From July 12, I will be chairing FinTech Week London. It’s my first time leaving home since February 2020, and a major moment as it’s also the first physical conference on FinTech that I’ve seen so far (Money 2020 and more to come). FinTechWeek London takes place from July 12-16 …

Things we’re reading today include … Korea’s Kakao Bank Seeks As Much as $2.3 Billion in IPO China setting pace in central bank digital currency Zopa Bank to make profit in its first year Mark Carney: stablecoins should have access to central bank balance sheet JPMorgan makes Brazilian retail banking …

The other day, UK police raided a property where they found £114 million ($150 million) of cryptocurrency. The raid was part of an AML investigation, but I was particularly struck by this comment from Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) Graham McNulty “There is an inherent link between money and violence.” Of …

Things we’re reading today include … Wall Street banks move across the pond in new threat to British lenders Starling boss Anne Boden embraces home working Australians Lost More to Bank Transaction Scams than to Bitcoin Payments in 2020 Mexican Billionaire Says His Bank Is ‘Working’ to Accept Bitcoin Binance: …

This week’s main blog discussions include … Why did HSBC dump their biggest corporate client? Talking about HSBC often drags me into political controversy. For example, when I criticised the bank for not making a stand over the Hong Kong protests, I got a lot of pushback. Frankly, I don’t like …

Just received Findexable’s annual report on FinTech hubs and developments, which finds San Francisco, London and New York as the key FinTech hubs of the world. Behind those cities, Montevideo (Uruguay), Hangzhou (China) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) are making great gains. What’s going on? Here’s the outline in the intro …

Things we’re reading today include … Deutsche Bank taps Oracle to simplify its IT, cut costs Bank of England loses a bulwark against groupthink Central banks step up fight against cryptocurrencies Detectives investigating money laundering seize crypto-currency worth £114 million Rivals see ‘fierce’ competition as UAE digital bank Zand prepares …

After talking about Tribe One, the Digital Gang, yesterday, who use words like: Autonomous, intelligent and connected Democratised, distributed and decentralised Platform, ecosystem and open Reliable, resilient and robust Vulnerable, questionable and fragile Environmental, sustainable and renewable I’m moving on to Tribe Two today: the Analogue Gang. These guys are …

Things we’re reading today include … Deutsche Bank Jumps Back Into Payments Through Joint Venture with Fiserv Here’s what to expect from banks when the Federal Reserve releases stress test results today Irish government to sell stake in Bank of Ireland Central bank digital currencies get full BIS backing Bank …

I was struck the other day by how many words are bandied about so much that they become meaningless. Then realised that many of these words fall into buckets. Then listed the buckets and they fell into two tribes: digital and analogue. The list is non-exhaustive and misses some bits …

Things we’re reading today include: This little-known payments start-up is now Europe’s third-biggest fintech World Bank vows to keep board apprised of climate action progress Where have all those central bank trillions gone? Inside Macquarie Bank’s data transformation journey China’s Central Bank Tells Alipay And Banks To Crackdown On Cryptocurrencies …

After blogging about involvement in USA/China dynamics yesterday, I thought it pertinent to share a timeline of activities today that place context around the whole case. I could add more, but don’t want to bore you …   2007.2: Huaying (Huawei) bought Skycom. Ms. Meng was the Corporate Secretary of Huaying. …

Things we’re reading today include … The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack Numbers of bank branches open have plummeted – and there are more cuts to come Bank of Scotland reveals ‘branch of the future’ in Edinburgh Another top Deutsche Bank technology hire left …

Talking about HSBC often drags me into political controversy. For example, when I criticised the bank for not making a stand over the Hong Kong protests, I got a lot of pushback. Frankly, I don’t like to dip my feet into political waters unless forced to and, in the spirit of …

Things we’re reading today include … Santander looks to muscle into European investment banking The new bank with £22bn to spend on levelling up and turning Britain green Lloyds Banking Group is set to be Britain’s first private landlord bank France targets City banks fed up with Covid curbs A …