in seamless transactions. The Bin of Confusion questions Bill on the Visa outage back in June 2018, their plans for Visa’s Fintech division and will there be a Visa crypto card?

In this episode of Fintech Unplugged, guest speaker Steve Wilks from For Good Causes explains a new and rewarding way to give to charities. The BIN of Confusion asks how For Good Causes can help build the public's trust back up with charities and The Man on the Street discusses loyalty cards and would consumers consider donating their points to charity.

In this Crypto meltdown special, Robert and Suresh are joined by two special guests to discuss cryptocurrencies and the recent headlines surrounding Bitcoin. The two guests, Vicken Kaprelian, CEO of HEdpAY and Laura Inamedinova from LKI Consulting, offer different perspectives on the world of crypto. Questions from the famous Bin of Confusion include – is there a strong crypto product? What is an ICO? And, what is new in the area of security tokens?

In this episode of Fintech Unplugged, Robert is joined by Peter Oakes LIVE from the 5th Nextgen Payments and Regtech Leaders Forum in Brussels. The two hosts are faced with some tuff questions from the Bin of Confusion – is there a need for an innovations helpdesk? What are the negative consequences of AI environment? Will Brexit have an effect on unicorn start-ups? And, if a BLT is a sandwich, how does this effect other 3 letter acronyms in Regtech? This episode was recorded live and we apologise that the sound quality was not up to the usual standard.

Fintech Unplugged's first LIVE episode for Series 4 comes from PayExpo 2018, where Robert and Suresh are joined by David Birch. In this episode, David takes on the Bin of Confusion. Answering questions that many in the Fintech world have been wanting to ask – are crypto currencies just a fad? What will Brexit mean for Fintech in the UK? And, what is your wish list for PSD3?

In this episode, while Robert and Suresh are enjoying their delicious BBQ, we hear from Fintech Unplugged’s budding reporter, Jeff, who is interviewing Shaun Lordan from Volt Bank – Australia’s first challenger bank. They discuss how the UK market compares to the Australian, what Volt Bank can learn from UK challenger banks and how they are going to position themselves in the Australian consumer market.

Welcome to Fintech Unplugged’s fourth series. In the first episode Robert and Suresh talk with Paul Riseborough from Metro Bank to find out how they differentiate themselves from the traditional banks. Questions from the “Bin of Confusion” include: who is a Metro Bank customer? What innovations are down the line for Metro Bank? And, how can Metro Bank meet the expenses of their branches and remain profitable. We also hear from the “Man on the Street” about what they remember about their last bank branch experience and what might make them switch.

FU Series 3 Bloopers – the best bits by FintechUnplugged

Fintech Unplugged's final LIVE podcast comes from the 4th Next Gen Payments Forum 2018. This is a premium gathering for senior executives involved in financial transactions and payments operations. Suresh took a well-deserved break from Robert in this episode and is joined by Fintech expert Peter Oakes.

Fintech Unplugged's fourth live episode comes from xCEEd Fintech Conference, where the first ever conference crypto currency Xceedium was launched. Robert and Suresh take on the 'Bin of Confusion' with Nick Middleton, Strategic Payments Director, Virgin Money and Pavle Ljuijic, Founder of xCEEd. The "Man on the Street' tackles the confusing term 'GAFA' with Belgrade's conference delegates.

Welcome to the pilot episode of Fintech Unplugged, ,where Robert and Suresh take on hot topics of the day from the rise of crypto and the emergence of Amazon Pay to the challenges prepaid cards face and much more. The boys also introduce the idea of guests and finding out the public's opinion in certain topics through the 'Man on the street' on future episodes.

Now in its fourth year, the PIF Innovation Day brings together industry leaders, innovators and influencers to explore the convergence of prepaid and FinTech, from the solutions, trends and technology driving innovation in payments to the opportunities and the future for the high-growth prepaid sector.

Fintech Unplugged's second LIVE episode from the EPA: Robert and Suresh answer some of their own burning questions: Why is cash on the increase? Their weirdest payment experience? Do people really understand GDPR? Are card schemes still relevant? And, the reason why the Amazon store is not so environmentally friendly.

Fintech Unplugged's first LIVE episode comes from Vendorcom. Fintech heavyweights Robert and Suresh answer questions from the "Bin of Confusion" including: Where is it best in the EU to apply for a licence post brexit?, What is next after NFR for prepaid cards? How will Crypto currencies affect Fintechs, Did you buy Bitcoin? and What is an ICO? We ask the "Man on the Street" about Bitcoin and his view: "...it's a bit like the year, it's here but you can't see it!"

FU Series 1 Bloopers – the best bits by FintechUnplugged

*This podcast was recorded live in a nightclub so the audio quality is reduced.

In this episode guest speaker Paul Love Twelves explains what the Open Payments Cloud is, how it works and how this will help Fintech entrepreneurs "test and learn" in a low risk environment before launching.

As the deadline for GDPR approaches, guest speaker Michael Moore from Wirex explains and demystifys GDPR to Robert and Suresh once they get permission to introduce him. Can distributed ledger technology actually help or hinder GDPR? What does the "Man on the Street" know about it and what action do they need to take?