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I was running a fun panel on regulation this week. That kind of sounds like a lie – whatever can be fun about regulation – but hey, it was. I often reflect on the fact that regulators run with their eyes in the rear-view mirror. They can’t see what’s ahead as they don’t know what…

I just spent a few days in bars and restaurants in a place where everyone lives underground. It’s called Toronto. A place so cold that even Olaf from Frozen has migrated South. In fact, it gets so cold in Canada, they actually have hair freezing contests. Anyways, sitting in a bar, I was privileged to…

In the last month, there’s been a wave of announcements from Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon about banking. We’ve seen Facebook’s major activities in trying to create a digital currency called Libra, and Apple’s move into finance with a credit card from Goldman Sachs which, in just a month, offered a $10 billion line of…

I just saw an interesting report produced and released by SIX Group that talks about the future of money.  SIX Group run payments and settlement processing out of Switzerland and, unsurprisingly, their view is that the most likely future is that there will be digital everything but still some cash around. My own view is…

The main blog headlines are … Can you recognise a fraudster when you meet one? I’ve pointed out many times that it’s easy to scam people online and defraud them. I even once got a phone call from an elderly gentleman asking me if he had really won £1 million on the Financial Services Club…

I’ve pointed out many times that it’s easy to scam people online and defraud them. I even once got a phone call from an elderly gentleman asking me if he had really won £1 million on the Financial Services Club lotto. I had to let him down gently, even though he was convinced that the…

I always like to hear what bankers think about the future of banking – it’s probably more accurate than what janitors or futurists think – and so was pleased to see two items in my in-tray this week, one from HSBC and the other from Wells Fargo. According to the summary of HSBC’s report: In…

Just over a month away from Christmas and the festive season is off to a rock and roll start. This week sees the launch of the annual John Lewis schmaltzy advert (see every one since 2006 here) and after six on December 5 sees the lighting of the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree. Be there or…

Actually, it’s not just banking. It’s money. Money is about control – something I blog about regularly – and men control societies, economies and the world. Women are subjugated in that world, which is why there is a minority of female founders of FinTech firms and female executives in the leadership team of banks. But…

I’ve said for a while that the Big Tech giants will not become banks. Amazon and Alibaba will do a lot of bank-like activities, but they will never move into full-service banking, as in offering deposit accounts. Why won’t they? Because that’s full banking activity which has all of the audit and compliance overhead that…