Opinion

There’s a great write-up by one of my guest contributors Alex Johnson, about the bad sales culture of most banks. Admittedly, he says it’s partly inspired by my blog of last year about challenger banks, but his write-up takes it further and has a swipe at the whole bank culture of cross-selling and being retailers…

I have a few favourite FinTech firms: Ripple, Prosper, Lending Club, SoFi, Zopa, Monzo, N26, TransferWise, Klarna, Stripe, Alipay, WeBank and more. A lot of it is because I knew these firms as fledglings and have enjoyed watching them grow up. One firm in this crew is Wirecard, the German bank behind many of Europe’s…

The non-stop coverage of coronavirus, global markets slumping, an economic armageddon, the end of the world due to a climate emergency, the melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice, rising of the oceans, weather fatalities, a farce of a US election, the UK and EU in a stand-off over Brexit, the cancellation of the Olympics…

I got into an online argument as I said that the coronavirus was God’s way of letting Extinction Rebellion and climate activists win. Seeing his creation of humanity destroying his creation of everything, it took divine intervention to force us to stop flying, stop manufacturing and stop messing up our planet. The opposing corner said…

I saw a few people talking about the challenges of working from home over the last few days, particularly if you work for a bank. As a tech guy, I’ve been used to working  from home for over two decades. However, most people don’t work remote or from home. For example, a US Census of…

The travel bans across Europe hit last week, we were told to stay at home, we are advised to self-isolate, our children’s schooling is cancelled, the supermarkets are working with face masks and social distancing … the world has changed. As a result of so many people losing short-term income and work, the government is…

For a while, I presented the idea that our world is a fiction. It is a fiction based upon beliefs. We have shared beliefs. We believe the world is the way the world is. But the world isn’t this way. Borders. Borders don’t exist. We – humans – created borders. They don’t exist. Business. Business…

It’s very strange times. I’ve taken travel for granted. For years, I’ve been used to open borders, easy connectivity and access to airports. The internet then fuelled that ease of movement and connectivity. Suddenly, via social media, my friends are in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Mumbai, Lagos, Paris, Milan, New York, San Francisco, Buenos Aires,…

I’m getting a lot of people asking questions about what I think the coronavirus will mean long-term in the financial markets, so I’ve tried to jump forward to look back. Obviously, the big thing about a pandemic is that people are being told to stop meeting each other. Conferences, events, gatherings, office work, packed trains…

I’m sitting staring at the wall. It’s been a long time now since being in a face-to-face meeting, conference or catching a flight. I’m staring at the wall. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking … what’s the meaning of all this? What’s the meaning of life? What’s the meaning of money? Money is meaningless … it’s generated out…