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Digital Bank

Is this a partnership or a one-night stand?

I was fascinated to see a lawsuit in America where a FinTech start-up (Onsa) claims a financial incumbent (Franklin Templeton) has stolen their ideas: Franklin Resources Inc. destroyed a blockchain startup to get its technology and a “short cut” into the booming fintech market, a group of investors claimed in a lawsuit. The startup, Onsa, claims…

FinTech? A flash in the pan? No, it’s worth a third of all banking

I met with some friends the other day, who showed some stats that demonstrate that all FinTech is worth a third of all of the banking market worldwide. Source: CFTE’s Fintech Job Report [sum of largest 100 banks (market cap) vs sum of largest 100 Fintech companies (market cap + public valuations)] How times have changed. FinTech….

Things that bankers thought … that were wrong

Brett King dropped a tweet the other day. It was followed up with a further list from Matthew Van Buskirk: I am sure there are many others!6. Transaction speed isn't important7. Cloud-based fintechs are inherently less secure8. Face to face or phone interactions are necessary for effective fraud control9. People want all of their financial…

The future of banking (research)

Jim Marous at The Financial Brand just published a survey of what his readers think the future of banking holds. Before you read the results, here are mine: Retail banking focuses upon integrating everything digital Commercial banking focuses upon digital currencies for global trade Investment banking focuses upon the tokenization of equities and trading Simples! What…

Banks spend megabucks on tech and yet are mega inefficient

Building on my recent thoughts, I cannot for the life of me understand how a bank can spend so much on technology and yet be so inefficient. By way of example, let’s take a bank cost-income ratio. That’s the measure of how much a bank spends to operate, and the profit it then makes. In…

Authenticity versus Condescension

I often contact companies due to issues with their services. When I contact them, it inevitably means that something in their digital services has broken. It is then an opportunity to delight and provide a customer experience that exceeds exceptions. However, it normally means anger and annoyance as you wait on the phone for an…

Don’t tell me to do this or do that

I had a few recent experiences that showed me how bad developments are in the digital world today. One was trying to cancel a subscription to a news app and, when logging in online, couldn’t find anything to show me the answer. The second was my bank who changed my international bank account numbers but…

Change? It’s the only constant … FinTech float season has arrived

IPO-yay! It’s Fintech Float Season 🙂 Investment bankers must be lining their pockets as Fintech Float Season has arrived. After a decade of FinTech developments with a few floats, of which the biggest have been companies like Square and PayPal, who were recently worth more than Goldman Sachs and Bank of America respectively. Now, there are…

Why challenger banks find it hard to challenge

I was thinking about this article in The Telegraph saying what a rotten job supermarkets have made of competing with banks. Tesco sold its mortgage book to Lloyds two years ago owing to “challenging market conditions” and is now closing all personal current accounts. Marks & Spencer this year decided to close all of its bank…

Take the Finverse more seriously

I’ve blogged a bit about the Finverse – where the metaverse and crypto come together – and was reading Jemima Kelly’s column on the FT about the Metaverse and crypto. She states: As far as I’m concerned, the hypocritical fantasy that underpins crypto also lies at the heart of the metaverse. This isn’t about building…

Intelligent Money: Our Future Is Where We Do Not Think About Money, As Our Money Thinks For Us

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