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CASS compliance: why you can't afford to get it wrong

With CASS 15 bringing new rules for payments and e-money firms, and enforcement ramping up across CASS-regulated businesses, getting this right has become critical.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  29 Jul 2025
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu29 Jul 2025

Q2 2025 product round up

Here are some major updates to our products in Q2. There was a focus on improving security features and launching our MCP server.
Mo Backer  ·  10 Jul 2025
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Mo Backer10 Jul 2025

The Agentic Bank - Announcing Griffin's MCP Server

While other banks aren't built for AI interaction, we are. Our MCP server lets agents open accounts, make payments, and analyse transactions‍—‌all while maintaining proper safeguards.
David Jarvis  ·  29 May 2025
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David Jarvis29 May 2025

Making a good logo even better

Mankind’s greatest achievements; landing on the moon, the discovery of fire...and designing the new Griffin logo.
David Jarvis, Eliot Sleep  ·  27 May 2025
Portrait of David Jarvis
Portrait of Eliot Sleep
David Jarvis, Eliot Sleep27 May 2025

Q1 2025 product round up

Here are some important product updates we made in Q1. There was a focus on improving onboarding and introducing a new all-purpose account type‍—‌embedded bank accounts.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  16 Apr 2025
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu16 Apr 2025

CASS 15: Upcoming changes to safeguarding rules for payment firms

The FCA is strengthening safeguarding requirements for payment firms through new rules that enhance customer protection, increase accountability, and align with established client money regulations.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  13 Mar 2025
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu13 Mar 2025

All estimates are bad, some are useful

Accurate software estimates are impossible. Focus on what you know now, make fewer commitments, prioritise quality and get the minimum lovable product into the customer’s hands sooner rather than later.
Allen Rohner  ·  7 Feb 2025
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Allen Rohner7 Feb 2025

Q4 2024 product round up

Here’s a look at some of our most important updates in the last quarter of 2024. We were focused heavily on maintaining our strict approach to safety and security. Plus, you'll find some insights into what we’re sticking our hands in this year! 👀
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  15 Jan 2025
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu15 Jan 2025

The business case for payroll savings

In a period of rising living costs in the UK, payroll savings offers not just a savings tool, but a pathway to financial security and wellbeing.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  25 Nov 2024
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu25 Nov 2024
five pounds notes
five pounds notes

A guide to UK Faster Payments

Whether you're sending one-off payments or managing regular transfers, you can build efficient, automated processes around Faster Payments using our API.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  15 Nov 2024
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu15 Nov 2024

How API-first banking helps B2B lenders automate their processes and scale

When lenders have better banking, businesses get better funding. The future of lending isn't just about making things more efficient for lenders‍—‌it's about making funding more accessible and useful for the businesses that need it.
Phoebe Wallis   ·  12 Nov 2024
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Phoebe Wallis 12 Nov 2024

Embedding a savings account product

Should you offer savings accounts? Here's a quick look at some use cases for embedded savings accounts.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  22 Oct 2024
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu22 Oct 2024

Q3 2024 product roundup

Introducing our new quarterly product roundups! These updates will take you through our most impactful deliverables for the past quarter and give you a little insight into what's coming next.
Ariane Gaetani  ·  21 Oct 2024
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Ariane Gaetani21 Oct 2024

What we learned from the Gathering 2024

Come behind the scenes with People Experience Designer, Annie McCullagh and see what we learned from organising our annual offsite, the Gathering.
Annie McCullagh  ·  15 Oct 2024
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Annie McCullagh15 Oct 2024

How we built interest

Explore the concept of interest, the technicalities in building accurate interest calculation on our banking platform, and how cross-functional collaboration is important for successful product builds.
Jorge Zaccaro  ·  13 Sept 2024
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Jorge Zaccaro13 Sept 2024

How we support mental wellbeing at Griffin

Head of Talent and People product, Joe Campbell shares insights on how we're building mental wellbeing into our culture
Joe Campbell  ·  21 Aug 2024
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Joe Campbell21 Aug 2024

Fintales with Griffin: Unlocking better value propositions

In the second edition of Fintales, we got together to discuss the innovation dilemma. How can banks and fintechs work together to solve problems and deliver value for customers?
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  19 Apr 2024
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu19 Apr 2024

What is Simplified Due Diligence?

MLRO Alex Nash explains Simplified Due Diligence and shares some scenarios where it may be applied.
Alex Nash  ·  9 Feb 2024
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Alex Nash9 Feb 2024

On Culture: Solving problems at a systemic level

Treating problems as isolated events increases the chance of their recurrence. It's far better to assume all problems are systemic and respond accordingly
David Jarvis  ·  2 Nov 2023
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David Jarvis2 Nov 2023

Unpacking Consumer Duty for fintech firms

How can financial services firms embed the new Consumer Duty across their business to ensure that customers receive good outcomes?
Jeremy Barber  ·  1 Nov 2023
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Jeremy Barber1 Nov 2023

Solving proptech problems with better banking

Regulators are ramping up enforcement of client money rules in the property sector‍—‌what does this mean for letting agents and proptech companies?
Shanzé Ijaz Munir  ·  19 Oct 2023
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Shanzé Ijaz Munir19 Oct 2023

ID&V: what every B2C fintech should know

A robust ID&V process is essential for complying with regulatory standards, guarding against financial crime, and enhancing customers' trust in your product.
Kathryn Sharpe  ·  21 Aug 2023
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Kathryn Sharpe21 Aug 2023

An introduction to client money accounts

Looking after money on behalf of customers is a high-trust activity with potential to deliver enormous value‍—‌but only if the right guardrails are in place.
Howard Rees  ·  11 Aug 2023
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Howard Rees11 Aug 2023

Culture interviews: setting your team up for success

At Griffin, we are very big on deliberately designing the culture we want. We also want everyone who joins our team to feel empowered to succeed from day one!
David Jarvis  ·  31 Jul 2023
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David Jarvis31 Jul 2023

Which UK payment rails are right for you?

Product manager Howard Rees goes deep on the history of payments technology and lays out the pros and cons of Bacs, CHAPS, Faster Payments, and more.
Howard Rees  ·  12 Jul 2023
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Howard Rees12 Jul 2023

How to democratise decision making at work

In a world of accelerating change, making accurate and effective decisions is critical to building successful products.
James Trunk  ·  20 Jun 2023
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James Trunk20 Jun 2023

Tipping off explained

MLRO Alex Nash explains what "tipping off" means, and shares some tips on how to avoid it while still providing a great customer experience.
Alex Nash  ·  24 May 2023
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Alex Nash24 May 2023

It’s official: Griffin is a bank!

London-based Banking as a Service (BaaS) provider has received authorisation with restrictions from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
Laura Hauser  ·  7 Mar 2023
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Laura Hauser7 Mar 2023

Why proper planning is the key to running effective meetings

Meeting culture like all aspects of a company's culture should be carefully created and reinforced for effectiveness. Our VP Engineering, James shares gems on how we reframe meetings to ensure maximum return on the time invested.
James Trunk  ·  24 Feb 2023
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James Trunk24 Feb 2023

What fintechs need to know about CDD

Understanding customer due diligence (CDD) is crucial for effectively managing risk and compliance in your business.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  30 Jan 2023
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu30 Jan 2023

Understanding safeguarding accounts for fintechs

We break down safeguarding requirements for regulated fintechs and give some pointers on what to look out for when choosing a banking partner.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu, Marianne Cassidy  ·  24 Jan 2023
Portrait of Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu
Portrait of Marianne Cassidy
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu, Marianne Cassidy24 Jan 2023

The KYB compliance checks no fintech can afford to miss

Scaling quickly shouldn't come at the expense of strong controls‍—‌we break down the common checks all B2B fintechs need in their onboarding process.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  16 Jan 2023
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu16 Jan 2023

Build, test and iterate with the sandbox

Build your next financial product in our sandbox, with free unlimited access to all our banking and compliance functionality.
Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu  ·  22 Nov 2022
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Nkechinyere Ogueri-Onyeukwu22 Nov 2022

Life as a backend engineer at Griffin

Choosing a company to dedicate some of your life to can be really hard‍—‌backend engineer Alistair Bull explains why he chose Griffin.
Alistair Bull  ·  7 Nov 2022
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Alistair Bull7 Nov 2022

Shaping up to build a bank

VP Engineering James Trunk on how our product process helps us solve the right problems and communicate better as a team.
James Trunk  ·  18 Aug 2022
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James Trunk18 Aug 2022

Adam Moulson steps in as interim CEO at Griffin

Chief Commercial Officer Adam Moulson will act as interim CEO while current CEO and co-founder David Jarvis is on parental leave.
Laura Hauser  ·  20 Jun 2022
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Laura Hauser20 Jun 2022

Insights from Griffin on International Women’s Day 2022

International Women's Day is a global celebration‍—‌and an opportunity to examine what else we can do to create truly inclusive and supportive cultures at work.
Marianne Cassidy  ·  8 Mar 2022
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Marianne Cassidy8 Mar 2022

Culture is too important to leave to chance

Culture must be taken as seriously as strategy. It is equally tangible, equally impactful, and needs to be deliberately designed and cultivated.
Maria Campbell  ·  16 Sept 2021
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Maria Campbell16 Sept 2021

An OS for embedded finance

The seamless experience of embedded finance is only possible with an equally seamless offering powering the back-end.
David Jarvis  ·  12 Jul 2021
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David Jarvis12 Jul 2021

Is it worth it?

How long can you spend trying to make a routine task more efficient before you hit a point of diminishing returns?
Allen Rohner  ·  17 Feb 2021
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Allen Rohner17 Feb 2021

Griffin appoints Amy Kirk to its Board

Griffin announces the appointment of Amy Kirk to its Board as Senior Independent Director (SID), effective from 3rd November 2020.
David Jarvis  ·  16 Dec 2020
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David Jarvis16 Dec 2020

How we write

Good writing is probably the single most undervalued talent a startup can have.
David Jarvis  ·  5 Jun 2020
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David Jarvis5 Jun 2020

Designing a bank: part one

How a design system can help build the foundation of an efficient product design process.
Dan Duncan  ·  23 Apr 2020
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Dan Duncan23 Apr 2020

A framework for making decisions

Rather than relying on an implicit framework and hoping things work out, we have an explicit framework for making decisions.
David Jarvis  ·  17 Apr 2020
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David Jarvis17 Apr 2020

Building an immutable bank

How to design and architect an immutable, event-driven bank‍—‌and what that means.
David Jarvis  ·  23 Oct 2019
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David Jarvis23 Oct 2019

A platform banking manifesto

For fintechs, being able to move lots of money around every day is a basic operational requirement‍—‌so why do so many legacy banks still make it so difficult?
David Jarvis  ·  17 Jul 2017
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David Jarvis17 Jul 2017

Welcome to the Griffin Blog!

Stay up to date on our experience getting through the regulatory process, our technology, and observations about the banking industry at large.
David Jarvis  ·  3 Nov 2016
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David Jarvis3 Nov 2016

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