The Finanser’s Week: 1st June – 7th June 2015

This week's main stories are ...

Hampered by heritage ... or just an old bank dinosaur?

I spent a long time talking with banks in Turkey yesterday, and realised that my message is off mark with some markets.  This arose when one of the banks told me they had just been to America to visit with banks there, and see how they were becoming digital.  Apparently most of the American banks talked about ripping out and replacing their core systems and legacy – something I’ve been advocating for a while now.  The Turkish bank could not understand this.  Why would you rip out and replace a core system?

Are banks getting a rough deal from regulators (just look at Third Party Account Access)

I seem to be relentlessly blogging about fintech, cryptocurrencies and disruption these days.  I guess because these are the things that are being discussed the most at the conferences I attend.  So it’s easy to forget that there are key regulatory changes coming into play, and the consequences of these, probably because these things are boring.

Will banks be laid low by a killer blow from new competition and regulation?

I regularly talk about the business model of banking and how it’s changing.  The business model is based upon three things:

• Manufacturing, which runs the product and services innovation and administration centres in the back office;

• Processing, which focuses upon operational excellence in processing orders from front office through back office; and

• Retailing, where the challenge is to be customer intimate and provide the best service experience.

Building the new financial marketplace

I introduced the business model debate about banks yesterday, as the discussion always comes back to the new competition.  Who are the new competition?  Are they the upstart fintech startups or are they Google, Amazon and brethren?

FIDO needs more vision for digital identities

The real way to crack the onboarding and criminal activity is to create strong and secure digital identities.  We are moving in that direction, but it’s a long slow process.  For ages now, I’ve written about getting rid of passwords and improving authentication using mobile technologies:

• Why is KYC so difficult?
• AML prevention lies in digital identities: the new form of money
• Digital identities demand a digital infrastructure

... and more.

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

Barclays banker's 10 crazy commandments for summer interns - The Telegraph
Rule 5: "Never take your jacket off at work. This is investment banking, ladies and gentlemen."

Unscrupulous banks should be sent on a correspondents' course - The Independent
Outlook Are millions of the world’s poorest people being cut off from the global financial system as a consequence of the enormous fines levied on banks that allowed themselves to be used as conduits for the laundering of dirty money? This is the disturbing issue raised by the Bank of

At JPMorgan, voicemail deemed obsolescent - Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Voicemail is going the way of the typewriter, at least at JPMorgan Chase & Co .

Too big to succeed? Investors want 'radical surgery' at HSBC - Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - No longer feared as "too big to fail", shareholders are weighing whether HSBC is now "too big to succeed", and want to know next week how the bank's bosses propose to increase profitability at a sprawling group beset by huge costs.

Goldman Sachs analyst found dead hours after complaining to father of '100 hour weeks' - The Independent
Officials in San Francisco are investigating the death of a young analyst at Goldman Sachs who complained to his father of working '100 hour weeks', hours before his body was found in the car park next to his apartment.

Former Barclays chairman: Bank ring-fence is redundant and should be scrapped - The Telegraph
Sir David Walker says ring-fencing is a 'uniquely British policy' which will penalise the UK economy

James Moore: Banks' fear of US fines will turn Fifa accounts into hot potatoes - The Independent
The stock market greeted the news that three UK-based banks have been named by the FBI in its indictment against various Fifa officials with a shrug of its metaphorical shoulders.

HSBC set to cut thousands of jobs globally: Sky News - Reuters
(Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc is planning to cut thousands of jobs globally and is set to make an announcement next week, Sky News reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources.

Jerome Kerviel: convenient scapegoat? - The Independent
The story of Jérôme Kerviel is more than a media gift that keeps on giving. It’s a riot that keeps on rioting.

British banks pay £12bn in penalties - Financial Times
Lenders under pressure from shareholders to control regulatory costs

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