Blog Index

This week’s main blog discussions include … FinTech’s growing pains and toxic cultures I find it interesting reading the articles about toxic cultures at Revolut. If you Google “Revolut Culture”, the second search item is this one: “You’re nothing but a number to them with dollar signs attached.” That’s how …

This week’s main blog discussions included … We need to talk about crypto Crypto is in its usual rollercoaster mode with bitcoin prices halving in January, but then it did the same in January 2021. Regardless of this and, building on yesterday’s blog, there’s an interesting trend I’ve spotted, and …

This week’s main blog discussions include … A great list of central bank thinking about digital currencies (#CBDC) Madhvi Mavadiya, Head of Content at Finextra, just posted a great list of developments in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). She promises to keep it updated and the link is here. It …

This week’s main blog discussions include: How a bank’s IT systems allowed £100m a day of fraud NatWest, formerly Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), is a good example of a bank with rubbish IT. This was illustrated when I spotted the headline: NatWest fined $300 million for money laundering. They …

The last fortnight’s main discussions include: Welcome to 2022 I used to make predictions to start the year. I’m not doing that anymore, as everyone else is doing them. I will add a few thoughts at the end of this week’s series of blog entries but, for the moment, here’s …

As per normal, I look at the top blogs picked up by readers during the year. This year, maybe it’s me or maybe it’s them, the theme seems to be all about crypto … oh, and my April Fool’s joke.   #11 What will happen to bitcoin and crypto this …

This week’s blog discussions included … The importance of financial literacy “When I was a lad, I got four shillings and sixpence every week for pocket money.” “Luxury! I was whipped in two by my dad and lived in a shoebox by the motorway!” says my friend. OK, enough revival …

This week’s blog discussions included … What will happen with crypto next? I had a friend who bought a load of bitcoin for around $10 each and then sold them to buy a house. If he had kept them, he could have ten houses today. I have another friend who …

This week’s main blog discussions included … Twas the Night before Cryptmas As it is almost Christmas, I felt it necessary to rewrite the classic poem Twas the Night before Christmas. My version is Twas the Night before Cryptmas. Twas the Night before Cryptmas Twas the night before Cryptmas, when …

This week’s main blog discussions include … The end of the line I saw the news that landlines are due to be dead by 2025 in the UK. Shame? Nah, who uses a landline these days? Twenty years ago, we depended on dial-up lines for AOL. Today, with WiFi and …

This week’s main blog discussions include … FinTech? A flash in the pan? No, it’s worth a third of all banking I met with some friends the other day, who showed some stats that demonstrate that all FinTech is worth a third of all of the banking market worldwide. Source: CFTE’s Fintech …

This week’s main blog discussions include: $2 trillion a year sits rotting in bank accounts This headline caught my attention the other day: Bank loyalty costs savers £1.6 billion a year in missed interest The detail: There’s £246.5 billion ($340 billion) languishing in accounts paying no interest at all … …

This week was COP26 and so the Finanser had a two-track week. The usual updates, but also the COP updates. Here’s the usual track … Why challenger banks find it hard to challenge I was thinking about this article in The Telegraph saying what a rotten job supermarkets have made …

The blog’s main discussions this week included: COP26: what’s going on? The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) takes place in Glasgow from 31 October – 12 November 2021. Triodos Bank have selected five key events they feel worth attending so, here they are: ‘Finance Day’ – Wednesday 3 November For the …

This week’s main blog discussions include … Do you see the point of “Squid Game”? Like most people, I’ve watched and enjoyed Squid Game on Netflix (the original language version with subtitles, avoid the dubbed version), but did you get the point? I’ll avoid giving away too much, in case …