Grid

I’ve asked myself this question often recently: could the banking system be run outside the banking system? I guess the start point of this discussion is: what is the system? Just like to be or not to be, that is the question. What is the system? It’s a debate I’ve been having for years –…

Two years ago Stuart Kirk, the then head of responsible investing for HSBC, delivered a mic dropping speech at the FT Moral Money conference. What did he say? Here’s a few quotes: “Who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years? Amsterdam has been six metres underwater for ages, and that’s a really…

Historically, there are some technology stories that stand out. Alan Turin; Tim Berners-Lee; Bill Gates; Mark Zuckerberg; Jeff Bezos; Elon Musk … but what about Hedwig Kiesler? Shared extensively on social media, her story is all about the invention of WiFi. If you Google who invented WiFi? the name that comes back is John O’Sullivan…

This week’s main blog discussions include … How digitalisation is changing lending I was recently having a chat with my old friend Slava Solodkiy about the way in which digitalisation is changing lending. He then surprised me by summarising our discussion and allowing me to share it here! Here’s his write-up: How digitalisation is changing…

I was recently having a chat with my old friend Slava Solodkiy about the way in which digitalisation is changing lending. He then surprised me by summarising our discussion and allowing me to share it here! Here’s his write-up: How digitalisation is changing lending When thinking about this my brain thought linearly – taking current…

I got this sign the other day, and it really resonated. I guess it resonated as, for nearly all of my life, I’ve had wants. It’s a terrible disease, as needs is far less serious. Wants is that there’s always something you want but cannot have. As a result, you work as hard as you…

Attending a dinner with family the other night, we got into a kind of argument or debate that had me in one corner as the boomer and my friend, a young parent, as GenZ. It was a heated debate and I don’t think either of us won. What do you think? Summarising the discussion, I’ll…

I just found a fascinating report from data.ai about the state of mobile usage today. Apparently we spend a third of the day, on average, playing with our phones. The mobile economy is now worth more than half a trillion dollars; with most of it generated through spending on mobile adverts; and almost 500,000 apps…

Over the past few years, I’ve been to many fintech events around the world, from London to Las Vegas; Sydney to Singapore; Kigali to Karachi; but last week was a first, for me, Fintech Islands in Barbados. Well yes, someone had to go I guess and so, when asked, how could I resist? The conference…

This week’s main blog discussions include … Old bank fears of regulators is opening massive new markets to their challengers I’ve just been through a very strange process with my main personal bank account provider who, thanks to fear of FCA and crypto, noticed that I had regular payments in and out of my account…