Case Studies

What the Facebook IPO means for banks

I haven’t written much about social media lately.  The reason is that it’s now mainstream and dull.  When you're scanning future views, you’re not as bothered about Facebook and Twitter when everyone’s familiar with and using such services. Facebook's pervasiveness is well illustrated by the Facebook IPO  announcement, which gave a raft of good stats about how…

100 signatures

Bitcoin: immersive or subversive?

I’ve written a few bits about Bitcoin but it still confuses folks, as was clear from the debate we had about it at the Financial Services Club the other night. Donald Norman, co-founder of the Bitcoin Consultancy, presented the latest state of play in the currency … … and it led to one of the liveliest…

Donald Norman1

Taking a wallet onto a mobile doesn’t work

I discovered a fascinating report from Mobey Forum this morning. It was released this week, and says that “providing consumers with the convenience and functionality of mobile wallet technology will not be sufficient to drive mass-market adoption”. Mobey Forum – which describes itself as “the global bank-led industry association defining a prosperous mobile financial services…

Mobile chart

Is Bitcoin the future of money … or are we smoking dope?

Talking with some of the Financial Services Club sponsors last week, it is clear that there is still a debate raging about the future of cash.  Like the future of branches, which both Brett King and I discuss endlessly, cash is one of the other traditional bastions of the old guard of financial servicing. Yet…

Bitcoin

Is Bitcoin the future of money … or are we smoking dope?

Talking with some of the Financial Services Club sponsors last week, it is clear that there is still a debate raging about the future of cash.  Like the future of branches, which both Brett King and I discuss endlessly, cash is one of the other traditional bastions of the old guard of financial servicing. Yet…

Bitcoin

The real rip-off culture … is not Wonga? Part Two

One of the more outspoken reactions to my post on payday firms came from Wonga. Not surprising as my original headline was that “Wonga will wrestle with regulators”, and they will as the markets are pretty unregulated today.   A point I made last Friday.  I also mentioned last Friday that the original reason I wrote…

Wonga

The real rip-off culture … is not Wonga? Part Two

One of the more outspoken reactions to my post on payday firms came from Wonga. Not surprising as my original headline was that “Wonga will wrestle with regulators”, and they will as the markets are pretty unregulated today.   A point I made last Friday.  I also mentioned last Friday that the original reason I wrote…

Wonga

The real rip-off culture? Part One

Further to my write-up about Wonga the other day, I have been contacted by author and campaigner Steve Perry, who has been on the wrong side of the payday loans industry. Now don’t get me wrong.  I am NOT against payday loans firms or their operations (I actually admire Wonga's technology ops).  I AM against the…

PayDay UK

The real rip-off culture? Part One

Further to my write-up about Wonga the other day, I have been contacted by author and campaigner Steve Perry, who has been on the wrong side of the payday loans industry. Now don’t get me wrong.  I am NOT against payday loans firms or their operations (I actually admire Wonga's technology ops).  I AM against the…

PayDay UK

Vernon Hill on Metro Bank

We recently hosted Vernon Hill at the Financial Services Club. Vernon is the charismatic founder of Metro Bank UK and successful bank veteran in the USA, having built Commerce Bank from just one branch in the 1970s to a 435 branch behemoth that was sold for $8.5 billion in 2007. Vernon Hill was a fast-food…

VH-FSCLUB1