The Finanser’s Week: 20th January – 26th January 2025

This week’s main blog discussions include …

Digital Trust: How do you know you are you?

For many years now, we have been talking about digital identity. The core is how to prove you are you. You have to be identified, verified, authenticated and approved. You would think with so many layers of monitoring access that everyone online in the financial system could be trusted. So, how come there are criminals,…

The future of cash

I had a nice conversation the other day with a research group about the future of cash. Here’s a quick summary of the conversation. The conversation explores the future of cash and digital currencies, highlighting different demographic preferences and the challenges in transitioning to a cashless society. Demographic Tiers: There are three main demographic groups: tech-savvy…

Does growth through M&A work anymore?

Since I started in finance, there’s been an interesting debate around whether firms can grow through organic growth or acquisitive growth. Most banks have consolidated over time to become the behemoths they are today. By way of example, just look at the history of JPMorgan Chase: Source: The Brand Hopper Or, as it surprises many…

Fintechs are building global platforms: what can banks do about it?

It’s funny how things go around and come around again. For years, I’ve been bemused why banks cannot merge and be successful across borders. There have been almost zero European bank mergers of any size that are cross-border and the few that exist – Santander, Unicredit, Nordea to name a few – have all found…

What does tomorrow’s city look like?

As someone focused upon the future, there are a few futuristic cities that astound me. Dubai is one, as I go there every year for a winter break, and recently visited the Museum of the Future.