The Finanser’s Week: 30th March 2020 – 5th April 2020

The main blog headlines are …

Are the big banks failing the people?

I wouldn’t usually blog on a Saturday, but these are exceptional times and these are exceptional ideas. I’ve already seen some incredible innovation from start-ups looking to help those in need. For example, I listened to the ideas of Curl on Thursday who are running …

Everything FinTech Asia, with contributions from Ant Financial and WeBank

There’s a new edition of The FinTech Times that has just been released. It was designed to coincide with the Spring events in Asia that would be kicking off round about now but, as most of you now know, all events have been postponed. Nevertheless, …

Trillions of dollars of #coronavirus aid appears … from where?

These are extraordinary times. No one can remember anything like this, except maybe those over the age of 80. The last time anything like today’s world happened was the Second World War but, as I said the other day, they were fighting each other. We …

Banks questions about doing digital transformation

I did a presentation to a conference via video link the other day. Slido allowed audience members to ask questions through the presentation, and the list of questions at the end was quite extensive. I didn’t get time to answer all of them, but here’s …

Doing Digital: Presentation, Slides, Video, Transcript [FREE]

I don’t know how you guys are holding up, but I’m finding myself on lots of videoconferences, even delivering a keynote in Tokyo the other day from my home office in Poland. The event was recorded and so I thought I’d share the video and …

Banks agree a global package of services for those hit by coronavirus

I don’t usually share press releases, but this one is too important to hold back. PRESS RELEASE THIS RELEASE IS UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 23:59 MARCH 31, 2020 [BASEL, SWITZERLAND, MARCH 31 2020] Banking system works out how to respond to coronavirus crisis in massive, global, …

 

And the main news headlines are …

130K inquiries, 1K loans: why UK government had to tweak help for small firms - Guardian
Original coronavirus scheme was fiddly, slow and rested too heavily on banks’ judgment Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage What was wrong with the government’s first version of its emergency loan package for small businesses? The problem is vividly illustrated by this statistic: only 983 companies have

Now the world faces two pandemics – one medical, one financial | Robert Shiller - Guardian
Coronavirus fears are feeding financial and economic anxiety and vice versa. Breaking the cycle will not be easy, but it is possible Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage We are feeling the anxiety effects of not one pandemic but two. First, there is the Covid-19 pandemic, which

Banks paid millions in bonuses weeks before ban on cash rewards - The Guardian
Majority of payouts already in executives’ accounts before UK dividend axe, say sources Millions of pounds of bank bonuses were paid out weeks before the Bank of England banned British lenders from offering cash rewards to their most senior executives as the coronavirus crisis escalates. In an intervention that sent

Wall Street’s debt machine: why everyone is watching bank exposure to CLOs - Financial Times
The golden rule of structured finance revealed in today’s lead note

Six in 10 UK firms have no more than three months of cash left - Guardian
British Chambers of Commerce poll reveals scale of companies at risk of collapse amid coronavirus lockdown Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Business leaders have warned that British companies are running out of time to stay afloat amid the coronavirus outbreak, after a survey showed a majority

Big banks left hanging after ‘disaster’ in risky loan market - Financial Times
Wobbles in collateralised loan obligations pose problems for lenders

Panic buying on wane as online shopping takes over, says bank - The Guardian
Starling says peak supermarket shopping due to coronavirus was two weekends ago Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage There is an early sign that supermarket panic buying may be on the wane, if figures from the online bank Starling are an accurate guide to how shoppers are

JPMorgan plans to raise up to $10 billion for alternative investments: source - Reuters
JPMorgan Chase & Co's alternative investments unit is looking to raise up to $10 billion to boost its spending power in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Jeff Bezos sold $3.4bn of Amazon stock just before Covid-19 collapse - Guardian
As trillions of dollars were wiped off stock markets some of the world’s richest got lucky C oronavirus – latest global updates See all our coronavirus coverage Millions of people across the world have lost their jobs, and trillions of dollars have been wiped off the value of stock markets.

'Hell is coming': how Bill Ackman's TV interview tanked the markets and made him $2.6bn - Guardian
US hedge fund manager’s doom-laden TV appearance about coronavirus crisis sparked frenzied selling Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage “Hell is coming,” the billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman told millions of Americans in a 28-minute near-hysterical TV interview 10 days ago. He said the US was