Grid

The future of banking is being fought over by artificial intelligence, human intelligence and, occasionally, a complete lack of either. Two headlines caught my eye yesterday, and they made me laugh. Not because they were particularly funny, but because they captured the glorious absurdity of where banking is heading. The first, from FinTech Global, asked…

This is quite a long blog: TLDR? The headline is the that language is what creates the concentration of power and Britain has done a good job there, as has France in the past. The question is whether AI will destroy all of this? From Viking invaders and French aristocrats to American technology and artificial…

This week’s main blog discussions include … Who Owns the Future? “The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart.” — Metropolis, 1927 I have been affected by the film Metropolis for as long as I can remember. Made in 1927 by Fritz Lang, it is almost a century old and yet,…

“The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart.” — Metropolis, 1927 I have been affected by the film Metropolis for as long as I can remember. Made in 1927 by Fritz Lang, it is almost a century old and yet, whenever I watch it, I wonder whether we have learned anything…

I recently delivered a keynote at Visa Next in Poland exploring the future of money, payments and banking. From the technological revolutions that created today’s financial system to the arrival of AI-native banking, the industry faces a fundamental question: are we using technology to make banking better for customers, or just cheaper for banks? Here’s…

I was thinking about trickledown economics and tax, as it seems to be debated in the news almost daily. The core debate is whether to tax the rich more or less and the answer depends upon whether you are right or left of centre. This is why every election falls into the same argument. One…

I have always thought insurance has a marketing problem. You buy something you hope you will never use, pay for something whose value may not become apparent for decades and, with life assurance, buy a product whose payout you will not even be around to enjoy. It is hardly surprising that insurers have spent more…

From Mt. Gox to Bybit and now Binance, cryptocurrency exchanges have lost billions to hackers. The technology works, so why do the institutions keep failing? If a bank lost $6.36 billion in minutes, there would be outrage, regulatory investigations, demands for resignations and questions about whether the institution should be allowed to continue operating. When…

This week’s main blog discussions include … Is digital making people switch off? For years, we have been told that digital makes everything better by making everything faster, cheaper and easier, and that the ultimate objective should be a world in which we can click here, tap there, buy now, pay later and complete the…

For years, we have been told that digital makes everything better by making everything faster, cheaper and easier, and that the ultimate objective should be a world in which we can click here, tap there, buy now, pay later and complete the whole process without thinking about it. The great mantra of digital commerce has…