Grid

This week’s main blog discussions include … Invisible banking is the place to be A couple of headlines hit me recently. The first is that twitter is going to create a payments system: Twitter has begun applying for regulatory licences across the US and designing the software required to introduce payments across the social media…

Analysts, investors, industry commentators, finfluencers and pretty much anyone with a social media account has had something to say about the global financial system and the events of the last few weeks – but as far as we know, our quizmaster is the only one that SANG about it – but now he may be “WANTED,…

I was reflecting on the idea of embedded finance and invisible banking yesterday. It’s a great idea. We can use tech to make the world a place where you can pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. Sounds good, but is it? Some people – many who are not in our cocooned world of salaries and…

This week, Bill Gates has written a long essay on the impact AI (Artificial Intelligence) will have on the world. Paraphrasing his essay, these are the highlights for me: I was so excited about their work [OpenAI/ChatGPT] that I gave them a challenge: train an artificial intelligence to pass an Advanced Placement biology exam. Make…

A key to invisible finance is a digital identity and this is the hardest thing to crack. It’s been tried many times and failed often. Equally, there are many companies and institutions trying to solve this, but no-one seems to have succeeded. Having said that, Digiwatch estimate that governments will have issued about 5 billion digital IDs globally…

A couple of headlines hit me recently. The first is that twitter is going to create a payments system: Twitter has begun applying for regulatory licences across the US and designing the software required to introduce payments across the social media platform and then, more interestingly, is that Microsoft is going to do the same, but…

After a tumultuous week and weekend, everyone seems to be asking: is this another global financial meltdown? Bank runs, bailouts, rescues: are the ghosts of 2008 rising again? The Guardian Global banking is now inside Schrödinger’s box, The Financial Times What’s wrong with the banks, The Economist Megan Greene discusses the idea, in The Financial…

I’m a firm believer that banks rarely invest to drive revenue and elevate customer service. But I recently hosted a roundtable discussion in London with Appian, a process automation platform company, where leaders from mainstream and challenger banks in the UK gathered to discuss the challenges facing financial institutions when adopting new technology. One of…

This week’s main blog discussions include … Will Silicon Valley Bank kill the FinTech industry? “When you’re not working, what do you do to de-stress?” was the last question Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)*, took at an investor conference on Tuesday last week. “Cycling is my advice,” he replied. Three days later…

Welcome to this week’s FU, where we talked about the week that was, and what a week it was. Lots of bank failures and a possibility of some new banks. Bank of America were one of the winners this week whilst First Republic Bank were a possible loser, until they were thrown a last minute…