The Finanser’s Week: 9th November 2009 – 15th November 2009

The biggest news stories of the week include:

Gordon Brown: worldwide snub over tax plans (Telegraph)
EU draft council decision on sharing of banking data with the US and restructuring of SWIFT, 10 Nov 2009 (Wikileaks)
Banking sell-off to take up to seven years (Independent)
UK banks split into two tiers (Financial Times)
HSBC and Barclays suggest the ‘biggest jolt has passed’ (Times)
Goldman Sachs boss: 'bankers do God's work' (Guardian)
Microsoft, IBM And Yahoo Are Vying To Take Part In India’s Unique ID Project (Techcrunch)

And our biggest stories of the week include:

Sex and banks and rock and roll

It
seems that all this blog is writing about these days is sex and
banking, but the papers are full of sex, rock & roll and death in
banking this week so it is unavoidable.  For example, here are three stories which illustrate how the rich vein of  real life runs through our banking lives.

Rogana: the Brangelina of Banking

After yesterday's discussions
of London snobbery driving Barclays banker Roger Jenkins and his
wife Diana, collectively known as Rogana (pronounced as Rog - Anna,
like Regina but with a little East End twist), to Malibu ... it's worth noting how this interview looks as Bosnian-born Diana seems to have a wee chip on her shoulder.

Gordon Brown's Tobin Tax ... duh?

Many of us thought it a bit weird that Gordon Brown suggested bringing back the Tobin Tax
last weekend during the G20 summit.  The reason it's a bit weird is that for the last ten years, right up until the day before the summit, he had rejected any such notion out of hand.

Does customer service in banking matter?

When talking with bankers, they refer to banking as "a utility".  It’s
just something that’s there, like gas and electricity. It’s not
valuable or differentiated and no-one wakes up wondering how their
payment will take place. That’s why banks don't try to compete on customer service as they can make money
regardless.

Time for the cheque to checkout

A
cheque processing conference sounds pretty dull these days, especially
as cheques are on their way out across most economies. However, a
cheque processing conference celebrating 350 years since the oldest
surviving cheque was written? No, not that boring.  In fact, as I’m a sucker for numbers and facts, the annual conference of the Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (CCCC), which took place this week was surprisingly interesting. 

Businesses demand we keep cheques

The Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (CCCC) released details of the latest research results into Britain’s attitudes towards cheques at their conference this week.  The survey was split into two parts and is released annually.The first part looks at consumer attitudes, and the second into business views.

Banking for good and bad

Wow! 
As the debate rages on, it amazes me how the topic I chose in February
for the Gresham lecture has just become so topical. For example, everyone in London and Wall Street are now talking
about the social purpose of banks, whether God and banking is
compatible, and whether they are good or bad.