The main blog discussions this week include …
It’s all about supply and demand … and right now everyone is demanding from home
My father was a teacher. His expertise focused upon economics. Does it show? I am an economics fan, and studied consumer economics as a specialist subject as part of my university course. The main thing I remember now – quite a few years later – …
Demanding from home means stores are dead?
One thing that is clear about demand and supply is, when you think about where we are today, there is little demand for anything. We are all staying at home – and so the only demand is what can be delivered to the home – …
Reasons to be cheerful, blockheads
I wrote my blog the other day with the title Why I’m fed up with blockchain. It amused me to see how much backlash it created, particularly on LinkedIn where there are over sixty comments as of today. In fact one guy called Ajit even …
Everyone was talking about a V-shaped recovery in March 2020. Then it went onto a dialogue about whether it might be U-shaped or even W-shaped. Now, some economists are talking about a K-shaped economy. Some say this is all about the haves and have nots – …
Forget the MoJo and get the GloLo (the Elephant returns)
I went back and talked to the elephant. The elephant in the room. The elephant I hadn’t noticed until, one morning, he was there. The elephant that says he’s the economy. Me: Hello again, how are you? The Elephant: Not great, how are you? Me: …
And the main news headlines are ….
Metro Bank balance sheet weak - Evening Standard
METRO Bank today warned that its balance sheet remains somewhat shaky and failed to update the City on whether it is presently profitable or not.
The end of free bank accounts is bad news for Monzo and its rivals - Wired
Banks might be forced to charge millions of people to keep their bank accounts open. For fintechs fighting to break even, it could be fatal
Visa and Mastercard accused of charging 'excessive' fees - BBC
Retail groups say the fees charged by credit card firms have almost doubled in two years.
Monzo launches £180-a-year premium account despite downturn - The Guardian
Digital bank says it is confident its mainly younger customers will pay for extra services The digital bank Monzo has launched a premium account, complete with a metal payment card, as it tries to convince more customers to pay for its services. Customers can pay £180 a year, or £15
Machines to 'do half of all work tasks by 2025' - BBC
Millions more jobs will be lost to robots with Covid accelerating the trend, says the World Economic Forum.
Trump maintains a Chinese bank account, says NYT - BBC
Mr Trump, who sparked a trade war with Beijing, is critical of US firms doing business in China.
Banks are far more exposed to climate change than they’re disclosing - Market Watch
Financial sector could face losses from interbank lending and ‘fire sales’ of distressed high-carbon assets, Ceres report says, but it’s bank exposure outside of fossil fuels that’s being ignored
Visa and Mastercard accused of charging 'excessive fees' - BBC
Retail groups say the fees charged by credit card firms have almost doubled in two years.
City trader tells court of 83 instances of alleged bullying and racial harassment - Guardian
Opeyemi Olayanju claims constructive dismissal by TP ICAP and now wants job at rival A City trader who is locked in a legal battle after resigning from a job has filed court papers in Dubai alleging he was subjected to 83 instances of “bullying, harassment and racial discrimination” over three
Bank of England boss: Best to 'act aggressively' - BBC
BoE governor Andrew Bailey said aggression rather than caution is best in the face of uncertainty.
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...
