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The politics of pandemics

I was a little distraught over the weekend. With absolutely no warning, the Polish government closed the country’s borders. All flights and train travel banned. No inbound access at all, unless you are Polish or could provide Polish residency. No outbound access and, if you do leave and return, immediate quarantine for two weeks. Like…

The Finanser’s Week: 9th March 2020 – 15th March 2020

The main blog headlines are … “Are you willing to take the risk of investing in bullshit?” “Are you willing to take the risk of investing in bullshit?” Interesting headline. It’s not mine btw. It’s a question from a leading banker. The question, in this case, related to investing in data mining … but you will…

Mark Carney: Central Banker and Climate Activist

On Sunday, Mark Carney leaves the Bank of England after almost seven years at the helm. There’s an interesting review of Mark Carney’s tenure as Governor of the Bank of England on Bloomberg. Joining the Bank back in 2013, before the Scottish referendum and Brexit vote, it charts his seven years in charge as he…

When the world stops, did you want to get off? #coronavirus

Woke up with a sore throat, stuffed nose and cough. OMG, have I got the coronavirus???? After President Trump’s ban on Europeans last night, the coronavirus madness continues. I know that coronavirus is boring – as it’s non-stop in the news, media, office and coffee shop – but it goes on … and on, and…

Reports of my (banks) death have been greatly exaggerated

I’m getting really fed up of the number of research papers, videos, blogs, headlines and more screaming: “banks will die”. Sure, sure, you’ll immediately go: “but you say that all the time Chris” but, if you check back on what I’ve written, I’ve only ever said that banks will die … if they don’t change….

50 years of ranking 1000 banks

Some of you may know that I write a monthly column for The Banker magazine, and have been doing this for almost twenty years! But The Banker goes back way longer than my column. In fact, it began in January 1926 when the first issue was published and is now almost a century old. Interestingly, since 1970 they’ve been…

“Are you willing to take the risk of investing in bullshit?”

“Are you willing to take the risk of investing in bullshit?” Interesting headline. It’s not mine btw. It’s a question from a leading banker. The question, in this case, related to investing in data mining … but you will probably find it’s a question asked about any major project. It’s the skeptic’s question. I’ve been asked…

The Finanser’s Week: 2nd March 2020 – 8th March 2020

The main blog headlines are … What does ‘digital transformation’ really mean? Buzzwords. We have a lot of them. Artificial, autonomous, augmented. Big data, blockchain, bilateral. Crypto, currency, consensus. Distributed, decentralised, democratised. I’m tempted to write the ABC of technology buzzwords, but know there cannot be any that start with X or Z*. However, I’m…

Who moved my cheese?

Who moved my cheese? Like many of us, I am confused about the world, the future, life and everything. All seems good one day. The next, everything is being cancelled, government tells you to self-isolate, your view of everything is challenged and you have to change to fit. Who moved my cheese? I believe in…

OK, but the end of cash must be in sight? #coronavirus

Last week, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) issued their top ten technologies for the next decade, one of which is digital money: Unhackable internet Hyper-personalized medicine Digital money Anti-aging drugs AI-discovered molecules Satellite mega-constellations Quantum supremacy Tiny AI Differential privacy Climate change attribution This was selected due to Libra and the digital currency developments in…

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