You may or may not have spotted this headline and, even if you did, you might have thought ah well, it’s Lebanon. I’ve been to Lebanon and can say it’s a fantastic country full of amazing history. Sure, it has its troubles, and those troubles have escalated in recent times, but it is a country that…
I’ve said for some years that digital challenger banks will not break the stranglehold of the big banks on the retail banking space. Am I wrong? According to a new report by the UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FSA), things are changing fast. Around one in 12 (8%) personal current accounts are now held…
This week’s main blog discussions include … A great list of central bank thinking about digital currencies (#CBDC) Madhvi Mavadiya, Head of Content at Finextra, just posted a great list of developments in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). She promises to keep it updated and the link is here. It covers every country from Antigua…
We are all probably aware of the furore over Novax Djocavic and the Australian Open tennis championship. The issue is to vax or not to vax. Now, some people can’t get a vaccination due to their health conditions but, other than this, governments are telling us you must get vaccinated. France mandates “a vaccine pass that…
I was intrigued by the announcement by JPMorgan Chase that they’re spending $12 billion on technology this year. Admittedly, I’ve been tracking this and it seems to go up by around a billion year-on-year. Although this is up 25% on 2020, the bank had said they were investing $11 billion in 2019. And they’re not…
Lots of folks are talking Web3, but what is Web3 and why isn’t it Web 3.0? I guess, like with all things, we abbreviate and so Web3 is the next wave network that will revolutionize everything. So what is it? Web3, as envisioned by the Web3 Foundation, will be a public internet where data and content…
Madhvi Mavadiya, Head of Content at Finextra, just posted a great list of developments in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). She promises to keep it updated and the link is here. It covers every country from Antigua to Curaçao to Iran. 80 countries in all. As my main interests are in the leading financial centres,…
Ron Shevlin, now Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone Advisors, a US research and consulting firm, posted a fascinating article based on his research the other day. Supposedly, banks and credit unions in America think they’re are doing digital transformation. Interestingly, less think they’re doing it today than a few years ago. Here are Ron’s thoughts:…
This week’s main blog discussions include: How a bank’s IT systems allowed £100m a day of fraud 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,…
The worlds’ rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Does it always have to be that way? In 2020, the world's super-rich enjoyed a record rise in their wealth. Here's how the world's wealthiest can put their money to use: https://t.co/3sVoeYqqDF pic.twitter.com/JYvppQCsUI — World Economic Forum (@wef) January 13, 2022 Not necessarily. It was…
