Grid

One of the biggest themes that recurs over and over again is the wealth divide in societies. I’ve talked about this often, and we all should have heard of the 1% by now or the fact that six men have more wealth than half the population of the planet combined. It is an important subject,…

My friend Lory Kehoe spotted a white paper by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) that was released in December discussing Project Leap, a deep technical experiment showing that core payment systems can migrate to post-quantum cryptography without breaking how money moves today. It’s a fascinating paper and an important one for us fintech nerds,…

For all the hype of AI, I was watching the Champions League football matches, where thousands of people gathered, and thought: well, that’s one thing AI can never replace. Of course, you could have virtual reality matches that look almost real, but they’re not. Similarly, you could have robot matches, but would we really care? There…

I just got a summary of my new book from the publishers. It comes out in the summer but, for those interested, here are the key messages: Core Thesis The book argues that banking is entering its third great technological revolution: Mainframe era → automation and scale Digital era → connectivity, mobile, fintech, experience Intelligence…

During the holidays, the main blog discussions included … What will happen in 2026? Welcome to 2026, the year of the Horse in the Chinese New Year, which arrives in February. A Year of the Horse symbolizes forward momentum, encouraging bold actions and the pursuit of dreams. That sounds pretty good, but what’s gonna happen?…

How could I write a series of 2026 predictions without a specific focus on fintech and cryptocurrencies? The headlines are that: Systems Become Proactive: Technology shifts from reacting to events to anticipating needs AI Becomes Invisible Infrastructure: Intelligence moves from tools to embedded decision-making Digital Layers Disappear into Daily Life: Identity, security, payments, and compliance…

Well guys, it doesn’t look good. Most banks and economic think tanks reckon the world is in a dive. Happy New Year! Much of this has been caused by the economic uncertainty of the world superpower called the USA. Donald Trump’s tariff policies has caused huge nervousness and so the economies of all countries are…

Continuing with this year’s outlook, I was also impressed by EFG’s report on the top themes for 2026. EFG is a Swiss Private Bank, and their view of this year falls into three main categories as articulated by Moz Afzal, Chief Investment Officer of EFG, in the opening section. As we frame our outlook for…

Welcome to 2026, the year of the Horse in the Chinese New Year, which arrives in February. A Year of the Horse symbolizes forward momentum, encouraging bold actions and the pursuit of dreams. That sounds pretty good, but what’s gonna happen? Well, many are making bold predictions – I used to, but now get them…

It is the end of the year and so, to start with, we need a Christmas cracker joke. Me: I just met Father Christmas and told him to change his bank account or lose. My friend: Santa dare? Me: No, Lloyds. If that is not enough for you, here is a short poem: 2025: Yield…