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The main blog headlines are … Seven Fin and Tech truisms we wish were myths (with thanks to Anne Boden) I attended the New Statesman’s FinTech Summit yesterday. I gave the opening speech and was followed by the indomitable Anne Boden, CEO and Founder of Starling Bank, who talked about the path to profitability. She…

I got a tweet the other day pointing me to a report from the Financial Stability Board about the use of decentralised technologies for financial services. Excellent report from the Financial Stability Board @fsb about the impact of decentralized #fintech#finserv #DeFi #DLT #payments #lending ➡️https://t.co/toIsNQ580a pic.twitter.com/LUfGxn9akl — Sebastien Meunier (@sbmeunier) November 7, 2019 Clicking through to…

I got an email the other day from TransferWise, a service I use frequently. Why do I use it? Because I moved to Poland. Poland’s currency is the Zloty and paying everything on my card in British Pounds with conversion rates seemed stupid. It really struck home when I was paying a postage import fee…

I attended the New Statesman’s FinTech Summit yesterday. I gave the opening speech and was followed by the indomitable Anne Boden, CEO and Founder of Starling Bank, who talked about the path to profitability. She asserts the bank will deliver profitability next year, but her presentation focused upon a number of what she sees as…

We hear a lot about how crypto and bitcoin encourages illegal activity, drugs, money laundering and such like. The reality is that such activity today is tiny when compared with the amount of illegal activity, drugs and money laundering going through the banking system. As of 2019, $829 million in bitcoin has been spent on…

I’ve blogged for a while now about the different approaches to Big Tech in China and America. In China, Big Tech is pretty much working hand-in-hand with government to solve society’s issues and police them. People in the West may not like it or understand it, but Big Brotherly Love works in China for the…

The main blog headlines are … McKinsey reckon banks are in a ‘do-or-die’ moment … really? A few talking points last week, but two hit me in particular. The first is a McKinsey report that reckons half of the world’s banks are not viable. Their cost of equity is higher than their return on equity….

My children are big fans of The Gruffalo. If you’re not familiar with The Gruffalo, it’s the story about a mouse who might get eaten by threatening creatures like a Fox, an Owl or a Snake, but makes up a fictional character who could actually eat them instead. The fictional character, the Gruffalo, turns out…

I’ve a number of great friends in the industry, and enjoy their company and contribution. One of those friends is Gijs Boudewijn, Chair of the Payment Systems Committee at the European Banking Federation who kindly quoted me in his recent presentation on Open Banking. He has also kindly allowed me to share his presentation with y’all…

I’m acutely aware that so many people write and talk about how big banks are dumb and stupid and don’t get digital, that I try to avoid that mantra personally. People do accuse me of being a bank basher, but I’d rather say that I’m a bank challenger (not a challenger bank). I challenge the…