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The lockdown pandemic has been interesting from a financial markets’ perspective. First, people withdrew as much cash as they could, worrying that things would be bad, and cash was king. It wasn’t. They didn’t need the cash. They didn’t spend it. In fact, I was particularly struck by this chart from McKinsey’s report on payments…

It’s 2020 and, since I was born in 19-whenever it was, I cannot think of a more challenging year. We are being forced to isolate, stay indoors, go nowhere and stay well. As I’ve blogged a few times, that’s good news for digital but bad news for humanity. I think this year has really brought…

The main blog discussions this week include … Brace yourself for the Great Unlock Way back in March 2020 – what month is it now? – I said that lockdown would be a challenge for all. Obviously. Now, so many months later – what year is it now? – it is clear that has challenged…

I still haven’t managed to get rid of the elephant in the room. In fact, it’s worse now, as he’s moved into the bedroom in the evenings. It makes it really hard to sleep. Yes, I need to sleep on the bed too, but find it hard to sleep as I spend all night hoping…

I’m doing a bit of research work with various companies, one of whom is Salesforce. It’s interesting, as so many people talk today about embedded finance but Salesforce talk about autonomous finance. What is autonomous finance? Namer Aljazrawi, global head of Strategy & Operations for Financial Services at Salesforce, explains. What Is Autonomous Finance? Learn why…

I’ve never thought about it much but the saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention” … came back to me today. This came back to me because I was reading an interesting description of what happened in 1815. Do you remember that year? Of course not, probably, but that was the year that an earthquake…

As I ponder the world and everything, this article by Jemima Kelly in The Financial Times keeps coming back to me: The virus has crushed the challenger bank dream In it she says things like: There comes a time in your life that you realise that some of the friends you used to consider good…

Way back in March 2020 – what month is it now? – I said that lockdown would be a challenge for all. Obviously. Now, so many months later – what year is it now? – it is clear that has challenged all. Personally, I see two massive rifts: the physical and the digital. In the…

Is Deutsche Bank a scrambled egg of banking? I’ve talked about Deutsche Bank for some years. Originally with respect but, increasingly, with disdain. Most recently, I’ve used them as an illustration of a struggling bank, worth far less than an innovative start-up like Stripe. The most recent valuation of Deutsche Bank is that it is…

The main blog discussions this week include … Why banks don’t die Have you noticed how people talk about disruption more and more, and note the collapse of companies like Blockbuster, Kodak, Nokia and Thomas Cook? In fact, there are more companies entering and leaving the stock market lists than ever before, with the average…