Grid

I was told that living purely digitally was a “generational thing” and this was followed more recently by another person saying that my view about video is also a “generational thing”. Getting more and more irritated with the peer pressure to switch video on #Zoom, when I'd rather just talk …

This week’s main blogs include … How China’s FinTech is changing everything I joined a Clubhouse discussion the other day – Clubhouse? What? – and discussed Chinese FinTech and its impact on the rest of the world. I really enjoyed the conversation and it was nice that my friend Sophie …

Three years ago, I blogged about Ant Group’s strategy for AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity and more. At the time, I noted: Ant Financial have more blockchain patents than any other company in the world and they have the most live blockchain-based production systems. That was in 2018. By the end of …

I’ve been amazed at the rise of superapps in China. Alibaba and WeChat allow you to socialise, ship and buy anywhere, anytime. It came home to me when I was shopping in a Chinese store and my Chinese friend said: let me just check the price of this on Taobao. …

I’m watching the news. We’re all locked down. Britain just introduced £5,000 fines for unnecessary travel whilst the TV correspondents interview their counterparts in Dubai who say that they get massive fines for not wearing face masks. What is going on? It’s a really weird world where you are punished …

I joined a Clubhouse discussion the other day – Clubhouse? What? – and discussed Chinese FinTech and its impact on the rest of the world. I really enjoyed the conversation and it was nice that my friend Sophie Guibaud summarised it afterwards. I asked her if she would let me …

The two perennial debates we have in banking are a future that is cashless and branchless. Cash is going down, but is not eradicated; branches are closing fast, but still here. Are they necessary? I raise this as I got two reports from strong and trusted sources in the past …

The main blog headlines this week include … If you think the future is purely digital, are you nuts? Arriving at the venue, I spot a good friend. We shake hands and hug. Then I see another friend I’ve missed. We hug and kiss. 1999? 2019? 2022? The conference network …

Building on this discussion, I got into an online argument with someone who accused my views of being generational, e.g. old people want face-to-face, young people don’t care. They argued that sex will be better in virtual worlds and no one needs to go out anymore. They believe we can …

Arriving at the venue, I spot a good friend. We shake hands and hug. Then I see another friend I’ve missed. We hug and kiss. 1999? 2019? 2022? The conference network disappeared in 2020, and it’s now trying to come back. How I miss those networked days. Some say we …

I got a couple of reports in my inbox at the same time about the same thing: cybercrime. Putting this in context personally, I got an email from British Airways saying that SITA had been hacked. Dear Customer, We take the protection of your data very seriously (really?). We have …

Bloomberg wrote the other day that “consumers in the world’s largest economies amassed $2.9 trillion in extra savings during Covid-related lockdowns, a vast cash hoard that creates the potential for a powerful recovery from the pandemic recession”. I was pretty riled about this paragraph and headline, as it’s a total mis-hit …

I’d just written my two pieces last week about non fungible tokens (NFTs) … WTF is an NFT? NFTs show why banks must focus upon digital asset management … when I spotted a fellow blogger and colleague who I respect, Sebastien Meunier, had written about them too. In Sebastien’s case, …

The main blogs of this week were: WTF is an NFT? Watching the mainstream news show the other day, it finished with an item about NFTs, non-fungible tokens. It’s not the sort of thing that I would have expected most pensioners sitting having their night-time cup of cocoa watching the …

A lot of our history in the future will be digital Our future is digital. Just as we look back today and enjoy our physical inheritances of books, music and art, we will look back tomorrow at our digital inheritances of books, music and art. The only difference is today …