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There’s nothing like a true story to bring a point home, so here’s my latest one. I’m starting a new venture. It’s a philanthropic thing, nothing to do with banking, but because we are seeking sponsorship, we need to open a bank account. I choose to open an account with ABC Bank, where I already…

I often find myself in weird or frustrating situations that I don’t know how to break. For example, dealing with clients who require a Government Tax Residency Letter and multiple hurdles to be cleared before they can make payment; or dealing with American clients who want to pay me by cheque; or, worst of all, American clients who require…

At the conference I attended the other day, one speaker highlighted some InsurTech I’d not seen before but thought pretty cool. It’s a prototype service from Direct Line called Fleetlights. Fleetlights is an army of drones that light up the night skies and are designed to help people in difficult conditions, such as in a…

The main blog headlines are … Teach children the things that machines cannot learn I often talk about teaching children to learn what machines cannot learn. Our system of education was created in the Industrial Revolution, and is based upon kids being stuffed with facts, stats and dates. They learn to parrot-fashion repeat things, and…

I often talk about teaching children to learn what machines cannot learn. Our system of education was created in the Industrial Revolution, and is based upon kids being stuffed with facts, stats and dates. They learn to parrot-fashion repeat things, and are tested to see if they can remember. It’s a very poor state of…

I was surprised to see that JPMorgan Chase is now hiring people as bankers and, as a mandatory part of their induction programme, they are taught to code. “Coding is not for just tech people, it is for anyone who wants to run a competitive company in the 21st century,” said Mary Callahan Erdoes, Head of JPMorgan Asset Management….

I was chairing a panel with a number of different players, one of which was Monzo. Simon Vans-Colina, Monzo’s lead engineer for Open APIs, was talking about their approach to partnering with others in an API ecosystem, including TransferWise and Investec Bank. What was not surprising is that the lion’s share of audience questions ended…

As I travel around, I find different cultures fascinating Some are open, some are closed; some are welcoming, some are distrusting; some feel comfortable, some feel weird; some feel nice, some feel strict; and so on. A lot of the feeling you have about a country is a mixture of media headlines and language challenges….

I recently had a chat with Monica Murthy of Empire Startups. Here’s the low-down. Starting From Scratch – The Path for Western FinTech It would be incorrect to call Chris Skinner an industry old hat, since despite his 10+ years in the FinTech industry, he’s known for being on the cutting edge, and doling out…

The main blog headlines are … Clash of clans … or new bank versus old bank (Fidor, BPCE)  I was talking with some friends at the most innovative bank in Europe. A bank that has stopped getting on my radar for the past few years. I first blogged about them back in 2012, when I met…