Our biggest stories of the week are ...
I hosted a dinner last night with a focus upon developments with SEPA and innovation. What innovations has SEPA introduced? Long silence. To be honest, there are some – the ability to cash concentrate direct debits into the most efficient...
Another aspect of innovation discussed this week was slightly out of the negative SEPA box and more on the positive future box. We were talking about all the things that were innovative – NFC, mobile, anything Chinese, Google, etc –...
Taking a wallet onto a mobile doesn't work
I discovered a fascinating report from Mobey Forum this morning. It was released this week, and says that “providing consumers with the convenience and functionality of mobile wallet technology will not be sufficient to drive mass-market adoption”. Mobey Forum –...
Product or solution: a breed apart
Just had an interesting chat with a couple of guys who provide sales development and account planning services to IT firms. The gist of their business is turning product sellers into solution sellers, a core stomping ground of mine and...
There are evangelists and dogmatics across the banking spectrum. On the one hand, I have regular debates with mobile extremists who believe cash is dead; on the other, there are those who are still fighting to keep the cheque in...
The major general news stories of the week include ...
Extraordinarily serious and threathening...perilous - these are not the sort of words a central banker normally uses, yet every time the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, appears in public these days, he ramps up the language of crisis still further.
Fed saves Europe's banks as ECB stands pat - The Telegraph
Stripped to essentials, America is once again having to rescue Europe from itself.
Europe’s Single Currency May Unravel Before Action, UBS Says - Business Week
Europe’s monetary union may unravel sooner than the region’s leaders can mobilize to ensure the sovereign-debt crisis doesn’t overwhelm the currency, a UBS AG foreign exchange strategist wrote.
Can Britain cope if the eurozone collapses? - The Telegraph
As the unthinkable looms, ministers are starting to prepare for the worst, reveals Iain Martin.
Free banking is a 'myth', says UK's top bank regulator - The Telegraph
Free banking in the UK is a myth and customers should be charged higher fees for basic bank services, according to Britain's top banking regulator.
S&P reduces bank credit ratings - BBC
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgrades the long-term credit grades of a string of major banks including Barclays and HSBC.
Autumn Statement 2011: HSBC and Standard Chartered hit hardest by bank levy increase - The Telegraph
HSBC and Standard Chartered are likely to be hardest hit by the Government's decision to increase the bank levy for the third time in less than a year.
UK watchdog suggests PwC fine of up to £34m - Financial Times
Regulator says the penalty for the auditing failures should not be 'vastly disproportionate' to the £33.3m fine imposed on JPMorgan last year
Quinn ordered to repay €1.7bn to Anglo Irish Bank - Financial Times
Largest judgment made against an individual by an Irish court
Middle-Aged Bankers Face Heart Disease Risk - Business Week
About half the middle-aged staff tested at Banco Santander show signs of early-stage disease of the arteries that could cause heart attacks or strokes
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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...
