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I find it interesting when you look at the Fintech start-up scene and the hotbed of interest now in the blockchain.  There are 100s of companies attempting to do something in these areas, and it amuses me that my Beer and Bordeaux clash is even more notable in this emerging ecosystem. First, you have the…

We had a great debate at the Financial Services Club last night between digital money sage Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion, and all things bitcoin master Jon Matonis. The debate was about whether blockchain is faster and cheaper, and it was clear from the start that this was going to be difficult as the question…

So as I travel around these global conferences, startup challenges and Fintech daze, I often get asked: what does it take to be a Fintech centre?  This is because everyone wants to be one now that they’ve seen the buzz around the market.  London has vied to be that centre for some time, with Boris and…

Talking of start-ups, I’m often asked: how do you spot a successful start-up?   Not sure why they ask me, as I haven’t started a start-up, but I guess it’s because I’m seeing 100s of start-ups out there.  For example, there were 800 contenders on the shortlist for the Fintech50 this year, and that’s just the…

Our main stories of this week includes … The start-up economy I seem to find myself travelling all over talking about innovation and meeting start-ups.  It’s the start-up economy, and there’s probably been no better time to be young, hopeful and visionary.  Thinking back to my younger days, leaving university, the idea of creating my own…

I seem to find myself travelling all over talking about innovation and meeting start-ups.  It’s the start-up economy, and there’s probably been no better time to be young, hopeful and visionary.  Thinking back to my younger days, leaving university, the idea of creating my own company was unheard of.  Everyone was encouraged to get a…

I had a realisation this week.  The realisation is that banks have always been hot on technology and innovation.  If you don’t think so, then just checkout this blog from April 2008 – eight years ago – where I talk about the rise of innovation in banking.  The context was talking about how banks had created a…

We had two Financial Services Club meetings on the same night this week: one in London where Chief Executive of the Payments Council Maurice Cleaves talked about the landscape future for UK payments markets; and one in Warsaw where Lukas Dzuroska presented the top ten trends tracked in research by EFMA over the past year. …

I spent a day working on a bank’s digital strategies the other day.  It was a fascinating day and, as is the norm with some of these offsites, a scribe artiste was scribbling my ramblings on a chart.  The summary I like so much that I thought it was worth sharing here. So what this…

Our main stories of this week includes … The natural order of society is that the system dictates the system Building on yesterday’s discussion of how Fintech firms will eventually become banks, I think a lot of people overlook the humanity in the network.  What I mean by this is that there is a natural biological…