Case Studies

Following on with our regular weekly interview the Finanser talks this week with Matthias Kröner, CEO and founder of Fidor Bank, Germany. Matthias Kröner has been CEO of Fidor Bank since 2006. He is responsible for investor relations, corporate communications, strategic development and communities. Fidor is an internet bank, its primary account …

Following our regular series of interviews, we turn this week to talk with Roberto Ferrari, the General Manager of CheBanca! and Board Member of Mediobanca Innovation Services.

Nicholas Carson of  Business Insider interviews Silicon Valley entrepreneur Wences Casares. Here's why bitcoin will be bigger than the internet "In Spanish, we have a saying that when a genius points at the moon, a fool looks at the finger. I find that happens a lot with bitcoin." —Wences Casares

Bitcoin still stirs up a huge debate about where it will go in the future; will it become institutionalised; what is the blockchain going to do to banking; and more.  In order to clarify the debate, we interviewed Jon Matonis, a renowned expert on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, to find out …

Following on with our regular weekly interview the Finanser talks this week with René Frijters, Founder and CEO of the Dutch digital bank Knab.   Knab is the digital first bank funded by Aegon.  In Aegon’s latest results summary, there are some interesting comments. Knab, Aegon's online bank in the …

Following on with our regular weekly interview, the Finanser talks this week with Soner Canko, CEO or BKM (Bankalararası Kart Merkezi), the ACH for Turkey.    BKM was established in 1990 as a partnership of public and private banks. Today, all the banks that issue a card and own a …

Starling Bank is the name of a new challenger bank being set up in London. The bank’s early days show how challenging the process of creating a new bank can be, as the Financial Times explains (see end of interview).  Nevertheless, there is grand ambition to shake up the banking …

Metro Bank launched into mainstream UK retail banking in July 2010 and has been growing rapidly.  As the first new retail bank for over a century, how is it fairing?  In the second of The Finanser Interviews we talk to Craig Donaldson, CEO of Metro Bank, to find out.

I’ve recently been interviewing a series of innovators and challengers in the banking system, and will publish an interview here on a regular basis with these visionaries.   In the first of The Finanser Interviews we talk to Mark Mullen, CEO and Co-Founder of Atom Bank and former CEO of First …

There’s one bank I regularly visit, which have their values emblazoned over their reception.  These values are: Respect Integrity Service Excellence Stewardship … or RISES for short. It’s nice, but I always have this cynical little buddy on my shoulder, shouting in my ear: “do you think they mean it?” …

I was going to keep quiet during this holiday week but, in the spirit of selfishness, I’m going to post a few blog entries about the Ukraine. Ukraine is a country I’ve not visited before, but was invited to fly over just before Christmas to run a discussion with Privatbank, …

Someone was attacking the premise of digital bank change the other day, by claiming it only refers to consumer banking.  Nothing is changing in corporate or investment banking, they claimed. Wrong. All areas of financial processes, products and services are being attacked by some new start-up company somewhere.  I realise …

As mentioned earlier this week, whilst in Turkey I visited with BKM, the interbank clearing system for low value payments. Owned by the largest 10 banks in Turkey, BKM opened for business in 1990 and now processes half of the transactions in the country. The other half are run on …

I recently chaired a dinner in Turkey. Turkey is one of the hotbeds for retail bank innovation, alongside Poland, in Europe (assuming you count Turkey as European). It was in Turkey that I first saw a strong and concerted push into contactless payments. Remember this ad for Garanti Bank:

I was lucky enough to visit with Metro Bank recently, and they gave me startling stats and insights to the emerging business. Launched in June 2010, Metro Bank has rapidly grown to 27 branches today, with a plan for 32 by the end of this year and 48 by the …