Crime

Oct 15, 2012

75% of banks aren’t checking for money launderers

I got a shock the other day. We were discussing transaction processing with one of the banks, when the head of transaction processing turned to me and said: “Chris, you know what? We now have more people checking what we are doing than we have doing what we are doing!” I think I was supposed…

Sep 7, 2012

So how should a bank protect itself from hacktivists and cybercrime?

The real challenge for the banking system is how to protect their firewalls from attack by hacktivists, goverworms and cybercriminals and, conversely, how to deliver easy access to online banking for their clients and customers. It’s a real dilemma. On the one hand, everyone wants mobile access to his or her account balances and to…

Sep 6, 2012

Cyberwars: a far bigger threat than hacktivists

Whilst consumers are electing the next major political leader via crowdsourced populism, governments and companies begin developing cyberarms. This cyberwarfare is already rife, with a host of malware targeting middle eastern nations (see end of blog entry). What is obvious from these developments is that cyberattacks are the new form of warfare that evades direct…

Aug 15, 2012

Who are you f-ing Americans?

Standard Chartered paid off the new Sheriff of New York City, Benjamin Lawsky, to the tune of $340 million to get rid of the pest. As Investec's commentator Ian Gordon said yesterday, they “acted with pragmatism and integrity in the face of extreme provocation”. What really gets me here is the whole USA versus the rest…

Jul 3, 2012

In through the out door

So, unlike my prediction of just yesterday, the Diamond geezer has gone. Like a revolving door Marcus Agius, the Chair of Barclays Bank, resigned on Monday. Now, two days later, Bob Diamond has resigned and Agius is back. What is going on? Well, first there has been a massive public and political backlash against Barclays…

Jun 19, 2012

Does this house believe the City is full of greed and corruption?

A short while ago, I mentioned that the Financial Services Club were to debate: This house believes that The City is full of greed and corruption. We had the debate last week, and it was excellent with Ian Fraser and Nick Kochan, two enigmatic investigative journalists of our time, proposing the motion. Ian Fraser (left) is an…

Jun 11, 2012

The whistleblower who sued Citibank, and won

Just been reading this month’s Bloomberg Markets, with the lead story: “Woman Who Couldn’t Be Intimidated By Citigroup Wins $31 Million”. The story proves to be an intriguing in-depth analysis (4,000 words) and is not an indictment of Citigroup per se, but of the corporate mentality of any global business today. You may disagree with…

Jun 8, 2012

Toxic Debt or Credit Crunch: the App

I was just alerted to a new game app for the iPad and iPhone on the iTunes store. It’s called “Toxic Debt or Credit Crunch”. I downloaded the app and started playing it just to make sure it’s real. The game opened with the story detail: Planet Shred was once the finance capital of the…

May 2, 2012

There is no such thing as identity theft

So I just had a meeting with a couple of heavyweights in the cybersecurity field. These guys are bank defenders, and very good at their jobs. Their mission: to keep cyberattacks to an acceptable level. Acceptable is a few basis points of total credit, let’s say under 0.7%. Fine. But it’s getting harder every day,…

May 2, 2012