Our biggest stories of the week are ...
ING: selling the rebels with a cause
The sale of ING Direct USA to Capital One last week for $9 billion was a landmark in the post-crisis fallout as it was forced upon ING Group by the European Commission. In the process however, it reveals some amazing insights into the American retail banking market ...
Stealing your mobile bank data
We had a meeting of the Financial Services Club last week that looked at fraud and mobile malware. I’m particularly intrigued by stories about mobile as this is our hot space right now. Every bank is getting into mobile payments, and it’s a huge opportunity as I’ve written about so many times. I’m not writing much about the issues with mobile that banks are experiencing as many are yet to come into the public domain. One that is in public domain is ...
It seems that I’ve been locked in debates over the past couple of weeks about two themes and two subjects only Cloud Computing and Innovation. Cloud Computing is a topic I’ll pick on today and then maybe talk a little...
Why innovation is so difficult in banks
I said yesterday that the other topic that keeps coming up is innovation. Innovation is something that comes and goes in banking like Chief Executives and Heads of Risk … as in it appears and disappears pretty often. During the...
Like everyone, I’m completely fed up with passwords and online security. It just doesn’t hack it anymore, or is that makes it easiest to hack. The system is thirty years old – I used to use passwords to get onto...
The major general news stories of the week include ...
Cheques stay 'until 2016' - The Independent
Cheques will not be abolished until an alternative paper-based payment system has been set up to replace them, the head of the Payments Council told MPs yesterday.
Bank of Ireland a Slave to Sovereign Debt Woe - Business Week
As Ireland goes, so goes Bank of Ireland Plc, the nation’s largest and oldest lender.
Retail banks will be ring-fenced - BBC
The UK's biggest banks are to be forced to ring-fence their retail operations from investment banking, Chancellor George Osborne is to announce.
Why banks' ringfences risk being Chinese walls - Financial Times
The core problem is that banks have no intention of abiding by the spirit, rather than the letter, of any regulatory rules, writes John Kay
Day trader hits back at FSA after £1m fine reduced - The Independent
A day trader fined £700,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for market manipulation yesterday hit back by accusing the City watchdog of heavyhandedness and protecting spread-betting firms from their own carelessness.
Government 'may have hacked IMF' - BBC
Security experts say the hacking of the International Monetary Fund bears the hallmarks of a national attack.
VIDEO: Can you trust your bank? - BBC
The Panorama team has gone undercover to see whether high street bank staff have learnt the lessons from the financial penalties imposed for mis-selling insurance and investment products.
Lloyds Banking Group job losses set to hit 43,000 - The Telegraph
A strategy review by the new chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group is set to push total job cuts at the taxpayer-backed bank to in excess of 43,000, equivalent to the population of Winchester.
'Fake' £20s put down toilet real - BBC
Money suspected of being counterfeit is the real thing according to police following a forensic examination of the notes.
RBS care homes on verge of closure - The Telegraph
The Royal Bank of Scotland's three staff retirement homes are on the verge of closure following financial losses.
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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...
