The biggest news stories of the week include ...
- US panel to delve deeper into causes of financial
meltdown - The Independent - Alan Greenspan defends Fed's role in crisis - The Times
- Fed boss Greenspan says no one saw the crisis coming.
Really? - The Telegraph - Citigroup executives admit regret but no blame for role
in financial crisis - The Times - Brown says that agreement on global bank tax is close
- The Independent - European bank levy could raise €50bn - The Telegraph
- Tesco aims for 10 per cent of financial service market
- The Independent - Virgin bank ambitions boosted by billionaire Wilbur
Ross - The Telegraph
And our biggest stories of the week are ...
I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. I know I did. Lots
of chocolate, reading, walking and sleep. During my reading I came
across this, first published in the
magazine Punch
back in April 1957. It’s a classic and worth everyone taking note.
A new season of events, April through July 2010
We are delighted to announce our forward season of the London
events for the Financial Services Club’s meetings for the
second quarter of 2010, including a review of MiFID II, the progress of the PSD and SEPA, a focus upon Treasury and a dinner with Sir Win Bischoff, Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group.
Headline news: Jamie Dimon speaks!
Jamie Dimon’s letter to JPMorgan Chase’s shareholders was
released over the weekend. It’s a great 36-page read and,
although I don’t normally do this, I thought it worth reprinting
some of the key aspects here as it provides a fascinating insight into a
global bank’s operations. This takes the form of four posts:
-
The first provides an insight into JPM's operations. Click
here. -
The second is a few comments related to banker's bonuses and TARP. Click
here
. -
The third is a key section of the letter that outlines Jamie Dimon's
views on regulatory reform. Click
here. -
The fourth is a few summary notes from key industry observers’
views about his comments. Click
here.
After the long analysis of Jamie Dimon’s 36-page shareholder
letter, we now have an 8-page shareholder letter from Goldman
Sachs. This is their longest shareholder letter ever, and appears
to be a direct response to the accusation of being a Vampire Squid
lobbed at them last year by Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi.
Will regulators destroy the banking system?
On April 1st, the European Commission announced their key work plans for 2010. The plans are
wide-ranging and imply a fundamental restructuring of the European
banking markets. If you don’t think it’s going that far, then
think again.
How Facebook Payments could work in the future
Imagine Facebook create a partnership with a global bank – let’s
say HSBC – to offer a P2P payments service. Not Facebook credits, but
proper P2P payments. How might it work? Today, I found out. I got
Hyves, the Dutch version of Facebook. Hyves has announced the
introduction of
social payments in partnership with Rabobank.
Metro Bank: the first new bank for a while
So, we are finally seeing a new retail bank launched in
Britain for the first time in, oh, living memory? Yes, it’s Metro Bank
time ...
A new PSD-approved Payments Institution starts
business
Nick Ogden, CEO and founder of Voice Commerce recently spoke at the FSClub about using voice
biometrics as part of authentication in mobile financial transactions. During the evening, Nick mentioned they
were one of the first Payments Institutions (PI) to register with the
FSA after the PSD was transposed, and were about to
announce that they are also one of the first PIs to be accepted as a
Principal Member of Visa Europe.
Just noticed that the governors are dropping half of the new
Financial Services Bill, in order to rush it through Parliament before
the general election is called on May 6th. The Financial Services
Act, formerly known as the Financial Services Bill, is about to be
passed into Law and includes ...
Banking ... better than cigarettes, but worse
than Toyota
I just downloaded Harris Interactive’s 11th annual reputation survey of America’s most visible
companies. The good news is that Financial Services has moved off the bottom
of the industry list so that the tobacco
industry is, once again, the least reputable industry sector in the USofA. The bad news is that the car industry's reputation improved far more than the banks.
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...
