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Shaping the future of finance

The Finanser’s Week: 28th October – 3rd November 2019

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The main blog headlines are …

McKinsey reckon banks are in a ‘do-or-die’ moment … really?

A few talking points last week, but two hit me in particular. The first is a McKinsey report that reckons half of the world’s banks are not viable. Their cost of equity is higher than their return on equity. Should another downturn hit … well, …

Legacy systems … isn’t ‘legacy’ what you leave behind AFTER you’re dead?

Last week I blogged about Chime’s issues with their third party partner Galileo going down, blocking payments and cards for their five million users for a short time. I made the comment: I would still claim that using cloud native third party partners in a …

Some banks get IT

I’m acutely aware that so many people write and talk about how big banks are dumb and stupid and don’t get digital, that I try to avoid that mantra personally. People do accuse me of being a bank basher, but I’d rather say that I’m …

PSD2, Open Banking and Beyond

I’ve a number of great friends in the industry, and enjoy their company and contribution. One of those friends is Gijs Boudewijn, Chair of the Payment Systems Committee at the European Banking Federation who kindly quoted me in his recent presentation on Open Banking. He has …

The Gruffalbank

My children are big fans of The Gruffalo. If you’re not familiar with The Gruffalo, it’s the story about a mouse who might get eaten by threatening creatures like a Fox, an Owl or a Snake, but makes up a fictional character who could actually …

 

And the top news headlines this week are …

Citi to withdraw from two-thirds of FX platforms - Financial Times
Market’s third biggest dealer is whittling down its list of third-party price aggregators

Lloyds Bank creates inheritance mess for hundreds of bereaved families after wills storage blunder - Daily Mail
Hundreds of bereaved families could be forced to unravel estates wound up years ago after Lloyds Banking Group discovered a vast trove of old wills it could not match to customers.

Quinn takes his turn at reshaping HSBC - Financial Times
Interim chief has set out on familiar path and is planning to go the distance

Why passwords don't work, and what will replace them - BBC
Passwords can be insecure, easy to lose and easier to forget, so can new tech protect us?

Revealed: the bank accounts thousands are switching to - Which?
Nationwide, HSBC, NatWest, Monzo and Starling Bank gained the most new current account customers between 1 April and 30 June 2019, according to new data from Bacs.

Lloyds and Halifax online banking down as 'thousands' struggle to access accounts - Daily Mirror
Lloyds and Halifax online banking have been down with reports of thousands complaining they are experiencing issues.

The World's Most Expensive Bank Limits Staff Water to Cut Costs - Bloomberg
Weeks after Armand Wahyudi Hartono became the vice president director of Indonesia’s largest non-state bank, he noticed how staff were leaving half-empty glasses of water after work.

Who are the big winners in the bank switching war? - Financial Times
The latest data about how many UK consumers are switching bank accounts — and which banks they are changing allegiance to.

As profits dwindle, HSBC plans a radical overhaul - Economist
Europe’s largest bank has been hit by the trade wars and Brexit; but its woes point to deeper problems

HSBC restructuring plans fuel fears of job cuts - BBC
Europe's largest bank says the performance in some parts of its business has not been acceptable.

 

 

Chris Skinner Author Avatar

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...

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