Our biggest stories of the week are ...
So I’ve just finished a mainstream keynote debate at #Eurofinance2011 in Rome about bank to corporate relationships. My role was to moderate a panel of six key industry players, three from corporations: Debbie Millar: Group Executive - Treasury, Funding and...
Virtual currencies will be the next wave of change
At #Eurofinance2011, I chaired another panel on innovations in payment channels. My opening piece talked about mobile channels and a lot about virtual currencies, including Facebook Credits, Ven Currency and Bitcoin. The mobile stuff garnered lots of nods and acceptance; the latter on virtual currencies seemed to cause more bewilderment and confusion. I am used to such looks.
I chaired TradeTech Architecture last week, and the conversation was all about HFT and low latency. For those not in the know, that’s High Frequency Trading, using a technology called low latency that enables ultra-high speed trading in real-time. What’s...
As mentioned, I was chairing a conference on trading technologies and one technologist told me that, in theory, it would be technically possible to send an order around the world in 400 milliseconds or less today. Most people disagree with...
60% of the world's order executions are on mainframes
I was just reading through my notes as Chair of the #TradeTech conference last week, and found a bunch of interesting notes and quotes. Rather than assembling them into a sensible blog post, I’m just going to write them up...
The major general news stories of the week include ...
High-street banks attacked over account switching policy - The Independent
The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) is under attack for failing to push for portable bank accounts – a basic reform that campaigners say would free consumers to switch banks and increase the efficiency of the wider economy.
Bank chiefs question ringfencing - BBC
The UK's biggest banks question the value of ringfencing their retail operations, but say it is "not a make or break issue".
Volcker Rule gives US regulators a headache - The Telegraph
As the Occupy Wall Street protesters marched towards Central Park to make their case outside the homes of New York's wealthiest on Tuesday, the chief executives of Wall Street banks probably felt like holding a demonstration of their own.
Trichet Throws Away Script, Reminds U.S. Euro Built to Last - Business Week
“The overall picture when you look at the euro area as a whole is very, very different from the perception,” Trichet told the conference organized by the Bretton Woods Committee.
Full report should throw light on to failings at RBS - The Telegraph
Early drafts of a report into the failure of Royal Bank of Scotland have begun circulating among a small group of officials ahead of the document's publication expected later this year or early next.
Co-op suffers debit card glitch - BBC
Some customers of the Co-operative Bank have had difficulties paying with their debit cards following a weekend upgrade of the system.
Goldman Sachs 'escaped paying £20m National Insurance bill in HMRC deal' - The Telegraph
Goldman Sachs escaped paying up to £20m on a disputed National Insurance bill for bankers' bonuses, according to leaked Government documents.
The £127m 'fraud' never revealed by Société Générale - The Telegraph
French bank Société Générale was the victim of a Sfr182m (£127m) "fraud" that has never been revealed to shareholders.
Square Processing $2B In Payments Per Year, Has Signed Up 800K Merchants - Techcrunch
Disruptive mobile payments company Square is making a number of announcements today relating to growth and new user features. First, the company is dropping its new user limits. For background, Square offers an iPhone, Android and iPad app which allows merchants to process and manage credit card transactions with a
Software group Misys rocked by shareholder revolt over pay - The Independent
Misys insists it will stick to its executive pay plan despite an extraordinary shareholder revolt at the software group's recent annual general meeting.
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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...
