Grid

I’ve been noticing that there are more and more issues arising with the big internet giants. Unlike in China, where the companies are working with governments, the big Western giants work outside government control. That creates issues, particularly in Europe where government does not like to be out of control. Hence the reason why American…

The main blog headlines are … Talking ’bout my generation I was reflecting on things again. Dangerous. My reflection was on when I grew up. My mum and dad went through the second world war. They feared for their lives and for our future. There was no Europe, just a fear of Germans and Nazis,…

I was reflecting on things again. Dangerous. My reflection was on when I grew up. My mum and dad went through the second world war. They feared for their lives and for our future. There was no Europe, just a fear of Germans and Nazis, of fascism and communism, of extreme lefts and extreme rights….

You’ve got to love all these challenger banks (née neobanks née digital banks née mobile banks née whatever banks) appearing. There’s lots of chat about the British ones led by Monzo and closely followed by Starling, Atom and Tandem, but there are many more. In the UK there’s Revolut, Zopa, Aldermore, Oaknorth, OneSavings and more,…

Like quite a few big banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has been messing about with doing digital by launching a number of new initiatives. The two of most note are Bó, a new retail bank, and Mettle, a service for small to medium enterprises (SMEs).* What fascinates me here, however, is the headline…

We are regularly being bombarded with unicorn news. Some rise and some fail. We hear about toxic corporate cultures and ousted CEOs on some occasions, with WeWork being the latest to get caught in the pre-IPO crossfire. In case you’re not aware, their CEO and founder has gone and now they’re scrapping their plans for…

Now that’s a contentious title for a blog, but purposefully so. Old banks can compete in the new world if they’re smart … it’s just that so many of them are dumb. Dumb with data, as I’ve blogged before. To illustrate this, I have three examples. The first is that my old bank talks about…

The main blog headlines are … What does “innovation” mean in finance? I recently was invited to be the keynote at some innovation awards in Ireland. It got me thinking about what innovation means in finance, so here are the notes from my speech. I trust it’s useful …   Thank you for inviting me…

Bill Gates said in the early 1990s that “we need banking but we don’t need banks anymore”. He was wrong. I hosted a banking seminar in the late 1990s where David Llewellyn, a Professor of Money, stood up and stated that “there will be more change in the next five years in banking than we’ve…

I recently was invited to be the keynote at some innovation awards in Ireland. It got me thinking about what innovation means in finance, so here are the notes from my speech. I trust it’s useful …   Thank you for inviting me here to join you here for the first Innovation Awards in Dublin….