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I took a contrarian view and said that FinTech investments worldwide would plateau in 2022. Interestingly, 2021 was a record year. Just looking at the figures from Innovate Finance, you can see things were still on fire: Sector bounces back from pandemic – 217% overall YoY investment increase in the UK Total capital invested in…

There has been a continual debate about the euro and the future of Europe. When the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, I was absolutely mortified. I didn’t think it would happen, but it has happened. It’s a messy divorce, but the divorce has taken place. Now, the debate moves on to the…

Many financial processes were created centuries ago. When technology arrived, we automated those historical processes to make them more efficient. We didn’t necessarily focus upon how to make them more effective, as the focus was on how to reduce costs. Years later, we are paying the price. The issue is that banks automated old processes…

NatWest, formerly Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), is a good example of a bank with rubbish IT. This was illustrated when I spotted the headline: NatWest fined $300 million for money laundering. They didn’t do the money laundering, but a number of accounts – specifically a jeweller, Fowler Oldfield – did. How did this happen?…

The last fortnight’s main discussions include: Welcome to 2022 I used to make predictions to start the year. I’m not doing that anymore, as everyone else is doing them. I will add a few thoughts at the end of this week’s series of blog entries but, for the moment, here’s my selection of what’s ……

In the final part of my welcome to 2022 series, here are the big trends in technology in general (not just FinTech). According to the World Economic Forum, there are ten key technologies to watch including 3D printing houses, tracking humans through the network and getting drugs through apps. That’s only ten things, so Forbes goes…

Building up to Christmas, I got a lot of FinTech predictions sent by PR firms and friends. Here are my top picks: One of the biggest US FinTech firms Lending Club sent me four big things they predict: Prediction #1: The fintech and bank consolidation arms race continues   2021 brought on more fintech M&A than ever…

Focusing just on the payments space, there are many folks making forecasts for 2022. Here are the highlights. The Financial Brand lists seven major trends for 2022: The ‘P2P’ Wars Will Continue Unabated Despite All the New Stuff, Cards (and Cash) Roll On BNPL: The Payments Wild Card It’s A Wallet! It’s a Platform! It’s Super…

Banking in 2022 has a number of forecasters. Deloitte claim that banks are at a make-or-break moment. I agree. My feeling is that banks are dealing with digital transformation – a thing they should have dealt with a decade ago. For the next decade, they need to deal with investment transformation. Why? Because of the link…

I used to make predictions to start the year. I’m not doing that anymore, as everyone else is doing them. I will add a few thoughts at the end of this week’s series of blog entries but, for the moment, here’s my selection of what’s going to happen in 2022. You had one job ……