This week’s main blog discussions include … Is there a good way to shut a customer down? My mate Dave Birch wrote a Forbes piece the other day titled Unbank the Banked. I thought it was going to be a story about how banks are ejecting thousands of customers due …

I’ve recently shared a couple of quotes from years ago that gained a lot of social media traction. First, in 1953, Mark R. Sullivan of Pacific Telephone & Telegraph said: “In its final development, the telephone will be carried about by the individual, perhaps as we carry a watch today. …

Things we’re reading today include … NatWest faces fine over money laundering failings Square stock could rise by 25% U.S. banks expected to report mixed Q3 results, iffy loan outlook China’s Central Bank Governor Vows More Fintech Crackdown The Stanford University guide to China’s fintechs Will a bad bank fix …

I’ve been watching the headlines related to Joe Biden’s pick for the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). OCC is an interesting department, as it can issue national bank charters for US banks, and often runs into trouble. By way of example, under the previous …

Things we’re reading today include … NatWest snaps up kids banking FinTech RoosterMoney Will Personal Carbon Accounting Be The Breakthrough For Green Banking? Women in Fintech: Greatest Achievements with Chetwood Financial, Payl8er, Divido and Zumo We need a comptroller who can draw a line between banking and the rest of …

Talking of Open Banking, I hosted a dinner focused upon Open Banking and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) in London the other night. The conversation was with neobanks and challengers and was an interesting mix of old and young views. For example, someone opened by saying that BaaS and Open Banking has hardly delivered …

Things we’re reading today include … Wall Street’s Largest Bank Is Banning Business Travel For Unvaccinated Employees Bank Groups Unite Against Biden’s Pick for Key Regulatory Post Bitcoin hits $50,000 as Bank of America says cryptocurrency just in the ‘first inning’ US Bank launches bitcoin custody service as institutions race …

My mate Dave Birch wrote a Forbes piece the other day titled Unbank the Banked. I thought it was going to be a story about how banks are ejecting thousands of customers due to poor onboarding. Instead Dave wrote about the unbanked don’t necessarily need banks. It’s a good piece, …

Things we’re reading today include … Early investors in Revolut back London-based fintech Crezco in £3M funding Monzo moves ahead of rival fintechs and narrows gender pay gap Bank of America launches crypto research Can a post office be a bank? Challenger Bank Cheese To Accept Alternative Forms of Identification …

A year ago, Google announced a compelling new offer: “You’re lagging in technology. Your current vendors are years behind. Consumers think you’re irrelevant. We’re hip, we’re cool, we have all the latest technologies, Now, they’ve dumped it. Why? Most reports point to internal trouble and strife. For example, Ars Technica cited a report in Business …

Things we’re reading today include … Pandora papers: biggest ever leak of offshore data exposes financial secrets of rich and powerful How London Became a Global Center for Fintech and What U.S. Tech Hubs Can Learn From It Monzo withdraws US banking licence application Bank of America online banking system …

This week’s main blog discussions included … The day the old bank died For many years I’ve enjoyed talking about the origins of banking with the Medici’s in the Renaissance era. Amazingly, one bank has survived since then and I use them to talk about the oldest bank in the …

The financial marketplace is becoming incredibly diverse and niche. Instead of universal banks, we now have plug-and-play code. Some would call it an object-oriented market structure. The basics are that no one dominates this structure. Instead, there are boutique players at every level of the stratosphere. The universal provider is …

Things we’re reading today include … Digital bank fined by regulator due to weak anti-money laundering controls Central banks lay out operating manual for digital cash Will Regulators ‘De-Bank’ Challengers, Neos, Cryptos & Fintechs? Deutsche Bank to cut Europe branches as it refocuses on wealthy clients Basel reforms to further …

I was thinking about the day the old bank died, and thought the comment could be taken in a wider context: the day the old banks died. A lot of people want old banks to die, but they won’t. They’re the walking dead, in some cases, but there are also …