296. After Dark: Digital Love

Can you feel the #digitallove?

We certainly could at the first After Dark of 2019.

Just one day before Valentine's Day over 200 of finances' finest entered the tower of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. Set high above the city of London at Level 39, it was standing room only for a show that sold out in six hours. Before we started the show with our first fin-couple, a rebearded David kicked off support for the 11:FS charity of 2019, Mind. Text GIVI88 to 70070 with your chosen amount to donate.

Our first pairing on stage were, Tom Davenport, Head of Strategic Partnerships at MarketInvoice and Ian Rand, CEO of Business Banking, Barclays. Ready and eager to go through their nascent relationship with 11:FS' very own Sarah Kocianski. The couple took us through just how deep their integration really is, who's giving and who's taking and the tensions they're concerned about for the future. We also have some great Hollywood-style couple names for the iconic pairing...could BarketInvoice be advertising in the near future?

Roving reporter Ross Gallagher, aka the Terry Wogan of fintech, was walking through the crowd after each couple to hear questions from the audience and bringing his trademark charm to the event.

The next fin-couple on the stage have been together for a little longer, they're past the honemoon phase and they're into the real work of a relationship. Josh Bottomley, Global Head of Digital at HSBC and Ed Maslaveckas, CEO of Bud get on stage and are joined by host Jason Bates. 18 months into the relationship and it's safe to say that they're deep into the realities of the relationship. It's not a simple client/vendor relationship like ones they may have had in the past. It's real. Our second couple explain what they got upto before the settled down, why they picked each other and how their relationship is working out so far.

What would digital love be without a bachelor on stage? Representing BBVA we have Derek White, the Global Head of Client Solutions flying solo all the way from Madrid. Derek does a great job sidestepping any awkwardness with his ex in the room and tells us all about the relationships the spanish bank's had with guiding so many fintechs and how happy he is to be back in London - in his opinion the fintech capital of the world. Derek tells us what happens when partnerships don't work out, if having a scattergun approach works and how all BBVA's partners get enough attention.

For our final couple we're bringing on a couple near and dear to our hearts. Rasmus Figenschou, Group Executive Vice President at DNB and Leda Glyptis, CEO of 11:FS Foundry. The pair take us through who DNB flirted with partnering before choosing 11:FS, how DNB had to evolve and change in order to secure a partnership with a fintech like 11:FS and how having a long-distance relationship (international) impacts, hurts, or helps the collaboration.

A huge thankyou to everyone who came out to the show and made it such a great event. We can't wait to see you at our next After Dark! Details on that will be coming out real soon so be sure to sign up to the 11:FS newsletter and follow us on social media.

We hope you enjoy the show and, as ever, don't forget to subscribe!

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This episode was produced by Laura Watkins. Edited by Alex Woodhouse.

Special Guests: Derek White, Ed Maslaveckas, Ian Rand, Josh Bottomley, Rasmus Figenschou, and Tom Davenport.