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I was recently asked a set of questions by .BANK and duly answered.  The interview is now online so I thought I would share it here … .BANK: In your book, The Future of Banking in a Globalised World, you explore the impact of regulatory change on the banking industry. With …

A banker and I were talking about the function of a bank.  He gave me the classic view: “A bank is there to take people’s money and lend it out at a profit, whilst ensuring the risk of non-payment is minimised” No it isn’t, I said.  I pushed the view …

This week’s main blog headlines are … Three rules for banking bots Writing more and more about chatbots, robots and AI, I can see a day coming in the not too distant future where we won’t be able to tell the difference between the human and the machine.  That’s not …

Writing more and more about chatbots, robots and AI, I can see a day coming in the not too distant future where we won’t be able to tell the difference between the human and the machine.  That’s not scary science fiction, as it’s now almost science fact.  However, there is …

When you have your basic needs covered – food and shelter – what do you need then?  According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s our psychological needs – love, belonging, self-esteem. This is exactly where digital plays into our hearts.  Our love and belonging is in Facebook and Baidu, which …

I blogged recently about American banks beating up the regulators to stop account access via APIs.  I heard this in various White House meetings in 2016, and assumed all banks and bank people felt the same way.  Well, they don’t.  Citi’s head of FinTech Policy, Andres Wolberg-Stok, got in touch …

A final word on governments and politics after my Friday blog about corruption, and then I promise to leave this alone, as it’s not something I should talk about here.  But I am going to make one statement:  most people are inherently good. Whatever you think, whatever you feel, the …

A summary of the main blogs of the week … Solving state corruption with technology I try to generally avoid making political commentary on the blog as it’s not appropriate. This is a blog about technology and finance, not the economy and politics.  Every now and again the two come …

I try to generally avoid making political commentary on the blog as it’s not appropriate. This is a blog about technology and finance, not the economy and politics.  Every now and again the two come together such as with Brexit and Donald Trump.  Equally sometimes they cannot be avoided as …

I was listening to a financier talking about FinTech the other day, and claiming that they are all sustaining innovations and not disruptive.  They were referring to Clayton Christensen’s innovator’s dilemma discussions, where Professor Christensen points to different markets that were destroyed by disruptors.  Those markets include the American car …

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been hearing about a War on Cash.  The war, as illustrated by India’s recent demonetization, is not on cash itself but on the illegal use of cash and, by association, the fraudulent creation of cash.  Both fraudulent notes and coins along with …

I often make a keynote presentation – about two or three times a week – and try to change my presentation as frequently as possible so that those who see me two or three times in a month – and it does happen – aren’t bored but, more importantly, to …

I tweeted this the other day, and it got a lot of likes, so I thought I’d make it today’s blog title.  We seem to have lost a lot of buzz on blockchain this year, even thought it’s still buzzing away as much as ever before.  I recently was talking …

This week’s main blog headlines are …. GulfTech is the next big thing I’ve just returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where there were a number of events.  Just a few weeks ago, I was in Bahrain, talking at a conference about FinTech as usual. What struck me is …

I took part in a webinar the other day, focused upon the developments in digital banking in the Middle East.  Having visited Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai and Qatar recently, I can claim to know a little.  Equally, having been to the region regularly since 2002, I’ve seen how it is …