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Digital Bank

Wouldn’t it be simpler just to launch a new bank?

One of the commonest questions I’m asked is whether the bank should just launch another bank, rather than trying to be digital and convert the existing bank.  The idea is that the new bank will have no legacy, no constraints, can develop from a clean sheet of paper and be the bank’s very own challenger…

Forget legacy systems; what about legacy vendors?

I’m always blogging about replacing core systems, open source the bank, change the leadership to one that gets it and just do it.  I’m saying it so much that I’m finding myself boring.  So let’s change tack.  Who’s the vendor? Not gonna name names, but I’ve had a few really fun discussions with banks in…

As traders leave, the developers arrive

I find it a little amusing to see the noise being made by banks about FinTech.  Lots of noise, not so much action.  And where there is action, it’s not necessarily real.  There are a few exceptions, but the majority seem to be tackling FinTech as more of a marketing requirement than an active cultural…

Banks are not dying

I was having a nice relaxing Sunday, when alerted to a tweetfest taking place between industry heavyweights Simon Taylor (an ex-banker) and Mariano Belinky (a banker).  It all started with: Fintech didn’t disrupt banks but banks are slowly dying. Creating an ever growing opportunity for #fintech — Simon Taylor (@sytaylor) September 18, 2016 @sytaylor low…

The Banking Bazaar and the Bizarre Banker

I’ve spent a lot of this week talking about marketplaces.  We have a growing number of financial marketplaces appearing.  Lending marketplaces, credit marketplaces, payments marketplaces and more.  A marketplace is the bazaar.  Market stall holders gather to meet with prospective clients, and the digital version of the marketplace is the focal point for many FinTech…

What is a bank?

I was at a conference the other day when the presenter showed this quote from the Wall Street Journal: The question is so simple it seems silly: What is a bank?  Of course you know the answer. A bank pools savings and then allocates that capital. Simple, right? But that’s just the start.  In 2016 a…

The future CIO is not a CIO

As mentioned last week, the CIO’s role is changing from running an empire of maintenance engineers to organising a distributed development organisation. The change in the role is one from a hierarchical control structure, where everything is proprietary and internal, to a flattened organisation that is open and broad. Much of the developments will come…

The developer-driven bank

Building on yesterday’s blog (Do bank’s need a CIO?) , the key misunderstanding is the role.  Most banks thing the CIO is there to run the technology.  They’re not.  That’s what they used to do.  That’s not the job for the future. First and foremost, the person leading technology developments in any incumbent bank of…

Renewing core systems is like renovating the subways

Someone recently equated banks and their systems and structures, to the underground in London.  It’s a lot of pipes, wires, cables and tunnels that were built in the Victorian times and are still operating today.  You have engineers on the tracks every night and day, trying to keep the systems running, whilst also trying to…

UK banks ordered to digitalise or else

On Tuesday the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a UK Government Agency, told British banks that they must digitalise or suffer penalties.  In a report entitled Making banks work harder for you, they have ordered the UK banks to digitalise within two years or face regulatory fines. The key headlines include, under what the CMA…

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