Our biggest stories of the week are ...
Stéphane Garelli on the future economic outlook
Stéphane Garelli is the guy who made Davos what it is today, as Managing Director of the World Economic Forum for over twenty years. Now a Professor with the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, he's pretty well informed on all matters economic, and believes the future is Africa.
We recently hosted Vernon Hill at the Financial Services Club. Vernon is the charismatic founder of Metro Bank UK and successful bank veteran in the USA, having built Commerce Bank from just one branch in the 1970s to a 435 branch behemoth that was sold for $8.5 billion in 2007. A fast-food restaurant franchise owner by background and, bringing his fast food convenience to banking, made a success in banking based upon the philosophy of being a retailer, not a banker. And that's what Vernon's presentation focused upon: what makes a great bank work.
I recently stumbled across a link to a report on Mobile Money in Afghanistan. It's a fantastic and in-depth report on the ground, interviewing Afghanistanis on their views about moving money and its challenges. Here's a brief summary.
Will we ever have social security?
I've been blogging a lot lately about cybercrime, identity theft and the do's and dont'sof social networking. This was in part due to a seminar that took place this week where we were debating the risks related to social networking and mobile finance. There is a risk. A very big risk.
The latest chat on Basel III, the PSD and SEPA
This is an extract of the summary of discussions at the IPS conference, written by FSClub friend Heather MacKenzie. For the past few years the regulation debate at IPS has tended to focus on SEPA and the Payment Services Directive...
Why banks should worry about Google, Apple, Facebook ...
I've talked for a while about: money being meaningless, as data is now key; the battle over information, and how information warfare is the new game; the fact that banks should move from being safekeepers of money to being safekeepers of data ... all of this leads to a conclusion that those who are good with data will win. And who's good with data? Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, etc. What does that mean for banks?
I hate acronymns, but these are three good ones: TSC is the Treasury Select Committee; ICB is the Independent Commission on Banking; and UXB is an UneXploded Bomb. UXB is something that the TSC just laid for the ICB ...
The major general news stories of the week include ...
Bank worker fired for Facebook post - The Daily Mail
A bank worker got the sack after she criticised her boss's salary on Facebook, comparing her £7-an-hour wage to Lloyds boss's £4,000-an-hour salary
Payments Views - Reflections on NACHA Payments 2011 - Payments News
Didn't make it to NACHA Payments 2011 this year? That's okay, because Glenbrook's Erin McCune did and she shares her thoughts about this year's conference over on Payments Views. Some of it is what you would expect ("Mobile, mobile, and mobile") but some of it came as a surprise ("Legal ...
Twitter predicts future of stocks - BBC
Investors wanting to make a mint on the stock market should join Twitter, researchers find.
Barclays' earnings targets: too good to be true? - The Telegraph
Page six of the presentation made last week by Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, to analysts and investors at Morgan Stanley's London banking conference does not look particularly exciting or controversial.
Barclays launches probe into weaker performance leaks - The Telegraph
Senior managers at Barclays are being investigated after internal views on the bank's performance expectations leaked - wiping millions of pounds off its market value.
Barclays chief set to raise appetite for risk - Financial Times
Bob Diamond has decided the UK bank must increase its risk appetite in order to hit profitability targets over the next three years
Banks 'not on top of online fraud', warn MPs - The Telegraph
Banks have done too little to protect their customers from online fraudsters, despite the growing popularity of internet banking services, according to a report by MPs.
Paris attempts to prise HSBC from London - The Telegraph
French officials are attempting to persuade HSBC to move its headquarters to Paris as rival financial centres spy the chance to encourage the bank out of the UK.
The Banking Commission and the battle for the City - The Telegraph
The report by the Independent Commission on Banking could mark the greatest change to British banking in more than 100 years.
Royal Bank of Scotland's Irish loan losses double to £15bn after stress tests, says UBS - The Telegraph
Royal Bank of Scotland would need to more than double its provisions against potential losses on its Irish loan book if it faced the stress tests with the same criteria used by the Irish government earlier this week, says UBS.
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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...
