Things we’re reading today include … Deutsche Bank Plans About Half of 18,000 Job Cuts in Germany Baptism of fire for new RBS boss: Alison Rose faces court battle over claim that bank trashed small businesses Race to become UK digital banking leader hots up Unicef now accepting donations through …

I had a few people haul me up over my critique of Nicholas Megaw’s article in the FT last week, including Nicholas himself. I realised post the post that the issue is definitions. In general, the term challenger banks has become accepted to be used in FinTech circles as banks …

It’s been interesting to watch the development of Facebook’s Libra project. As I expected, regulators hate it and are asking lots of questions about it. Most seem to want to ban it. And now PayPal has dropped out of the original founding team, with Visa and MasterCard rumoured to follow. …

Things we’re reading today include … ‘I’m being jailed for four emails from 12 years ago’ HSBC to cut up to 10,000 jobs in drive to slash costs: FT Ex-Barclays executives face fraud trial over Qatar rescue Online wealth manager Nutmeg reveals widening losses Libra: PayPal first to drop out …

The main blog headlines are … Banks are product not customer focused I walked into a grocer’s store the other day. The store was resplendent with fruits of all colours and continents. There were red, yellow and green peppers; carrots, courgettes and cauliflowers; oranges, apples and bananas of both large …

In case you missed it 11FS, as well as doing podcasts, have made a movie. The movie is all about the 11 years since the financial crisis hit and how the conditions led to the rise of FinTech and, specifically, UK FinTech. It’s an hour long, so set aside some …

Things we’re reading today include … Small banks must step up if they want to keep their small-business customers PayPal on the verge of quitting Facebook’s Libra project It has been a torrid week for Indian banks Wealth taxes have moved up the political agenda ‘I was scammed by a …

I walked into a grocer’s store the other day. The store was resplendent with fruits of all colours and continents. There were red, yellow and green peppers; carrots, courgettes and cauliflowers; oranges, apples and bananas of both large and small; watermelons, honey melons and mangoes; green grapes, red grapes and …

I don’t get The Financial Times editorials these days. Last month, they published a ridiculous article about challenger banks eating the banker’s lunch – which I covered here as being the crumbs off the table of the banker’s lunch – and this month, they publish a totally contrary view that the …

Things we’re reading today include … Visa, Mastercard reconsider backing Facebook’s Libra: WSJ Too big to lend? JPMorgan cash hit Fed limits, roiling U.S. repos ‘Depressing’ gender pay gap widens in fund management firms UBS economist reinstated after China ‘pig’ comments Credit Suisse rocked by suicide as spy scandal deepens  …

I’ve heard many ex-bankers who joined a FinTech start-up, challenger bank or similar, say that they’ve achieved more in the past year than in the past decade. They claim to have achieved more with £1 million than they would have achieved before with £100 million in a bank. They’ve developed …

Things we’re reading today include … Fund managers to be made to warn investors in hard-to-sell assets Christine Lagarde must jump-start change in Europe’s economy Euroclear/H&F: swarm clouds Revolut points to ‘viability’ after increasing revenues Wonga’s legacy of nearly 400,000 mis-sold loans PayPal is first foreign company to win Chinese …

Being conference season, there were many announcements in the past week about headlines companies wanted to gain with their innovations. One of the main headline grabbers for me came from R3. These included: Mastercard partners R3 … R3 and Infosys complete blockchain trade finance trial Wells Fargo’s Stablecoin ‘Faster, Cheaper’ Than SWIFT …

The main blog headlines are … The purpose-driven series: Greed is good … or is it? There’s a comment that has stayed with me for a long time. It goes along the lines of if you’re earning $10 million a year then spending $10,000 is only the same as someone …

I’ve been reflecting for a while on the shift of power from America to China, as those who read my musings will know. This is typified by the latest Netflix offering American Factory, backed by the Obamas. It shows the cultural clash between East and West and the rise of …