Our biggest stories of the past week are ...
The Top 1000 Banks in the World 2014
Each year, The Banker magazine (to which I contribute a monthly column) publishes their list of the Top 1000 banks. It's a great research resource that I've been tracking since 1994, when half the banks in the top 10 were Japanese. Now, half of them are Chinese. Ten years ago, they were all American.
Terrorists will drive us towards digital identities
As I travel the world, one thing unfolds: the passport queue.
Building on the theme of digital identities, we are moving rapidly to a future based upon digital implants. I have had this vision since the Baja Beach Club began chipping customers with NFC capabilities, as who wants to take a wallet or purse to the beach.
Welcome to your relationship machine, how can I help?
I engaged in a lengthy debate yesterday about digital banking (for a change). The core of the discussion is whether humans are needed in a digital bank. Not humans to program the bank, as they’re obviously needed, but humans to service the customer. It was somewhat of a null debate, as you will definitely have a bank with no humans involved in service in the near future.
The biggest barrier to clouds in banking is the banks themselves
Returning to the subject of cloud computing, I mentioned that it is starting to succeed by being more relevant through a vertical focus, but there is still more to be done for cloud to truly take off in banking. In particular, most banks have a concern about the risk of cloud and who is accountable.
The major general news stories of the past week include ...
PayPal fuels higher eBay revenue even as cyber attack, rivals weigh - Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc posted a 13 percent rise in quarterly revenue on Wednesday, as better-than-expected results from its fast-growing PayPal division helped the online retailer overcome increasing competition from Amazon.com Inc and a well-publicized cyber attack.
The letter sent to Lloyds customers under a law firm's name - The Telegraph
Lloyds Banking Group has sent Andrew Tyrie an example of the letters it sent customers who owed the bank money under the name of a defunct law firm
Citigroup's $7bn settlement: who actually benefits? - The Telegraph
Bloomberg takes a look at the US government's settlement with Citigroup
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan's contrasting fortunes show the changing face of Wall Street - The Telegraph
Trading revenues at both banks fell while investment banking fees were up, boosting Goldman's profits but sending JP Morgan's lower
BRICS set up bank to counter Western hold on global finances - Reuters
FORTALEZA Brazil (Reuters) - Leaders of the BRICS emerging market nations launched a $100 billion development bank and a currency reserve pool on Tuesday in their first concrete step toward reshaping the Western-dominated international financial system.
Police question London traders at Tradition over ‘wild parties and gifts’ - The Independent
Police are investigating allegations City bankers plied Gaddafi-era Libyan officials with luxurious parties in Morocco and invitations to a London lingerie modelling party in the hope of persuading them to invest billions of dollars of their country’s oil money.
Cuddly puppets axed as Wonga attempts big clean-up - BBC
Grandparent characters are axed from Wonga's advertising campaign as its new chairman says it is time for the payday lender to grow up.
Co-op Bank boss to head AIB - BBC
The chairman of the Co-operative Bank, Richard Pym, will stand down later this year to lead Allied Irish Banks.
Nicola Horlick to ask investors for £10 for start-up - The Telegraph
One of the City's first "superwoman" is using crowdfunding to raise money for her film financing fund
Man 'who had been refused overdraft extension' is Tasered by armed police after bursting into bank with a homemade FLAMETHROWER - Daily Mail
A man was Tasered and arrested by police today after he allegedly burst into a bank with a makeshift flamethrower and threatened to burn it to the ground because he was refused an overdraft.
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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...
