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I am sometimes a Luddite. Today is that day. I woke up and found that a payment was made via a direct debit for a service I no longer use. It’s an annual payment, and I’d forgotten to cancel it. It was for $500. I was irritated, to say the least. I then realised I…

This week’s main blog discussions are … A banker responds to Extinction Rebillion’s call I had quite a lot of response to Gail Bradbrook’s post on February 1. It would be too much to share all, but this particular email from a friend (former CxO at a Big Bank) was the most detailed and illuminating,…

I have waste in my life. I have a lot of things I could throw away. Old toys, broken computers, screens with cracks, lawnmowers that don’t work, Lego with bits missing, cables that I cannot remember what they’re for … the list goes on. This is my debt. My debt of waste. A house full…

I had quite a lot of response to Gail Bradbrook’s post on February 1. It would be too much to share all, but this particular email from a friend (former CxO at a Big Bank) was the most detailed and illuminating, so I’m sharing it here. I’m sure Gail will respond to such critique in…

I’ve talked a little bit about a K-shaped economy. The upside of the K is digital; the downside is physical. This really struck home with me when I saw the latest retail sales developments in the UK. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), Brits now order a third of their shopping on apps…

The Federal Reserve issued a paper about stablecoins at the end of January. There’s lots of good content there, but I particularly liked the way in which they opened the discussion which I have copied here (for full report click here). The basics of stablecoins Stablecoins are digital currencies recorded on distributed ledger technologies (DLTs),…

During the lockdown, banks moved rapidly to sign cloud contracts. Thing is they were signing with the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft, but these are all American firms. Where are the European ones? I raised this issue two years ago, but it is now coming to a head as new rules require banks to…

This week’s main blog discussions include … FinTech’s growing pains and toxic cultures I find it interesting reading the articles about toxic cultures at Revolut. If you Google “Revolut Culture”, the second search item is this one: “You’re nothing but a number to them with dollar signs attached.” That’s how Revolut, one of the fastest…

Thing is once you become The Boss, how do you stay The Boss and not become The Old Boss? Writing yesterday about the growing pains of FinTech firms, there are also menopausal strains at incumbents. Once you become The Boss, how do you stay The Boss? That is a key question. When you become a…

I find it interesting reading the articles about toxic cultures at Revolut. If you Google “Revolut Culture”, the second search item is this one: “You’re nothing but a number to them with dollar signs attached.” That’s how Revolut, one of the fastest growing fintech startups in the UK, described traditional banks when advertising for business…