Our biggest
stories of the past week are ...
Bank customers:
vulnerable victims or gullible gimps?
I must admit, having listened to Jeremy Roe regarding banks
mis-selling swaps contracts along with Which? and the leader of bank employee
union Unite talking about how general staff and customers feel about
mis-selling, I’m a little bit cynical. Have...
We had a fascinating insight into the issue of swaps
mis-selling from Jeremy Roe last night at the Financial Services Club. Jeremy
was a victim of the process and has been championing the cause ever since. He
now counts 1,200...
I recently got signed up by O2 Speakers as my speaker
agency. It's the same agency that manage
Brett King as well as others such as Chris Hughes, the co-founder of Facebook, and
Michael Douglas, the actor. Anyways,
they've kindly produced a nice little video of yours truly which I thought
worth sharing with all, as it's pretty good.
The UK's new bank
regulator: Andrew Bailey
For the second time recently, I got to hear the thoughts of
Andrew Bailey, CEO of the new Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Deputy
Governor for Prudential Regulation at the Bank of England. This time was at the
annual dinner...
At this year's International Payments Summit (IPS), there
were discussions of many areas including social media, mobile, cloud,
regulations and innovations. These have all been summarised in a wonderfully
short overview document available to paying attendees. However, given my
interest...
In the middle of my showreel, I talk about augmented
lifestyles. I’ve talked about this for many years, but now it is becoming an
augmented reality, especially with the launch of Google Glass. Google’s glasses
(I want!) allow you to...
The major general news stories of the past week include ...
City
culture saw bankers accept ‘holidays and prostitutes in return for lucrative
deals’ - The Independent
A culture that developed in the City of London under which bankers accepted
hospitality including strip club outings, holidays, prostitutes and even drugs
from brokers helped created conditions under which the Libor rate could be
fixed, it was claimed.
Insight:
Why did Cypriot banks keep buying Greek bonds? - Reuters
NICOSIA (Reuters) - One day last October, a memory stick containing special
software for deleting data was placed into a desktop computer at Bank of
Cyprus.
Monday
Interview: All-American shake-up comes to UK banking - The Telegraph
To be frank, and I think we can be with Vernon Hill, both Metro Bank and its boss
are what certain Brits would describe as “ghastly American”.
Metro
Bank losses pass £100m in just three years - The Telegraph
Metro Bank, the first new high street lender in Britain in more than a century,
has seen losses reach more than £100m nearly three years since its launch.
Rivals
charm RBS over Rainbow sale - Financial Times
A charm offensive is coming from two rival factions of City investors, each
vying to persuade RBS to sell them a portfolio of 315 branches
Lloyds's
£4bn gilty secret is out ... and over - The Telegraph
Everybody loves gilts at the moment and probably no one more than Lloyds chief
executive Antonio Horta-Osorio. Yet again, another set of the bank's results
have been given a welcome boost by the sale of a slug of UK government bonds.
Market
baffled by 700pc rise in Bankia shares - The Telegraph
Traders and analysts were left baffled on Tuesday after struggling Spanish
lender Bankia briefly became the most valuable bank in the eurozone as its
shares soared by more than 700pc.
Lloyds
offloading Spanish branches after Verde blow - The Independent
Project Verde may have collapsed last week but Lloyds Banking Group managed to
bring off a branches sale today with the disposal of its Spanish business.
Lloyds
sees profits rise to £2bn - BBC
Lloyds Banking Group has reported a big rise in profits for the first three
months of the year, making a total of more than £2bn.
Irish
bank regulator set to join Lloyds - Financial Times
Ireland’s chief banking regulator is set to join Lloyds Banking Group as the
new head of compliance at Britain’s biggest lender.
If you like the Finanser, check out the books of the blog: the Complete Banker Series
The Financial Services Club is sponsored by:
For details of sponsorship email us.
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...
