Grid

Few of us can forget the terrible attack on Paris in November.  When the Paris attacks took place at the end of last year, I was lucky enough to visit Paris a couple of days later for the annual CARTES conference event. Some firms had pulled out last minute for fear of further attacks, but…

In part one, I talked about the views of the Fintech start-ups who begin with thinking: how can I transform this financial process using technology?  Banks think differently and begin with thinking: how can I apply technology to this financial process?  The core difference is that banks think Techfin rather than Fintech.  They begin with…

Our main stories of this week includes … Is it Fintech or Techfin (Part One) In conversation with bankers and start-ups, it is clear that there is a differing view of the world.  It is not as clear-cut as nimble innovator versus dinosaur incumbent, which is how many portray this chasm of difference of thinking, but…

In conversation with bankers and start-ups, it is clear that there is a differing view of the world.  It is not as clear-cut as nimble innovator versus dinosaur incumbent, which is how many portray this chasm of difference of thinking, but there is a difference in thinking.  It is a radical difference in thinking, and…

There are a few friends in my network whose opinions I respect and Professor Michael Mainelli, Chairman of Z/Yen Group is one of those.  He has kindly given me a really insightful paper into blockchain technologies and terminologies.  For the uninitiated, it will enlighten and for the initiated, it will offer something new.  Enjoy … Terminology…

So we had our annual update on all things EU yesterday from David Doyle, loyal friend of the Financial Services Club and our opening keynote in most years as we are all keen to know what the Eurocrats are thinking.  In prepping for the meeting, I got to thinking about the state of Europe today. …

I often claim that we are going through a revolution in commerce and, every time we go through a revolution in commerce, we go through a revolution in finance. The first great revolution in commerce was the move 5,000 years ago from barter to money.  Money was invented because the barter system broke down, as farming…

I blogged a short while ago about Roboadvisors, and with the recent stock market meltdown due to China’s economy slowdown, it’s interesting to see today’s Financial Times talking about the impact on these fledgling firms. According to the FT, the emergent roboadvisor market that includes Personal Capital, Betterment and Wealthfront, and now managing a combined $100…

Our main stories of this week includes … Who wants to be a (Fintech) Unicorn? For the past year, there’s been lots of talk about Fintech Unicorns – start-up companies with over a billion dollar valuation launched since 2000.  Jim Bruene at Finovate – register for Finovate Europe with 20% discount using FSClub20 – wrote about so…

There’s lots of discussions about financial markets and their different structures.  Retail and commercial banking are likened to farms, whilst investment banking is a jungle.  Retail and commercial banking have dull products likened to chickens.  Look after them and they produce regular and predictable results.  Investment banking is just full of testosterone fueled animals that…