Our biggest stories of the week are ...
A couple of interesting posts about PayPal this week. First, they presented their ideas about competing with Visa and MasterCard at physical points-of-sale. This was followed up by a blog post from PayPal President Scott Thompson, PayPal Unveils the Future of Shopping.
Why most banks' technology fails to meet the business needs
Just enjoyed another great conference where one manager presented their IT strategy and operations. Amazingly the old nugget of the language of IT and business came up again, where she opined that IT doesn’t speak the language of business. She...
I’ve been on travels lately and found myself seriously questioning cash. It began on the journey out to Iceland when I decided to get some cash from the AMEX office at Heathrow airport. First, the AMEX office wouldn’t take my...
Bickers over Vickers: the right stuff?
So the Vickers Report has finally crept out into the wilderness. All 358 pages of it. Half of it talks about how to increase the competitiveness of banking and the other half about what to do if a bank fails...
The similarities between banks and landmines
Last night I was presenting to the MAG-net group. MAG-net is the networking group in the City for the Mines Advisory Group, MAG, a charity supported by the Financial Services Club and others that clears areas of mines so that...
Results of the 2011 Survey on SEPA and the PSD
Survey reveals that SEPA and the PSD are progressing but liquidity risk needs addressing Research finds liquidity risk is a major potential exposure for the future and calls for more automation The Financial Services Club and Logica revealed the results...
The major general news stories of the week include ...
UBS rogue trader: statement to employees in full - The Telegraph
A 31-year old man has been arrested by the City of London police in connection with rogue trading that has cost Swiss banking giant UBS an estimated $2bn (£1.3bn). Here is UBS's emailed statement to its employees.
PayPal Unveils the Future of Shopping - PayPal Blog
Today, we gave merchants a sneak peak at PayPal’s new payment technologies that will help give their customers a much better shopping and buying experience through PayPal.
PayPal To Unveil New Payments Platform For Merchants, Will Include Location-Based Offers And More - Techcrunch
PayPal held an event today in Los Angeles for merchants to get a early look into the eBay owned payments giant's new technologies. As CEO Scott Thompson says in a blog post , PayPal is re-imagining money and making it work better for merchants and consumers – whatever device you’re
Could Greece be Europe's Lehman? - BBC
Could Greece push the world off a cliff again?
Barclays chief Bob Diamond 'welcomes' end of uncertainty with ICB bank report publication - The Telegraph
Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, has become the first boss of a major British bank to comment on the Independent Commission on Banking's final report, saying he 'welcomed' the document.
IT glitch affects bank customers - BBC
Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers are unable to get full access to their accounts over the internet, after an IT system upgrade.
Independent Commission on Banking: main points - The Telegraph
The ICB published its final report on Monday, recommending that banks should protect their retail operations from riskier investment banking units and raise capital level to protect taxpayers from future crises. Here are the main points:
ICB hands Osborne 'take it or leave it' package of bank reforms - The Telegraph
Sir John Vickers will offer "a take it or leave it" package of reforms to George Osborne when the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) delivers the most fundamental reshaping of the sector since the Big Bang.
Treasury loses five-year fight to conceal 40 names linked to collapsed bank BCCI - The Telegraph
The Treasury has lost its five-year fight to conceal the names of 40 individuals and companies linked to BCCI, the fraudulent international bank that collapsed two decades ago.
Bank of America restructuring puts 40,000 jobs at risk - The Telegraph
A radical cost-saving plan that will put up to 40,000 jobs at risk at Bank of America is expected to be announced next week.
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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...
