The Finanser’s Week: 3rd August 2020 – 9th August 2020

The main blog headlines are …

The world after #coronavirus

During this lockdown, it’s easy to get a bit down. The constant news of deaths and corona cases; the arguments between liberals and conservatives; the debate over whether the government acted early enough, fast enough, good enough; the rage over those breaking the rules and …

What’s the problem with COBOL?

I’m always ready to see both sides of the fence. In fact, I would rather see both sides of the fence than just my side. My side is biased and tainted by my senses and inputs. I realised that recently when I blogged about Hong …

Banking is nothing to do with relationships, it’s all about trust

I blogged in April that banking is nothing to do with relationships, it’s about secrets. It’s more than this though, it’s about trust. Can I trust you with my secrets? This came home to me as, since then, a few people pulled me up over …

This place needs an enema and oh, here it is!

I was on a call the other day and Nick Ogden, serial entrepreneur, made the comment that the pandemic had been like a digital enema for the world. This town needs an enema! True. The digitalisation impact of coronavirus is unquantified for the future, but …

The Karaoke Challenge: Gold digger

It seems my Karaoke Challenge is proving successful so far, with many readers asking me to cover a song they think would be funny with my quirky twist. Whilst I’m getting all of these requests, I’ll keep up my feeble attempts to entertain until I’m …

And the main news headlines are ….

Wells Fargo to cut consultancy spend after internal backlash - Financial Times
Chief’s plans target $1bn work done by consultants and will include cuts to thousands of jobs

Bank of England to cut interest rates to zero in November - City AM
The BoE is likely to pursue a package of interest rate cuts and quantitative easing in November amid the pandemic and threat of a no-deal Brexit, according to the Bank of America.

Five surprising facts about inequality in the UK - BBC
Although the gap in wages is narrowing, inequalities in wealth across the UK are rising, a report suggests.

Google to offer co-branded accounts with eight US banks - Finextra
Eight US banks have teamed up with Google to launch mobile-first bank accounts within the Google Pay app.

Difficult second decade ahead for Metro Bank - The Telegraph
Troubled challenger snaps up peer-to-peer lender Ratesetter for just £2.5m in bid to expand

A global debt crisis is looming – how can we prevent it? | Joseph Stiglitz - Guardian
There is an urgent need for wide-ranging debt relief in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic While the Covid-19 pandemic rages, more than 100 low- and middle-income countries will still have to pay a combined $130 bn in debt service this year – around half of which is owed to

Bakery manager sacked for using own bank card to help elderly customers blocked from paying with cash - The Independent
A long-serving manager of a bakery has been fired for “gross misconduct” because she had been accepting cash from elderly customers without bank cards and using her own debit card to pay.

Lloyds bank manager 'sacked for helping customer open mail' - BBC
An 86-year-old man whose bank manager was sacked after she helped him open his post and pay his bills has described the decision as "horrendous".

Monzo’s losses double as popular UK digital bank warns of pandemic uncertainty - CNBC
British digital bank Monzo said Thursday that its annual losses more than doubled and warned its ability to continue operating had become more uncertain due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Canary Wharf Group recalls staff to halt banking exodus - The Telegraph
Economists are growing increasingly concerned that Canary Wharf and the City of London are still ghost towns