The Finanser’s Week: 16th February 2015 – 22nd February 2015

Our biggest stories of the past week are ...

Can you have decentralised exchange without centralised control?

I often have these debates with the bitcoin community about whether you can really have money without government.  Let’s not call it money without government even, let’s just focus upon the question of whether you can have value exchanges that are unregulated.

The most likely future for cryptocurrencies

So yesterday, I said that bitcoin will not escape the regularity focus.  This is a philosophical debate, rather than a technical one, and may be decided by the precedents that have gone before as the internet of money is actually Net 6.0.

Forget FinTech - welcome to the ValueWeb

As mentioned earlier in the week, we are now in the Net 6.0 phase of life, where we are digitising money.  We digitised commerce some time ago and now eBay, TripAdvisor, Amazon, Alibaba, Kayak and more rule the world.  These are both intermediaries and infomediaries for commerce, but the bit they were lacking is a digital currency.

How much profit does a bank make from your bank account?

How much profit does a bank make per annum on a typical retail bank deposit account?  It’s a simple question.  What is the total revenue a bank generates from the average retail bank account – the costs?  Do you know?  Does your bank?

The Finanser Interviews: Craig Donaldson, CEO of Metro Bank

Metro Bank launched into mainstream UK retail banking in July 2010 and has been growing rapidly.  As the first new retail bank for over a century, how is it fairing?  In the second of The Finanser Interviews we talk to Craig Donaldson, CEO of Metro Bank, to find out.  

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

HSBC: five questions for a bank that grew too big to control - The Guardian
The banking giant is not the first, and will not be the last, financial behemoth to garner uncomfortable headlines. Its current crisis stems in part from it being too big, too unwieldy to control. Structural problems include:

HSBC publishes newspaper apology - BBC
HSBC has published an apology in several Sunday newspapers following allegations that its Swiss private bank helped clients evade tax.

James Moore: HSBC’s mea minima culpa is really about PR and damage limitation - The Independent

It might have been billed as an apology – the word was even used in the text. But in reality, the HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver’s open letter to the bank’s customers, shareholders and staff, published in certain Sunday newspapers, was something quite different. You are probably aware by now 

Bank apps to use fingerprint tech - BBC

RBS and NatWest are the first banks to let customers access accounts on smartphones using only fingerprints, but security concerns have been voiced.

Monitise battles losses after focus shift - Financial Times
Mobile money group looks to reverse trend and be profitable by 2016

What if Greece quits the euro? - BBC
What would happen if Greece leaves the euro?

Profit doubles at Aldermore bank - BBC
Profits double at newcomer bank Aldermore as it picks up customers from bigger rivals.

JPMorgan tops list of risky banks: government study - Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co bears the highest potential hazard to the financial system if it were to fail, a staff study released by a U.S. government research agency showed, providing a first-of-its-kind numerical risk ranking of U.S. banks.

Banking bosses say a cyber attack is among their biggest fears - The Telegraph
A day after hackers were found to have stolen £650m from global banks, chief executives raise security concerns

'Cyber bank robbers' steal $1bn - BBC
Up to 100 banks and financial institutions worldwide have been attacked in an "unprecedented cyber robbery", claims a new report.

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