The main blog headlines are …
The purpose-driven series:
There’s a comment that has stayed with me for a long time. It goes along the lines of if you’re earning $10 million a year then spending $10,000 is only the same as someone who earns $100,000 a year spending $100. It’s just relative. This …
Greed is good … and my bonus is better
I was a bit agog and aghast at the recent announcement from 192 US CEOs, who said that stakeholders are now more important than shareholders. This focus upon stakeholders has been an emerging trend for over the past quarter century and here’s what these great …
Building on my recent updates on sustainable finance and such like, it is interesting the word purpose consistently appears throughout the sub-text. Banks need a sense of purpose to attract talent; banks need to shift from shareholder focus to purpose focus; banks must no longer be …
What does “purpose-driven” really mean?
During my writing about a purpose-driven bank, I tried to find good examples of what purpose-driven actually means. Googling the question the number one result is from the Plato Project, who outline eight great purpose-driven organisations. The list is: Whole Foods “With great courage, integrity …
Money creates purpose (which is why it’s so important)
I’m going to write the last of my blogs at this point on being purpose-driven to reference something that irks me a lot. Exclusivity. We have exclusivity a lot in life. The idea is that it creates ambition, hope, focus, hunger, direction and reward. We …
I’ve been reflecting for a while on the shift of power from America to China, as those who read my musings will know. This is typified by the latest Netflix offering American Factory, backed by the Obamas. It shows the cultural clash between East and …
And finally …
Security is about as good as a fart in a spacesuit
It’s a weird world. I know lots of grumpy old men like me lament that, when we were growing up, we were left outside to run about as we felt, find our own way to and from school, were encouraged to read more and exercise, …
And the top news headlines this week are …
A top banker's defection from Credit Suisse to UBS is roiling Swiss banking - CNN
The cozy world of Swiss banking is being rocked by a criminal investigation linked to the defection of a top Credit Suisse executive to crosstown rival UBS.
Danske Bank: Ex-chief caught up in fraud probe found dead - BBC
Aivar Rehe ran Danske Bank's Estonia arm, at the centre of a €200bn money laundering investigation.
You never go to Pret … and 24 other signs you’ve reached financial maturity - Guardian
According to a new survey, British people aren’t fully financially mature until the age of 31. But it isn’t all about having a savings account A new survey, by the lender Zopa, has revealed that British people don’t reach financial maturity until the age of 31. At 22 we are
Monzo closes premium packaged account to new customers - Guardian
Digital bank to offer refunds after admitting Plus service is ‘not the best it could be’ Digital bank Monzo has closed its fee-charging packaged current account to new customers five months after launching it and is refunding some of those who signed up. After being criticised by customers, the app-based
Santander/UK: bored of the ring - Financial Times
The bank’s €1.5bn writedown is a sign of the malaise enveloping the sector
Future of Fintech - Financial Times
Retail banks hyper-target customers with personalised products and perks. Plus: how AI is cutting the cost of insurance claims; digital upstarts eye US banks’ core services; Singapore takes ‘cutting edge’ stance to expand finance hub; blockchain's failed promise; Islamic fintech pioneers seek growth through creativity
The future of the global economy hinges on four games of chicken | Nouriel Roubini - Guardian
Trump’s rows with China and Iran, Brexit and Argentina’s populism put the world on a knife edge In the classic game of chicken, two drivers race directly toward each other, and the first to swerve is the loser. If neither swerves, both will probably die. In the past, such scenarios
The $100 Trillion Opportunity: The Race To Provide Banking To The World’s Poor - Forbes
Two years ago, Amylene Dingle lived with her husband and 7-year-old daughter in Payatas, an impoverished Manila neighborhood with the largest open dump site in the Philippines.
Setback for Metro Bank as investors snub £250m bond sale - Guardian
Despite high interest rate of 7.5%, lender forced to cancel offer just hours after launch Metro Bank has been forced to cancel a bond sale of up to £250m after failing to drum up interest from investors, marking a setback for the lender struggling to recover from an accounting blunder
Lloyds Bank’s fraud detection system ‘the Rat’ sniffs out scammers - Yahoo!
Lloyds Bank says a new high-tech defence system which sniffs out fraudsters before they can strike has stopped more than 2,000 customers losing cash so far.
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...
