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The Finanser’s Week: 11th April – 17th April 2016

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Our main stories of this week includes …

Marketplace lending comes of age

One of the interviewees in my new book ValueWeb is Ron Suber, President of Prosper Marketplace Lending. Ron gave a speech last week which is summarized below. Well worth a read. Markeplace Lending: Evolution of an Asset Class (The following post is excerpted from a keynoted …

Standards: Collaboration or Cartel (LEIs and ISO17442)

I had a lovely conversation with a group of investment bankers last night about technology transformation in capital markets. During the opening, a consistent theme cropped up: standards, interoperability, collaboration and cooperation … or lack of it. It is interesting that, in the buy and …

If you like change, don’t work for a bank

I just had a really interesting, off-the-record, discussion with a banker. Can’t give too much detail therefore, but here’s how the conversation went: “So, what’s it like working for MegaRetailBank?” “Shocking”, he said. “They are completely branch focused. Here’s an illustration. They launched a new …

The most hated #Fintech bingo buzzword is “disruption”

Those of you who know me, know that I hate the word channel and any adjunct that goes with it. This is because channel shows a lack of digital depth, as it’s just sticking something on top of the old architecture or lipstick on a …

How do I know it’s the digital you?

We had a fascinating chat about digital identities at the Innovate Finance Global Summit (#ifgs2016) today. It was a private roundtable with members of government, central banks, the banking and Fintech community and commentators/observers. Listening to the dialogue going to and fro, I realised that …

 

This week’s major headlines include …

Bank of England stages Brexit dress rehearsal - Guardian
In two months’ time the MPC may have to respond to a vote to leave the EU. First off, they would cut interest rates It is Tuesday 27 June, five days after Britain has voted to leave the European Union. The pound is falling on the foreign exchanges and share

UK banks have yet to address the elephant in the room: Their current business model is unsustainable - City AM
It was another tough year for UK banks in 2015, and the challenges look set to continue. Our high-street banks are at a vital juncture: they’ve survived the crisis and are now preparing for one of the biggest overhauls of UK banking we have ever known with the introduction of ring fencing.

Barclays headcount drops 8,000 in 4 months - Financial Times
Reductions triggered by hiring freeze and cuts to the investment bank

Radical shake-up of EU data laws - BBC
What the EU's new rules involve

Governance experts call for the head of HSBC chairman - Guardian
Douglas Flint’s position is ‘untenable’, says pensions and investment consultancy Pirc, ahead of the bank’s AGM HSBC investors should reject the bank’s “excessive” executive pay plans at its annual general meeting, according to a shareholder advisory group, which branded the position of chairman Douglas Flint “untenable”. Pensions and Investment Research

Deutsche Bank halts N Carolina expansion plans over anti-gay law - Financial Times
Germany’s biggest bank freezes plan to hire 250 people in latest business clash with legislatures

Ten biggest bank scandals have cost £53bn in fines - Financial Times
The 10 biggest misconduct scandals have cost the Britain’s banks and building societies almost £53bn in fines and other penalties since 2000.

How monitoring behaviour could unmask the fraudsters - BBC
The tech making online banking safer and easier

The history of getting round the taxman - BBC
A colourful history of tax avoidance throughout the ages

Russia’s Most Important Bank Needs a Bailout - Wall Street Journal
When the Russian government needed to build up infrastructure in the southern city of Sochi ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, it turned to Russia’s most important lender: Vnesheconombank, the country’s state-owned development bank.

 

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