Digital Bank

Yesterday, the European Union kicked off the digital euro proposals focused upon ensuring cash is still accepted, whilst complementing cash with a digital version of the euro. The two proposals are summarised as: A legislative proposal on the legal tender of euro cash to safeguard the role of cash, ensure it is widely accepted as a means…

The username and password began to appear with technologies back in the 1960s although some might say they even date back two thousand years. Over the past half century we have also added more security systems for banking. The start of change was when we introduced a 4-digit PIN for getting cash. Funnily enough the…

I hesitate to write this, as it is controversial. But then I am not afraid to confront controversy. After the tragic implosion of Titan, the OceanGate submersible submarine that was doing the deep dive to the Titanic … … emails came to light where the founder of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, flagrantly disregarded warnings that the…

I stumbled upon a podcast the other day. It intrigued me as it’s all about building a blueprint for a better business and, in episode 2, the host – Charles Wookey (nothing to do with Star Wars) – had managed to catch the head of NatWest Group, Dame Alison Rose, about how to create a purpose-driven…

Every now and again, a newspaper produces a piece that is amusing, interesting and enlightening about banking. The Daily Telegraph did just this the other day and I liked it so much that I’ve stolen it to reproduce here. Enjoy … The true horrors of British bank bureaucracy Telegraph readers showcase the true horrors of…

For twenty years, I’ve been very close to the harmonisation strategies in Europe for a single financial centre structure. From UCITS to MiFID to SEPA and the PSD, it’s all very close to my heart … as it is with David Doyle, a good friend and an EU Financial Services Regulatory Expert (speaking at the…

Marc Andreesson of Andreesson Horowitz fame, the leading investor in fintech start-ups, published a long piece on how AI will save us the other day. It is well worth a read, but it is a long read (about 30 minutes) so, if you don’t have the time, here is a short summation of what he…

FedNow is launching in July, as mentioned in March. Interestingly, there has been a huge debate about this as Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Junior tweeted: The Fed just announced it will introduce its “FedNow” Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in July. CBDCs grease the slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny. While cash transactions are…

My friend Dave Birch posted an insightful piece on Forbes the other day. I liked it so much that I asked him if I could share it here and he kindly said yes! Enjoy … The Impact Of ChatGPT And Open Banking Cannot Be Underestimated by Dave Birch, Author, advisor and global commentator on digital financial services….

In this discussion of centralised versus decentralised, the delineation of physical versus digital assets becomes interesting. For example, is it better to have a Picasso painting on your wall at home or an NFT (non-fungible token) of a Picasso picture? It’s an interesting discussion as, when you have the physical asset, you know that you…