The Finanser’s Week: 17th March – 23rd March 2014

Our biggest stories of the past week are ...

Stressing out the banks

In America and Europe, stress tests are regularly applied to see whether the banks are becoming more resilient to another crisis.   The latest results of the American stress tests shows that all but one (Zions Bancorp) of the top 30 US banks are ok.  Europe is different.  Having said that Europe has fudged their previous tests, this time they’re serious.

Omnichannel is so last century, please delete it

I really hate the use of the phrase omnichannel (I call this a phrase, as it is two words imho).  I hate it because it’s just some crappy made-up phrase that some technology marketing nerd dreamt up to talk about the challenge of all these digital touch-points.  One step forward from multichannel (1990s), omnichannel purely adds in the mobile as a new touchpoint.  For me, it falls into my bin of 20th century sayings that include video, tape, disk and more.

Imagine less than 50 banks left in the world by 2030 (why most will not become digital)

Another thing that came up last week is that someone said to me: “do you think incumbent banks can step up to the digital challenge and take on the likes of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook”.  I said: “no”.  Sorry guys, but the answer is negative.  There are various reasons for this.

Customer relationships and demographics are meaningless to Digital Banks, who just focus upon empowering digital communities

Having taken a gun to omnichannel and a meat cleaver to the banking system, today’s turn is the customer.  No, I’m not going to kill the customer – we love them and delight them! – but I do want to have a go at two other popular misconceptions.  Customer relationships and customer demographics.

BBVA's amazing API challenge

I missed this competition at the end of last year but luckily caught BBVA presenting at the American Banker Retail Bank 2014 conference and was blown away.  BBVA gave away their data.  Yes, they created an API and gave it away for free.  Open source bank transaction data and then see what you can do with it.  First, some background.

 

The major general news stories of the past week include ...  

Ex-JPMorgan 'Whale' supervisor files claim against UK regulator - Reuters
(Reuters) - A former JPMorgan Chase & Co executive fighting U.S. extradition from Spain for allegedly helping to hide more than $6.2 billion in trading losses has filed a claim against Britain's financial regulator.

HSBC house broker downgrades bank's shares to 'sell' - The Telegraph
Credit Suisse, one of HSBC's joint corporate broker, downgrades its rating on the bank's shares, warning of potential problems in its Asian business        

UK ‘challenger’ banks plan listings worth £10bn - Financial Times
Up to 10 new retail banks are expected to float and investor interest is high because they are seen as ‘clean plays’ on the UK economy

Bank of England orders lenders to 'pre-fund' customer payments - The Telegraph
Britain's major clearing banks have been told by the Bank of England they must 'pre-fund' all daily customer payments with their deposits held at the central bank        

Barclays needs to consider break-up - Financial Times
As investors mutter about the need for a shake-up, perhaps the chief executive should consider floating the lender’s UK-based retail banking business

BoE has 'no confidence' a failing big bank could be saved - The Telegraph
Deputy Governor Sir Jon Cunliffe is not sure if regulators could stave off the collapse of a 'giant' global bank        

New York replaces London as financial capital of the world - The Independent
New York has over taken London as the world’s leading financial centre as the City’s reputation has been hurt by banking and market scandals, uncertainty over EU membership and the referendum on Scottish independence.        

Now Co-op pays official £2,000 a day to examine why it is in debt - The Guardian
A former Treasury official commissioned by the Co-op Group to examine how it incurred a £1.5bn financial black hole is being paid £2,000 a day by the debt-laden mutual.

Fraud from stolen bank cards highest since 2006 - BBC
Consumers are being warned about a series of bank card scams, after fraud from stolen cards rose to its highest level in eight years.

Banking's back room risk cops step into top jobs - Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Once modest of pay and profile, risk experts are being reborn as rock stars of the banking world - their status and salaries soaring as regulators force financial institutions to clean up.

 

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