Our biggest stories of the past week are ...
I know there are so many jokes about SEPA that it's hard to come up with a new one but, with the title of this blog, I had to try. Others include je ne SEPA for the French and the euro for the Greeks. But the march towards harmonisation is continuing at pace, with the SEPA deadlines for corporates about to hit in just over two months.
There are two Americanisms that are slipping into common lingo over here these days: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They’re all to do with shopping around Thanksgiving and the build up to Christmas. Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November,...
Santander the winners in account switchers
I blogged a bit already about account switching, and how customer lethargy meant that it wasn’t really happening. Account switching rules came into force on 16th September, and the new rules mean that it takes just seven days to move...
Crowdfunding and P2P lending comes of age
It's almost a decade since the first UK P2P Lender Zopa launched, back in April 2005. Today, I reckon the industry came of age as I received this letter in the post. This was a letter that came out of...
The (Nordic) Future of Trading
We had our first meeting of the Financial Services Club Nordic Region last week at the British Embassy in Stockholm. Attended by around 70 senior figures from the financial markets across the region, we discussed the changes and implications of...
SWIFT commission a payments report from BCG
Just got a note from SWIFT today about a new publication they’ve commissioned with BCG (Boston Consulting Group) into World Payments. Seems a bit strange as McKinsey and CapGemini already product great reports in this space. I don’t mind having...
The major general news stories of the past week include ...
Britain's bankers to face annual checks under draft laws - Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's senior bankers will face an annual competency check under new laws being drawn up in parliament to reform the British banking sector and protect it against future crises.
RBS report author had to blow £2.6m on loan fees... mostly from RBS - The Independent
The Government adviser who this week issued a scathing report on RBS’s treatment of small businesses could have been speaking from his own experiences. Accounts for Lawrence Tomlinson’s company show he has refinanced his own credit facilities, at great cost, with a consortium led by RBS.
Santander and Nationwide benefit from bank switching - The Telegraph
Santander and Nationwide snap up customers following new current account switching rules
Revealed: Goldman Sachs clients’ £12m Royal Mail coup - The Independent
Goldman Sachs may have provided the Government with a “knockdown” valuation of the Royal Mail – losing the taxpayer more than £1bn when it was privatised last month, according to critics.
Crowdfunding start-up Seedrs raises £1m through its own website - The Telegraph
Crowdfunding start-up Seedrs has raised a £1m cash injection in a single day using its own platform, in an unprecedented display of meta-funding
Barclays introduces 'role-based' pay scheme for top bankers to counter EU bonus cap rules - The Independent
Barclays top bankers will benefit from an additional “role-based” pay allowance on top of their salaries and bonuses.
How your bank could look in five years' time - The Telegraph
A technological revolution is under way in banking, with computers lined up to replace humans in branches
RBS ‘drove businesses to collapse before stripping their assets’ - The Independent
Royal Bank of Scotland is facing an inquiry by banking regulators into allegations that it drove firms to collapse in order to buy back their assets at rock-bottom prices.
Co-op bankers shared £1m payoff as capital hole loomed - The Telegraph
Lender handed 'loss of office' payments worth more than £1m to two key executives in charge of Co-op Bank units blamed in part for the £1.5bn capital hole.
All aboard for Europe's shrinking bank branch network - Reuters
Banks have shut about 20,000 branches across Europe in the last four years, including 5,500 last year and 7,200 in 2011, according to a Reuters analysis of European Central Bank data.
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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...
