Case Studies

A few years ago, I was invited to talk with Equitable Bank in Canada about digital banking. Since then, they’ve launched their digital bank called EQ Bank. So I was pleased when Simon Wahl, who heads up marketing at Flinks, sent me a podcast interview with Andrew Moor, EQ Bank’s …

A regular discussion of mine has resurfaced in recent days: is the branch dead? Why it has returned is due to the announcement of Santander closing a fifth of its UK branch network: The Spanish-owned bank, which has one of the largest high street networks in Britain, will shut 140 branches, leaving …

Wired are really good at writing long, wordy essays on things they find of interest. I enjoy them, but not everyone has half an hour to read their musings. Therefore, as it covers my favourite FinTech firm Stripe, here’s a 1,500 abridged version of their 16 page, 5,000 word original …

As I travel around, I find different cultures fascinating Some are open, some are closed; some are welcoming, some are distrusting; some feel comfortable, some feel weird; some feel nice, some feel strict; and so on. A lot of the feeling you have about a country is a mixture of …

I’m working on my next book already. Digital Human only came out a few months ago, and here I am off already on a new one. I’m not going to share too much about it yet, as it won’t come out for two years, except to give you some clues on …

It’s September 14. It’s exactly ten years since Lehman Brothers collapsed. It’s ten years since the touchpaper was lit that sparked the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). It’s exactly ten years since I landed in Vienna for Sibos 2008 on Sunday, September 14 2008, to find voicemail after voicemail asking for commentary …

One other thing struck me as the discussions fired away in Shanghai at Lang Di … is China going to haemorrhage and bring down the world’s financial systems … or is that just what the Western media would like us to think? The reason I raise it is that I …

I enjoyed the LendIt conference in Shanghai, and wrote a few notes. In particular, I enjoyed hearing the story of XWBank as told by Jiang Hai, the Vice Chairman. His presentation was in Chinese but, from the simultaneous translation and slides, I picked up some interesting stats. To begin with, …

I wasn’t going to post this blog but the more it sits in my head, the more I felt I had to write it. Like everyone I expect, I was really shocked by the Genoa Morandi bridge collapse that killed 43 people this month. The idea of driving happily along …

I sometimes think I’m too harsh on the financial community, with my continual banter about core systems change, lack of digital leadership, inability to see how critical digital is to their future and the impact FinTech is making on global financial structures. I sound like a broken record and rarely …

Last week, our good friend Dave Birch posted a great blog about the Amazonisation of Banking, most of which I agreed with. So I asked Dave if I could repost it here and he said “yes, of course”. Thanks Dave. Enjoy! The Amazonisation of Banking… …is very different from Amazon being …

I met a Washington insider this week. During the banter, I mentioned how much better the European authorities are at beating up the US tech giants than the Americans. This is illustrated well by the recent New York Times feature on Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s competition commissioner. Ms. Vestager, 50 and …

A month ago, I blogged about the problems at TSB when implementing the change-over of their core systems. Yes, core systems replacements are challenging, but they’re not risky when done right. Unfortunately, TSB’s change-over shows all the marks of how to get it wrong. Not only has it been highly …

I just listened to a presentation by Nick Thompson, editor-in-chief at Wired, about all things in the future of tech. A lot of it was focused upon Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning towards the end, but the first half was interesting as it focused upon why there is a backlash against Silicon …

Banks are trusted guardians of our money. As long as our money is safe, then we trust them. It’s when our money is breached or lost that banks misbehave, which is why the 2008 financial crisis was so concerning. The run on Northern Rock and Bear Stearns were terrible moments …