Innovation in financial services continues to underwhelm — So Hendo finally released a real life hoverboard. Yes you can now buy a genuine, Marty McFly style hoverboard and watch your kids claim unlimited cool points with their friends. Last month, Lockheed-Martin announced it had made a breakthrough discovery which will allow it to produce a nuclear fusion reactor…

Unpacking the potential of the blockchain — So the markets are finally telling us what we already knew. Bitcoin isn’t a commodity and it probably isn’t a viable store of value (a consumer currency) either. The price of bitcoins has fallen nearly 60% in value in 2014 with a fall of over 10% in the first week…

Fintech love — Innovation in the fintech sector has real potential to upset the status quo in the world’s financial markets. This has prompted a range of responses from the World’s major banks and financial institutions, ranging from real attempts at engaging with innovations and opportunities through to marketing-only affairs. …

It’s time to cut the cord between “innovation” and “failure” — One of the biggest challenges with embarking on any innovation initiative in a large financial services organisation is the inherent risk of failure. Our relationship with the word “failure” is both institutionally and emotionally charged; the term is embedded into the wordstock of financial services inside concepts such as “banking…

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” — Judging by the comments sections on news websites following wave after wave of scandals that have come to light since the GFC (synthetic CDO/MBS fraud, Libor rigging, FX rate fixing, tax evasion, sanctions breaches) not to mention vulture hedge funds buying up distressed debt, the quote “the first thing we…

Lungbusting hill climbs… — Here at ignitr we make no secret of our love of cycling and support a range of events in and around London. Our latest initiative saw us sponsoring the Bec Hill Climb. Hill climbs hold a special place in Britain’s cycling calendar, typically occurring at the tail end of the…

#nocaterers — This week we hosted a launch party in our new office at Level 42, One Canada Square. Ignitr has become infamous for creating participatory, community-driven conversations in the fintech world and moving in to a new location in Canary Wharf seemed like a great opportunity to do more. …

Software programming is at the heart of fintech. — When we think of fintech we think of the awakening of the financial services to the threat of startups since 2012. We might consider trending topics such as niche disruption, disintermediation, perhaps even hot topics such as wearables and blockchain. …

Specifications kill quality — Ignitr just moved in to a new office. As a young fintech startup the process of engaging with one of the biggest property freeholders in the UK was somewhat daunting. …