Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ny7vDFIVhko

In this episode Tony Clark sits down with Paul Caulfield for a deep dive into the troubling world of Financial Crime.

Paul is a practising attorney. He’s been a chief legal officer and a chief risk officer at major Financial Institutions, and he’s worked with pretty much all the market regulators in the sector, including the Department of Justice, the OCC, OFAC, and the Fed. Paul is also an adjunct professor at Fordham Law in New York.

This is a ‘must-listen’ for anyone in the Risk, Compliance or Legal space.

This conversation centres on Money Laundering and Cyber Crime as two key dimensions of the criminal activity challenge that the FS sector faces. In today’s market, illegal activity manifests in so many different ways and some surprising places. Paul shares some of his practical stories of the threats, regulations and remedies that firms must pay attention to.

Topics covered include:

Learn more:

Paul Caulfield: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcaulfieldny/

Tony Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/

NextWave: https://www.nxwave.com

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7NHLjXfhNqQ

In this episode of the London Fintech Podcast, Tony Clark is joined by Louis Glass, the head of CMS’ TMT-sector M&A group in the UK, Managing Partner of the firm’s Tel Aviv office, and a member of the management board.

Louis brings a wealth of experience as a corporate lawyer with specialist expertise in tech, internet, and e-commerce transactions. His career spans over two decades, including extensive cross-border work for multinationals, startups, and venture capital funds. Louis’ journey into the world of law and fintech is as unique as it is impressive.

Tech-obsessed from a young age, he was writing database software by the age of 15. Today, his work revolves around complex international transactions, particularly in the tech sector, where he represents clients across 45 countries.

This conversation explores the intersection of law, technology, and fintech, focusing on how legal frameworks can support innovation while ensuring compliance in the ever-changing regulatory environment.

Louis also opens up on his personal journey, mental wellness and the vital importance of team and company culture.

Louis offers key insights into navigating the legal challenges fintech companies face, from securing licenses to managing cross-border transactions, and balancing rapid growth with stringent regulatory standards.

Throughout the episode, Louis provides practical advice for fintech leaders, sharing how companies can leverage legal expertise to innovate while staying compliant. He also touches on the future of regulation in fintech and how businesses can anticipate and adapt to evolving legal landscapes.

Topics covered include:

Learn more:

Louis Glass: https://cms.law/en/gbr/people/louis-glass

CMS: https://cms.law/en/gbr/

Tony Clark: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/

NextWave: https://www.nxwave.com

Watch the video version on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/go9S3Ta0xtY

In this episode of the London Fintech podcast, Tony Clark talks to Sarah Levy.

Sarah has over 25 years of experience launching and growing new brands, however Sarah’s journey to FS is an unconventional one, having crossed over only 4 years ago from a super successful career with Disney, Nickelodeon and Viacom, to leading one of the fastest growing and most progressive digital wealth management firms in the US. 

There are approximately 60,000 wealth firms globally of all sizes offering propositions that span pure advisory, self-directed, robo-advisory and hybrid models in a market characterised by shifting demographics, consolidation and new asset classes.  So how do firms differentiate and get ahead?

This conversation explores Betterment’s use of technology for competitive advantage and delivering a purpose-led wealth solution to the “zillennial” generation of investors.

Sarah shares her unique insights on building targeted consumer brands for specific demographics and customer segments, the power of hyper-personalisation, and the misalignment between traditional firms and the digitally accelerating ecosystem. “If Schwab and Fidelity and Vanguard are my parents brands, Betterment will be the Zillennial wealth brand”.

Additionally, she provides some really practical insight for C Suite leaders and fintech entrepreneurs on building a growth company, transitioning to fintech, building customer loyalty, and creating a balanced corporate culture.

Learn more:

Sarah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-kirshbaum-levy-889881a1/

Betterment: https://www.betterment.com

Tony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/

NextWave: https://www.nxwave.com

Watch the video version on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/-thOpJvMmF8

Which bank was the first UK clearing bank in 250 years, grew income 91%, last year despite the fintech downturn, doubled its deposits and provides banking services to 250 companies, including 16 other banks?

In this episode of the London FinTech podcast, Tony Clark is joined by Charles McManus, Founding CEO of ClearBank.

Charles is an international banking professional with over 30 years in global investment banking, wealth management and retail. Before ClearBank, he was the group CFO of RBS Ulster Bank and spent 13 years at the Royal Bank of Canada, where he became CFO for Europe and Asia and Global Head of Product Control.

This conversation explores ClearBank’s pioneering role in embedded banking and its remarkable growth and success. Charles offers deep insights into the firm’s journey, its innovative solutions, and its leadership in the fintech sector.

Topics include the future of embedded banking, ClearBank’s successful navigation of regulatory challenges, and the expansion into Europe post-Brexit. Additionally, Charles shares his personal experiences, stress management strategies, and advice for fintech entrepreneurs.

Topics covered include:

Learn more:

Charles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-mcmanus-/

ClearBank: https://clear.bank

Tony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/

NextWave: https://www.nxwave.com

Watch the video version on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/j5HZhwSuVy4

In this episode of the London Fintech podcast, Tony Clark talks to Niall Cameron. They explore Niall’s journey from heading trading teams to leading digital transformation at HSBC and now building a unique Fintech community through FinTech Connex.

There are by some estimates over 26, 000 FinTechs globally. However, as this audience will know, the sector has been on a rollercoaster ride since 2020. Post COVID FinTech funding dropped dramatically in 23 and in investment terms, the first half of last year was down 57 percent year on year versus 2022. Q1 24 this year was the worst performing fintech quarter since the start of 2020.

However, it’s not all gloom and doom. There is optimism across the sector from both the investment community and the fintechs themselves, particularly for those firms who have a clear niche product, a rapid growth rate and effective partnerships. A lot of this is down to product focus and leveraging the fintech ecosystem, something that Niall is an expert in.

Niall shares his insights on achieving product-market fit, staying ahead of trends, and the importance of narrowing focus for deep expertise. Additionally, he provides practical advice for fintech entrepreneurs on making their products more buyable and actionable in a swiftly evolving industry landscape.

Niall, not just had a stellar career in trading, rising to the top of his business with several thousand traders reporting to him at one point, but he also made a successful move to digital leadership at one of the world’s largest banks and more recently. built a unique fintech community and network business across the sector.

Learn more:

Niall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niall-cameron-8a1aab6/

FintechConnex: https://fintechconnex.com

Tony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/

NextWave: https://www.nxwave.com

Watch the video version on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/j5HZhwSuVy4

In his inaugural episode of the London Fintech Podcast, host Tony Clark takes over from Mike Baliman and takes a deep dive into the world of AI powered forensic accounting.

Research shows that 1 in 10 US firms are cooking the books and that accounting manipulation is a $4.7Tn industry problem, in the US alone.  Transparently has built an AI platform that can detect and score accounting manipulation, often years ahead of corporate collapse!

Tony talks with Dr. Hamish Macalister, the founder and CEO of Transparently AI. They discuss the prevalence of accounting manipulation in global markets, the statistical mechanics behind Transparently’s AI system, the varied use cases spanning banking, asset management, auditing, and regulation, and touch upon the ethical commitment Transparently has towards transparency and accuracy.

Hamish shares his journey, the company’s rapid evolution, and exciting future prospects involving generative AI integration. The episode provides deep insights into the significance and mechanics of forensic AI in tackling financial fraud.

More info:

Transparently.ai:  https://www.transparently.ai

Hamish:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamish-macalister-phd-0b558bb/

Nextwave: https://www.nxwave.com

Tony:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-clark-07160b/

This is the 4th and final episode in the mini-series celebrating the LFP’s 10th anniversary. Having looked at the past decade in Fintech, dived into how an LLM really works and discussed what risks AI does or doesn’t pose to humanity in this episode we cover the macro picture right now as the setting for the outlook for FS and Fintech over the next decade as well as revealing the exciting plans for levelling-up the LFP to go even further and fresher into it’s next decade.

For sure it is the best of times in terms of technology, even if in terms of “western”/US empire societal and economic situation the worst of times as WEF/2030/Agenda 21 continue to bear down upon the people.

But however the macro cookie crumbles with regard to geopolitics for sure FS will be affected significantly either way. Insane money-printing and government debt accumulation in western countries cannot continue for much longer without risking social and economic collapse as we have discussed on the podcast before. On the other hand will we have CBDCs and the State programming your currency?

There are many scenarios but the geopolitical changes are already being ushered in with the BIS, the “central banks bank” already well advanced with its mBridge project, a Swift alternative.

In this episode I am delighted to be joined once more by Tony Clark former guest and London Head of former brand partner’s Synechron as well as founder of Next Wave a digital acceleration consultancy for FS who lives much nearer the coalface of change than I.

So check the show out for not just an overview of the dominant geopolitical influences on FS, to which Fintech is simply a subset, but the future and how we see technology changing FS and Fintech in the upcoming decade.

And then finally in the show we reveal the exciting plans for levelling-up the LFP and taking it into its second decade – where for sure the pace of change will not, whatever happens, slow down!

Share and enjoy!

In this episode we discuss the super-hot and super-important topic of what Risks AI poses to humanity and society. There is perhaps not a hotter and more misunderstood topic than that of AI and the risks it poses. Many indeed fear that “it” will eliminate humans. The influential Geoffrey Hinton, co-creator of the seminal backpropagation algorithm, has been all over the media saying we need to worry and that there is 50% chance that AI outsmarts humanity and poses an existential risk. Other insiders put that probability at 100%.

Should we too worry if the real insiders are sounding the alarm?

I think not.

But why are the insiders not the people to turn to?

If the insiders were say insiders at Boeing who were blowing the whistle about dangerous aircraft manufacture processes then yes we should be concerned. Mind you we might also be concerned that three in a row now, having found their whistles, suddenly died in mysterious circumstances.

However if, in simple terms, airplane manufacturing risks are very much in the box, the risks AI poses are very much out of the box that the experts are expert in.

Whilst one must listen to their technological concerns, neural net experts are not experts out of the box. And it requires an assessment from outside the box to consider the risks to society as a whole.

So lets dive into whether AI is about to decide that their users are useless eaters or will AI be more benign than WEF luminaries and not turn us into slaves but serve us?

Or is AI merely the latest in many tools, many changes of technology which fits into a long-established pattern of such over the millennia. Each new technology by definition affecting the world in unique new ways as well as same old patterns.

We will have five sections:

And much much more

LLMs, of which ChatGPT is the most well-known, are perhaps the most awesome tech invention of all time. Even experienced AI folk didn’t see this coming. Most if not all of us will have used ChatGPT. However understanding of how they work is for most people either totally missing or totally misled by anthropomorphic language – thinking, learning, hallucinating, learns like a human, is like your brain and so forth. None of which are actually true in the slightest.

In this super-special episode I reject all the utterly misleading language that is entirely off the mark and instead focus on what LLMs are schematically two programs that process data like all other programs using no different programming languages or technologies – well other than needing an astronomical computing power which so enriched Nvidia shareholders.

I explain using only a simple excel spreadsheet model how both of these programs ~the “training” program and the ~”Chatbot” program and how conceptually one could create one in Excel.

Having established that listeners will really know – in ways they can explain to others what LLMs are and not be misled by human terms which the currency of so many LLM descriptions.

LLMs appear to be a very recent and overnight success. However like the Beatles there was a long hard slog to get to say the Camp4 on Everest at which point they started to become noticed and from where it appeared to be a relatively short walk to the top of Everest and a mystery about how rapidly someone can get there.

But John Lennon and Paul McCartney were playing together in dive bars and village halls from 1957 until they summitted in 1963 with their first Number One.

The climbers on Everest may have gone all the way from London on the way to Everest.

And for ChatGPT phenomenally the journey started as far back as during World War 2 – an astonishing  81 years ago!

The road to ChatGPT was long and winding with all sorts of ups and downs including most of the specialist AI researchers deserting the field in the so-called “AI winter” from 1969 onwards.

It is a truly astonishing tale and, fascinatingly to the insanely hyped and utterly misleading human-related vocabulary surrounding LLMs, this dates back to a 1958 press conference (!) showcasing the US Navy’s Mark 1 Perceptron machine – a hardware-only machine which was created to aid the navy in image detection where as wikipedia says:

“In a 1958 press conference organized by the US Navy, Rosenblatt made statements about the perceptron that caused a heated controversy among the fledgling AI community; based on Rosenblatt’s statements, The New York Times reported the perceptron to be “the embryo of an electronic computer that [the Navy] expects will be able to walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself and be conscious of its existence.”

The blurry photo on the left is of the perceptron and unsurprisingly none of it and its successors never did walk, talk, see, write, reproduce itself and be conscious of its existence.

Indeed it took perhaps fifty years to develop robots that could walk or computer programs that could see, write and talk but over 70 years to ones that could take or write intelligently as ChatGPT et al do.

Even then ChatGPT and other LLMs are like all other programs – they simply take input, do some computations and create output using no different technology from any other computer program. Their awesome abilities rely not on any magic simply the awesome human skill of creating new ideas after new ideas until after 81 years these achieve a critical mass and produce results that no-one expected – even the experts.

This Special is Part 1 of 2. In Part 2 we will look at the risks of this new technology – all new technologies come with benefits and problems – nuclear technology can be used to keep us warm or to atom bomb people for instance.

However as the world of risks in LLMs and AI in general is dominated by insane sci-fi visions the field is entirely ungrounded. To get to that episode it is necessary to understand the nature of an LLM and how it works. Only then, alongside its abilities as a program, can you start to form an opinion as to what it’s consequences are.

Will LLMs, as their capabilities and powers grow, decide – like WEF luminaries that the people users are “useless eaters” and start releasing gain of functioned viruses, feed us bugs and bankrupt us with so-called green taxes to funnel ever more money upwards? Or will LLMs not turn into the WEF and instead remain as a powerful tool on your desktop no more threat to you or I than Excel? Or something in between?

Tune in to the next episode to find out but first find out what LLMs actually are and the amazing 81yr tale of their creation.

The past decade has seen the most extraordinary innovation in any business sector in the UK and thence world since the industrial revolution . An amazing outburst of creativity and independent players emerged on the oldest and stodgiest sector of all – FS. The LFP was the first, and most blue-chip podcast to cover this scene starting in 2014. This episode is like a mini-documentary that takes us one fast-forward through the development and progress of Fintech as it happened and was perceived at the time.

A decade of the LFP represents a unique historical archive, a super-rare window, a time-machine to be able to look back in time and see how things were perceived at the time. However such is the volume of episodes that if you took on, as a full-time job, listening to every episode in order it would take you well over a man-month of full-on 9-5 listening to go through the whole evolution. I thought more preferable would be a one hour review of this exciting decade of innovation and entrepreneurialism instead