I recently started to worry that people might think I have some sort of arrangement with Ant Financial to publicly endorse them, as I’m such a fan-boy. I talk about what Alibaba, Ant Financial and Alipay is doing in every presentation, blog about them a lot and am thoroughly enraptured …

Things we’re reading today include …. I knew the bank would spend any amount to crush me’ Deutsche Bank launches £3m-plus mortgages May I have a word about… the brave new world of banking and fintech | Jonathan Bouquet Sweeping reform needed after Brexit, says French regulator More than a …

The main blog headlines are … M&A … Murder & Assassination I was having a breakfast meeting with a banking friend who had recently been through a tortuous experience. His start-up had been acquired by a major traditional bank, and it ended with blood on the floor. The start-up got …

I write a lot about FinTech payments, lending, roboadvice and such like. But there’s been a strong bubbling trend underneath all this that has not gone unnoticed. I’ve just not blogged about it enough. SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE People talk a lot about finance for SMEs – small to medium enterprises …

Things we’re reading today include … Did Deutsche Bank sweep possible money laundering by Trump under the rug? Step raising $22m led by Stripe Visualizing the Importance of Trust to the Banking Industry China’s ‘mini-Lehman’ moment to spur smaller bank consolidation Prosecutors suspect 70 Deutsche Bank managers in dividend tax …

I’ve been finding it increasingly frustrating on my travels, thanks to one of my credit card companies. My travelling depends on two credit cards: a bank issued corporate MasterCard and American Express. The reason I carry these two is that the MasterCard works across Europe, where quite a few countries …

Things we’re reading today include … Next Bank of England governor must serve the whole of society Standard Chartered shows it’s a bank of action against illegal poaching ‘Bad bank’ repays £50bn bailout loan ‘Bad bank’ repays £50bn bailout loan The green bank for kids – set up by a …

I had an interesting discussion about hiring technology people into banks the other day. The challenge of finding top coders is a big one, as there’s an awful lot of other firms to join out there. You could join a hot FinTech unicorn like Monzo, SoFi, Stripe, Ant Financial, Ping …

Things we’re reading today include … TV duo Ant and Dec ‘open their own bank’ Nigerian dictator’s £211 million seized from bank account in Channel Islands Biggest banks brace for trillion pound losses triggered by climate breakdown Analysts tell Deutsche Bank boss to stop ‘tinkering’ Chinese banks’ uphill struggle to …

When did FinTech become FinTech? When did technology in finance become cool? I guess the first thing is to define FinTech, which I did badly four years ago. I say badly because my definition back then was: FinTech [is] a new market that integrates finance and technology. This new market …

Things we’re reading today include … Pensions must do right thing on climate change, says minister Alphabet shares slide 6% on possible DoJ antitrust probe A crypto Buffett lunch is on the cards. Poor Warren Buffett. Fed advised to talk plainly and carry a big stick ahead of conference ‘All …

I was having a breakfast meeting with a banking friend who had recently been through a tortuous experience. His start-up had been acquired by a major traditional bank, and it ended with blood on the floor. The start-up got squeezed into the Empire, and it literally was like something from …

The main blog headlines are … Earth’s future is all down to the banks I’ve been struggling for a while now. My struggle is that I love flying around the world, seeing new places, meeting new people, finding new things … but I hate polluting the planet. This was brought …

I’ve been struggling for a while now. My struggle is that I love flying around the world, seeing new places, meeting new people, finding new things … but I hate polluting the planet. This was brought to a head this week in a back-to-back meeting on sustainable finance that made …

Things we’re reading today include … Monzo apologises for bank transfer problems HSBC Plans Hundreds of Investment Bank Job Cuts Revolut is the most complained-about small online bank Metro Bank shares slide as fraud investigations launched Raphaels Bank fined £1.9m for poor outsourcing controls Smoothing out banking irregularities has been …