Digital Bank

I watch the Ukraine-Russia conflict with anguish. The loss of life and property is appalling, and the bombing seems relentless. But I wonder why we fight wars with bombs today, when we could just as easily fight with computers. If you bring the network down, you win. Suffice to say that in the Ukraine-Russia war,…

Technology markets in 2022 were decimated.  Tesla share price collapsed. Netflix stock has dropped more than 50% in the last year. Facebook is in freefall. Even TikTok might be in trouble. Oh, and cryptocurrencies lost 50%-80% in value. Will 2023 be better? I believe it will be and, continuing this week’s mop-up of the main…

Brushing FTX and the crypto winter to one side, a couple of other crypto-related headlines caught my attention recently. The first is America’s oldest bank, BNY Mellon (founded 1784), is offering digital custody services. BNY Mellon, America’s oldest bank, launches crypto service  The bank will store private keys to access the funds and provide the same bookkeeping…

There are so many people who have been saying banks are boring, unable to change, incapable of being truly digital and challenged by challenger banks and fintech. Yet, here we are, almost at the start of 2023, and all of the challengers and start-ups are begging for banks to work with them. What’s happened? In…

Here are this year’s 11 most-read blog items but, unlike previous year’s, they are not in order as it made more sense to list them by subject matter. Therefore, the placement is in parenthesis. Enjoy!   Banking in 2022: what’s going to happen? (#9) www.thefinanser.com/2022/01/banking-in-2022-whats-going-to-happen.html/ This was the forecast for banking made in January, using …

There are regular forecasts of the end of banking as we know it … “Digital wallets are the Kodak moment of banking” – @BrettKing, renowned banking futurist began our Financial Services Horizons webinar today with discussions on the future of banks and financial services in the region. Stay tuned for more insights over the next…

Thanks to David Birch, I just watched this one hour episode about the history and development of bank cards, hosted by Professor Hannah Fry on the BBC.   I’m well aware of how cards started which dates back to when Frank McNamara forgot his cash and check book and created Diners Club back in the…

It’s interesting how often I see the word disruption, or things like incumbent and old. And yet, after almost twenty years of such discussion, has the old incumbent been disrupted? It doesn’t seem that way, as borne out by two articles I picked up on this week: JP Morgan remains world’s biggest systemically important bank;…

I tried to make a payment … but it doesn’t work. Oh no ☹ So I called the bank. I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited ……

I’ve recently been dealing with a company that has historically been a good provider of service. I’ve used them for years. Suddenly, things broke down. The main issue is that they only provide a digital service now. There is no call centre – there used to be one; there’s now just an online service –…