Future

Oct 6, 2009

Innovations in Payments, Part Three

In the securities settlement markets, we’ve spent years trying to break down barriers to clearing and settlement … and most of those barriers are still there. We wonder what to do about it? And regulation seems the only answer. Or is it? As we look at innovations in payments (retail, commercial covered in last two…

Oct 5, 2009

Branch-based banking is dead, Part Two

A few folks seem to disagree with my assertion that branch-based banking is dead, but they may have misinterpreted my assertion as being branches are dead. They’re not. Branches are very much alive and kicking … just not as transaction centres. Branches are sales centres. And it is for this reason that the current branch…

Oct 5, 2009

Branch-based banking is dead, Part Two

Oct 2, 2009

Lessons in innovation and tips for tomorrow

During the Infosys conference this week, the hosts constantly asked the audience to vote on a variety of questions about innovation. The organisers did say that they had wondered whether innovation was the right subject to focus upon this year, considering that for some it would be the last thing on their minds, but then…

Oct 2, 2009

Lessons in innovation and tips for tomorrow

Sep 30, 2009

What is innovation in banking?

I spent all day yesterday with a group of bankers in Portugal. Why? Well, it is the annual Infosys customer conference and they were kind enough to invite me over to give a keynote, which I will post here shortly. It was also run under Chatham House rules … so here’s who said what. Actually,…

Sep 28, 2009

Forget money, let’s use sand

For years, I’ve played poker with matches and chips rather than coins and notes. We accept that a match can be ten cents or a chip is a dollar or more. We don’t need real money to know our exchange rates. Now, this basic idea is being replicated in social networks. Facebook, as many of…

Sep 25, 2009

Has the G20 solved the financial crisis?

NO I was going to leave it at that but ok, I guess I better explain. The G20 is here. No more G7 or G8. Twenty of them now. Count them. The big EU players, America, the BRIC economies, Japan. You’ve got Argentina, Oz, Canada in there. Indonesia gets a nod, as does Saudi Arabia…

Sep 23, 2009

What is innovation in payments?

I was asked to write about innovation in payments last week, and so here’s the first of three parts. The first part will focus upon retail payments innovation; the second, corporate payments; and the third, trade settlement. A weekly non-exhaustive update so to speak. First, what is innovation? Let’s define it again (yes, I’ve blogged…

Sep 17, 2009

Is there any innovation here? Nope

After the innotribe stuff, it was off to a panel debate about “payments innovation”. This session was described as follows: “The crisis has put the emphasis back on traditional banking and sources of revenue, with payments coming to the fore again. Yet payments are also seen as a commoditised, legacy business where scale is everything….