The Finanser’s Week: 16th November 2020 – 22nd November 2020

The main blog discussions this week include …

Brace yourself for the Great Unlock

Way back in March 2020 – what month is it now? – I said that lockdown would be a challenge for all. Obviously. Now, so many months later – what year is it now? – it is clear that has challenged all. Personally, I see …

And when the Great Unlock happens, what happens to challengers?

As I ponder the world and everything, this article by Jemima Kelly in The Financial Times keeps coming back to me: The virus has crushed the challenger bank dream In it she says things like: There comes a time in your life that you realise …

The Elephant in the bedroom

I still haven’t managed to get rid of the elephant in the room. In fact, it’s worse now, as he’s moved into the bedroom in the evenings. It makes it really hard to sleep. Yes, I need to sleep on the bed too, but find …

Embedded or autonomous finance?

I’m doing a bit of research work with various companies, one of whom is Salesforce. It’s interesting, as so many people talk today about embedded finance but Salesforce talk about autonomous finance. What is autonomous finance? Namer Aljazrawi, global head of Strategy & Operations for Financial …

“Necessity is the mother of invention”

I’ve never thought about it much but the saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention” … came back to me today. This came back to me because I was reading an interesting description of what happened in 1815. Do you remember that year? Of course …

The issue with Deutsche Bank

Is Deutsche Bank a scrambled egg of banking? I’ve talked about Deutsche Bank for some years. Originally with respect but, increasingly, with disdain. Most recently, I’ve used them as an illustration of a struggling bank, worth far less than an innovative start-up like Stripe. The …

And the main news headlines are ….

Google moves into Venmo and bank territory with checking accounts and updated payment app - CNBC
Google is moving deeper into consumer finance. The tech giant will let users open bank accounts, pay friends and manage budgets through a new version of its Google Pay app rolling out Wednesday.

NAB closes all bank branches due to 'physical security threat' - 9News
The National Australia Bank has been forced to close all bank branches due to a "physical security threat".

Bank of England: Banks have to adjust to digital currencies - Coingeek
The Bank of England will not protect commercial banks against the impact of digital currencies, the BoE deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe has stated. Rather, these banks must adjust to the emergence of digital currencies and find a way to stay relevant.

Co-op Bank reveals takeover talks with US private equity buyer - The Guardian
News prompts speculation that UK banking sector is heading for a wave of merger and takeover deals The Co-operative Bank is in takeover talks with a US private equity firm, as speculation builds that the UK banking sector is heading for a wave of merger and takeover deals. The bank

Spanish bank BBVA in merger talks with smaller rival Sabadell - Financial Times
Spain’s second-biggest bank BBVA is in merger talks with its smaller domestic rival Sabadell as consolidation in the Spanish banking sector steps up a gear

Making banking better for billions with next-gen technology - Wired
Digital transformation lets the boldest banks reimagine themselves – and Temenos is powering the changemakers by enabling customer-centric services and lasting relationships

Britain decouples from EU with delay to bank and investment rules - Reuters
New capital rules for banks and investment firms will be implemented at the start of 2022, six months later than originally indicated to give industry more time to prepare, the British authorities said on Monday.

How Chime Is Dominating Digital Banking - Forbes
Chime, which recently announced a $485 million Series F funding round that valued the company at $14.5 billion, has a 35% share of all digital bank checking accounts.

Report Finds Only 7% of Banks Have Deployed Digital Transformation at Scale - FinTech Times
Only 7% of respondent banks have deployed digital transformation initiatives at scale with commensurate benefits. Further, many banks have shown a dip in their self-perception this year, with only 9% saying they were innovation pioneers, compared to 14% last year.

Did Deutsche Bank Fund Auschwitz, Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and ISIS? - Snopes
Deutsche Bank has acknowledged that they provided loans to companies that built Auschwitz; Deutsche Bank has lent over two billion dollars to the Trump Organization; Deutsche Bank courted Jeffrey Epstein as a client, and he operated several ventures with the bank as his primary financial institution following his 2008 conviction for underage prostitution.