Contactless payments are already past their sell-by date
Spent most of this week at a payments conference. The theme was relentlessly around mobile payments, as this area of the market has truly kicked off as a major focal point for banks, telecommunications firms, retailers and merchants. There was a particularly interesting debate about contactless payments, as this is also something that is being…
Bitcoin: immersive or subversive?
I’ve written a few bits about Bitcoin but it still confuses folks, as was clear from the debate we had about it at the Financial Services Club the other night. Donald Norman, co-founder of the Bitcoin Consultancy, presented the latest state of play in the currency … … and it led to one of the liveliest…
Who the hell needs biometrics in banking?
Biometrics isn’t discussed that much at banking conferences these days. Most of the time, when I raise the topic, there’s a groan from the banking audience. “Oh, been there, done that.” The usual view is that biometrics doesn’t work. It’s too flakey. Too many false positives and false negatives, as in it doesn’t read the…
The future of capitalism
It’s Davos time, as usual. In the last week of January, the great and the good of the world’s leadership from governments, business, academia and media all gather in Switzerland to debate the future of the world’s economies and the World Economic Forum, #WEF. In the build-up to this year’s WEF, it seems that all…
The future of capitalism
It’s Davos time, as usual. In the last week of January, the great and the good of the world’s leadership from governments, business, academia and media all gather in Switzerland to debate the future of the world’s economies and the World Economic Forum, #WEF. In the build-up to this year’s WEF, it seems that all…
How to create a banking strategy
Following on from my discussions of solutions versus product people and vertical alignment versus horizontal, the question came up as to how to think strategically. How can you really get inside the customer’s head? What keeps the CEO awake at night (literally in the case of Lloyds Banking Group)? And all those other strategic account questions…
How to create a banking strategy
Following on from my discussions of solutions versus product people and vertical alignment versus horizontal, the question came up as to how to think strategically. How can you really get inside the customer’s head? What keeps the CEO awake at night (literally in the case of Lloyds Banking Group)? And all those other strategic account questions…
How will the world look post-crisis?
I’ve been debating some future presentations with various folks today, and a little ray of light went off in my head. The light was triggered by a comment: “can you talk about what impact regulatory change may have on bank to corporate relationships using examples historically?” The question was really asking about the unintended impact…