For the last decade, I’ve been a fan of the Eurozone. It’s created a lot of business for many of us. The Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP), the forty or more Directives, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and all that stuff has been good for business for consultants, technologists and for some bankers too….
For the last decade, I’ve been a fan of the Eurozone. It’s created a lot of business for many of us. The Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP), the forty or more Directives, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and all that stuff has been good for business for consultants, technologists and for some bankers too….
It’s taken me a while to work out why social media and stuff is such a fundamental change for banking, but I finally think I've got there and it's clearer. It started with the rise of blogging and social media such as YouTube. I still retell the story of McKinsey’s Chief Executive who was side-blinded…
It’s taken me a while to work out why social media and stuff is such a fundamental change for banking, but I finally think I've got there and it's clearer. It started with the rise of blogging and social media such as YouTube. I still retell the story of McKinsey’s Chief Executive who was side-blinded…
The European Central Bank (ECB) has just issued a report on Virtual Currency Schemes, with case studies on Second Life and Bitcoin (both previously covered in depth here). In the report, the ECB calls Bitcoin “the most successful — and probably most controversial — virtual currency scheme to date.” The ECB goes on to say that the…
Andrew Vorster, Vice President of R&D and Adam Banks, Chief Technology Officer for Visa Europe delivered a fascinating double act at the Financial Services Club the other night. The theme of the presentation was: the future of payments and technology, and covered seven key trends that Andrew and Adam have identified that will disrupt payments:…
We had a great debate at the Financial Services Club last night, picking up on that perennial debating point: do banks need branches? In the pro-branch corner were Anthony Thomson, co-founder of Metrobank and Ron Whatford, former Chief Experience Officer with Lloyds Banking Group; in the anti-branch corner were Mark Mullen, CEO of First Direct…
The world is a wonderful place, as times shift fast and things turn faster than an egg on a timer. Just as you get used to one technology, another comes along and turns things on its head. What technology do we mean? NFC. Near Field Communication. No Flippin' Chance. The more I think about NFC, the…
