The Finanser’s Week: 28th April – 4th May 2014

This week we produced a five-part series on beinga Digital Bank:

Part One: Major parts of banking are stuck in the last century

During my lifetime, two things have fundamentally changed the world: travel and technology.

Part Two: Heidi Miller, Bitcoin and fitness for purpose

Building on yesterday’s theme about how a cheque from Canada has taken six weeks to process and had significant processing charges taken from the deposit as a result, reminds me of Heidi Miller’s speech from SIBOS 2004, which is still talked about today.

What did Heidi say that was so compelling?

Part Three: We are not Borg, we are Human and dancing to a different tune

Building to the theme of the divide between the old world of finance and the new, and why (some) banks aren't fit for the 21st century, brings a few more points to mind, in particular about control and centralisation.  Banks were built as control freaks.  They need to own the complete end-to-end cycle of everything.  They have to develop their own software, systems and services, which is why they end up with more developers than Microsoft as a result.

Part Four: You may be innovative today, but tomorrow you're just an incumbent

I’m going to give up on the discussions about banks dragging heels when it comes to the global net soon, but only after a few more pieces of debate.  Today, it’s all about innovation.

Part Five: Please refer to the Digital Department

I have this cheesy line in my presentation about digital is a journey, not a destination.  The destination comment is that most senior bank management think it’s a one-off project, like building a pyramid or a cathedral. You make the investment and it’s done.  That’s not the case.

 

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

Barclays rocked by bomb scare - The Telegraph
Police send in a bomb disposal robot after a suspect package was found outside Barclays' Canary Wharf HQ.

Lloyds confirms summer float for TSB - The Telegraph
Bank to list 632-branch business before end of June as first-quarter profits slide

Top US banker quits Barclays as turmoil rages over bosses' pay - The Independent
Barclays was facing fresh turmoil last night as its top US investment banker quit as head of Americas after barely 18 months in the role.

Standard & Poors downgrades 15 European banks, cites reforms - Reuters
(Reuters) - Ratings agency Standard & Poors said it has downgraded 15 European banks, including Barclays Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank , after European lawmakers agreed on a framework that prevents governments from having to bail out troubled banks.

One chart showing where investment bank staff should be powerful and respected, but aren’t - eFinancial News
Do you want to work for a bank where the investment banking employees are key profit generators and should (in theory) command the respect of senior management? Try Barclays. Or not.

Bank of England prepares stress tests to ensure banks can survive housing crash - The Guardian
The Bank of England is preparing to order eight of the UK's biggest banks and building societies to ensure they are strong enough to withstand sharp drops in house prices and sudden rises in interest rates.

Millions shut out of mobile payments - BBC
Twenty million bank account holders will have no immediate access to the new Paym mobile payment technology, which officially launches on Tuesday.

Welcome to the Barclays investment bank layer cake - Financial News
On April 18 last year, Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins said that the investment banking division was so important that he wanted to “de-layer” the management structure giving him a “clearer line of sight” into the business. On April 17 this year, he added that management layer right back in. What’s going on?

Lloyds Bank accused of religious discrimination over free overdrafts on Islamic accounts - The Independent
The high street bank said the changes reflect the needs of 'customers who cannot receive credit or debit interest due to their religious beliefs'

Russia payments: Putin’s plastic - Financial Times
Vladimir Putin’s plan for a self-contained Russian payments system is an attack on globalisation.