My newest book comes out in June. The theme is the integration of finance, technology and ESG. It’s a subject that has been in the ascendancy for years, but became in vogue in the late 2010s. Now it is a thing. I worry some will therefore think I only came …
Read More »How the EU banned bitcoin … and then didn’t
I’m not sure if anyone noticed but yesterday was the day that Europe voted not to ban bitcoin. It’s been bubbling for a while, as the EU developed a new Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework to protect EU citizens who invest in such assets. In many ways, it’s a …
Read More »How Facebook failed at finance
I haven’t written much about Facebook’s digital currency Diem, as there’s not much to write about. A dead duck from day one, it would never succeed. I said so back when it launched in 2019: The bottom-line is that Facebook may have developed a stablecoin using blockchain to enable global …
Read More »The Finanser’s Week: 7th March 2022 – 13th March 2022
This week’s main blog discussions included … Financial sanctions: a reality check Some friends were applauding Visa and MasterCard’s decision to throw Russia off their payments networks over the weekend. Both companies handle 90% of all debit and credit card payments outside of China – and their announcements will deal another …
Read More »Dumbing down tokenisation
This BBC article … The remarkable items that have been used as currency … got me thinking about tokenisation. The article discusses the use of shells, specifically the seasnail shell called a cowrie, and how it became a global currency by around 1200BC. Although the cowrie is mainly found in …
Read More »Start with the way people behave, not how you design
Thinking about process redesign, I remember when the ATM was invented. I wasn’t there – I’m not that old – but I remember reading about the great debate they had as banks didn’t believe people would be able to remember a PIN. The BBC reports that “Mr. Shepherd-Barron came up with …
Read More »Has the pandemic transformed banking to be digital forever?
Question: Has retail banking transformed to be digital forever? Answer: No. I’ve always said that banking can never be purely digital as it needs a human touch. It needs the ability to talk to someone as money is the second most important thing in our lives. In fact, for some, …
Read More »When digital is down
I watch the world through the lens of the network, and have noticed that China is leading the world with digital currencies. The digital yuan is ready for release in time for the winter Olympics and a CBDC is likely to be launched in China before anywhere else. So why …
Read More »Financial sanctions: a reality check
Some friends were applauding Visa and MasterCard’s decision to throw Russia off their payments networks over the weekend. Both companies handle 90% of all debit and credit card payments outside of China – and their announcements will deal another significant blow to the Russian economy. It sounds grand, but the presentation …
Read More »The Finanser’s Week: 28th February 2022 – 6th March 2022
The main blog discussions this week include … A SWIFT slap on the wrist During the weekend, there was some real action against Russia and specifically Vladimir Putin. The aim is to freeze Russia’s assets, worth around $630 billion, around the world. ‘A global financial pariah’: how central bank sanctions …
Read More »The role of an infomediary
Years ago, I was writing about the role of an infomediary. The idea was that there should be a broker between customer’s data and their service providers. Unfortunately, that role has become four companies for those in the Americas and two for those in Asia: Amazon, Facebook (Meta), Google (Alphabet), …
Read More »How do you get the customer to ride the elephant?
Sometimes you think there’s not much more to say about a subject. Then a friend sends you some links and suddenly you’re falling down another rabbit hole, this one all about banks and climate change. A friend of mine just shared a bunch of documents about banks’ funding of fossil …
Read More »We need to pressure regulations on climate finance
We seem to be at an intersection. The intersection is the moment that we realise our futures are threatened by many things, particularly the climate emergency. The intersection is that the solution to the climate emergency is a mixture of government, finance and technology. The three areas are critical to …
Read More »When a rebel meets a banker
Recently, Dr. Gail Bradbrook of Extinction Rebellion allowed The Finanser to publish a guest piece, which was generally well received. However, one letter stood out as a rebuttal. Gail determined to reply to this view, and so the dialogue carries on below… When economics and investments are led by our better …
Read More »Refugees and positive action for Ukraine
I don’t like posting twice a day but, at a time of ‘peace-keeping’, it seems worthwhile because it’s interesting. It’s interesting that when there’s a war somewhere else, it doesn’t matter. I always remember hosting Jaz and Nils O’Hara of the Worldwide Tribe at the Financial Services Club in 2016 talking …
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