Our biggest stories of the week are ...
In the 1970s, the UK's Midland Bank introduced a new competitive service – free banking. It wasn’t free of course, but it appeared that way. The idea being that if you stayed in credit, they wouldn’t’ charge you anything. It...
Lázaro Campos to step down; Gottfreid Leibbrandt new CEO of SWIFT
It appears that every time a CEO of SWIFT speaks at the Financial Services Club, they leave SWIFT! Lenny Schrank, the then CEO, spoke at the Club in 2006 and left a few months later; then Lazaro Campos spoke at...
Social media platforms are not the same as social media
Everyone’s now talking about mobile payments and mobile banking. I was talking about that effectively as a core strategic area back in 2004. So it took about five years to become the mainstream bank conversation. Now, I talk about social...
Did demutualisation fuel the UK crisis?
I was recently asked to make a comment on the UK Building Societies sector. Like American credit unions, most building societies exist in the interests of their members as mutual organisations. They balance customer interests with their portfolio of business,...
Case Study: Barclays Pingit for Consumers and Corporates
There’s a strong dialogue about why new services such as PayPal and Square take off so fast, and the answer is a combination of usability and accessibility. If something is easy and it works, then it can gain critical mass...
Things worth reading: the European View (7)
This week's view from Europe, courtesy of Edith Rigler:
- Moving to e-procurement can deliver huge savings – European Commission, 20 April 2012
- Credit squeeze in Eastern European – Handelsblatt, 21 May 2012
- “Geuro” as parallel currency for Greece – Handelsblatt, 22 May 2012
- “Lost generation” flees to Germany – Handelsblatt , 21 May 2012
- How Jo Ackermann halved Deutsche Bank – Handelsblatt, 21 May 2012
- German corporates remain optimistic – Handelsblatt, 21 May 2012
The major general news stories of the week include ...
HSBC postpones plans to leave UK 'indefinitely' - The Telegraph
Stuart Gulliver, HSBC's chief executive, has said the bank had decided to drop "indefinitely" plans to look at moving its headquarters from London to Hong Kong.
HSBC's Greek branches ready for drachma - The Independent
HSBC has set out contingency plans for all its 15 Greek branches to cope with a return of the drachma.
HSBC machines hit by IT failure - BBC
UK customers of HSBC report problems using cash machines, making card payments and online transactions, but the bank says the problem is fixed.
NBNK 'in Catch-22' over Lloyds sell-off - The Telegraph
NBNK is struggling to convince Lloyds Banking Group it has the requisite financial firepower to buy the 632 branches the high street bank is trying to sell.
Double trouble at JP Morgan: trader's losses could exceed $7bn - The Independent
The crisis at JP Morgan escalated yesterday as it emerged its trading losses in London could rise to as much as $7bn (£4.5bn) and the US bank cancelled a share buyback. Fears were growing that the losses could spiral from an initial $2bn, which was declared on 10 May, as
Zuckerberg loses friends on Wall Street as regulators probe $19bn slump - The Independent
Facebook's $104bn stock market flotation descended into anger and recrimination last night, as shares in the social network slumped further in value and regulators investigated whether important information was kept hidden from some investors.
UK warned of credit downgrade - The Independent
The UK will lose its prized triple-A credit rating next year as a result of the recession and the euro crisis, according to one of the City's most respected bond fund managers.
Eurozone nations have been advised to draw up emergency plans to handle Greece's possible exit from the single currency, it emerged last night.
IIF: Spain's bank losses could hit €260bn - The Telegraph
Spanish bank loan losses could hit €260bn (£210bn), with the industry likely to need some €60bn euros in outside help to stay afloat, the International Institute of Finance said Monday.
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Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
