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The last recession of any major size was 2008. Fourteen years ago! The iPhone had just appeared and we had just started discussions around the concept of cloud computing. Oh, and FinTech wasn’t even talked about. Fourteen years later, FinTech is getting over $200 billion investment a year, and the world has changed a lot….

The main blog discussions this week include … Is Goldman Sachs letting Apple down? There’s a good old challenge in banking that, in recent years, has been growing. The challenge is to name the bad guy. Sometimes the bad guy is a hacker; other days, it’s a rogue trader; another event points the finger at…

There’s a good old challenge in banking that, in recent years, has been growing. The challenge is to name the bad guy. Sometimes the bad guy is a hacker; other days, it’s a rogue trader; another event points the finger at an employee with a fat finger; but, more often than not, the bad guy…

What is the four-pillar model? It’s a system created years ago to allow plastic card systems to work. The system connects merchant to consumers via an acquiring bank and an issuing bank. Well, maybe it’s not that simple. Let’s let MasterCard explain it: What is interchange? Interchange is a small fee typically paid by acquirers (retailer’s…

We often talk about banking being plumbing, using smart pipes for delivery to the door. Some even comparing banking to sewage. I think I prefer plumbing. It sounds better. The thing is, how often do you think of changing your utility provider? Changing electricity, water and gas is not at the top of our agenda….

Talking of Brexit I found it amusing that, when I posted a tweet the other day, people interpreted it in ways I didn’t expect. The tweet just made clear that Brits are nine times more likely to be scammed by criminals than Germans, as we are a major card-based nation. Just in case you cannot…

The confusion of Brexit I often see headlines saying “Britain is leading Europe”. Britain is leading Europe in what? Fraud, tax avoidance, political shenanigans and more. Such headlines always make me laugh, as the media is writing as though Britain is still part of Europe. Did anyone forget about #Brexit? Britain has nothing to do…

This week’s main blog discussions include … Another day, another crash, another hack I stumbled across a tweet about Nomad, a cross-chain bridge, that had just had almost $200 million of crypto assets hacked: The cross-chain token bridge Nomad was exploited, with attackers draining the protocol of virtually all of its funds. The total But…

I’ve blogged a few times about the Ukrainian conflict, and its impact on the FinTech community. It was interesting therefore to recently connect with Huw Davies. Huw is Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Ozone API, and has previously worked with MasterCard, HSBC and Barclays. He’s now involved in supporting the Ukrainian FinTech community. Here’s how…

Building on yesterday’s blog, it is very easy to portray the whole cryptocurrency marketplace as a scam, Ponzi scheme, Wild West and a place where you tread carefully as it is a minefield. In some ways, it is. There are plenty of things out there designed to just rip you off. There are also techie…