Digital Bank

I haven’t commented much on bitcoin’s (BTC) recent surge, as I’ve been watching and waiting, but it is something. Just in case you didn’t notice, the value has moved from a low of under $5,000 per BTC in March 2020 to around $50,000 per BTC today. But it’s not just BTC: it’s Ether, Bitcoin Cash,…

I’m very aware that central banks are investigating the use of digital currencies, particularly as they can now see bitcoin gaining more and more traction (Tesla, Square and more committed – next is Apple?), but had not realised how extensive are those investigations. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest paper, 86% of the…

I wrote a blog a few days ago about money not being about jars and pots. The gist of the blog is that it annoys me when banks offer different sections for different objectives: savings, education, wedding, holiday and so on. The blog got some pushback, saying that people on limited budgets find this allocation…

I was pretty surprised to find that many of Robinhood’s account holders are very young, with an average age of 31. It is probably why they pile into anti-Wall Street stock movements and they are not the only ones. See this from Reuters: Apex Clearing, which helps facilitate trades for brokerages, said the nearly 6…

I’m working on a new book project. You might have spotted the themes in my recent blog entries but, if not, it’s all about purpose. The tagline is: if you don’t stand for something, you fall down, and is focused upon stakeholder capitalism. ESG, CSR and all that stuff and more. So, I’ve been watching for leaders who talk about…

I’m a Simple guy (?), but realised the other day that the consultants, research firms and technology behemoths do a great job of dressing up old ideas in new clothes. This hit home when I was reading the IT priorities for CFOs in 2021 by Gartner. Gartner’s survey asked finance chiefs where they will spend…

During the summer and autumn of 2020, I ran an online survey of banks and FinTech firms around their view of physical versus digital access to banking. Obviously, in 2020, digital access to accounts has come to the fore but what was interesting is that this had not been a priority before. 28% of the…

I stumbled across a bunch of interesting reports this week, so thought it worth sharing them First, from Deloitte. Admittedly, it’s from October 2020, but it is useful as it tracks the state of digital banking post-COVID19. There are also some interesting charts, so let’s begin with the key takeaways. And then they tracked the…

It strikes to my digital nerve when I see forms that ask for a FAX number. What’s a FAX? Or someone said the other day that I should Xerox that. What’s Xerox? Watching a movie. Investigator is checking paperwork at a hotel and the guy says: “Hey man, are you done or do you need…

It’s a big moment when one of the most respected bankers in the world Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive of JPMorgan Chase which is one of the most highly valued banks in the world, says that he is “scared shitless” of FinTech. This is a $3.4 trillion banking goliath but, when asked his views…