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Digital Bank

What would you spend $12 billion on?

I was intrigued by the announcement by JPMorgan Chase that they’re spending $12 billion on technology this year. Admittedly, I’ve been tracking this and it seems to go up by around a billion year-on-year. Although this is up 25% on 2020, the bank had said they were investing $11 billion in 2019. And they’re not…

A great list of central bank thinking about digital currencies (#CBDC)

Madhvi Mavadiya, Head of Content at Finextra, just posted a great list of developments in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). She promises to keep it updated and the link is here. It covers every country from Antigua to Curaçao to Iran. 80 countries in all. As my main interests are in the leading financial centres,…

The End Of Digital Transformation In Banking

Ron Shevlin, now Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone Advisors, a US research and consulting firm, posted a fascinating article based on his research the other day. Supposedly, banks and credit unions in America think they’re are doing digital transformation. Interestingly, less think they’re doing it today than a few years ago. Here are Ron’s thoughts:…

The relationship between process and technical debt

Many financial processes were created centuries ago. When technology arrived, we automated those historical processes to make them more efficient. We didn’t necessarily focus upon how to make them more effective, as the focus was on how to reduce costs. Years later, we are paying the price. The issue is that banks automated old processes…

Banking in 2022: what’s going to happen?

Banking in 2022 has a number of forecasters. Deloitte claim that banks are at a make-or-break moment. I agree. My feeling is that banks are dealing with digital transformation – a thing they should have dealt with a decade ago. For the next decade, they need to deal with investment transformation. Why? Because of the link…

The importance of financial literacy

“When I was a lad, I got four shillings and sixpence every week for pocket money.” “Luxury! I was whipped in two by my dad and lived in a shoebox by the motorway!” says my friend. OK, enough revival of old Monty Python sketches, but the point is that children do need to know about…

What will happen with crypto next?

I had a friend who bought a load of bitcoin for around $10 each and then sold them to buy a house. If he had kept them, he could have ten houses today. I have another friend who invested heavily in ETH, the coin of Ethereum. Today, they smile and sit pretty, whilst millions of…

The end of P2P finance?

I was really surprised to see the announcement by Zopa this week that they were pulling out of P2P (peer-to-peer) lending. As the company that started the FinTech P2P lending and FinTech buzz imho, how could they? I was angry and annoyed, and then remembered something: Following consultation, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is introducing…

Life? It’s complicated …

I grew up with a belief that life should be simple. You get an education; you play sport; you get a job for life; you get a partner; you get married; you buy a house; you have kids; you retire; and then you die. Or something like that. These were the key life events. It’s…

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