History

No one knows. He died in 1965 and, fifty-five years later, no one can say what his view on Brexit would be. But the question is being raised in The Independent this week (first of a five part series). They quote a few speeches by Churchill post-war and his views on Europe which, if anything,…

There were two headlines recently that arrived side-by-side: Will telephone bank passwords become obsolete? Does my new biometric bank card really mean the death of the Pin? Neither headline is particularly news – voice recognition for telephone banking and biometric bank cards have been floating around for a decade (or two!) – but it is…

It’s September 14. It’s exactly ten years since Lehman Brothers collapsed. It’s ten years since the touchpaper was lit that sparked the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). It’s exactly ten years since I landed in Vienna for Sibos 2008 on Sunday, September 14 2008, to find voicemail after voicemail asking for commentary about the crisis. Lloyds took…

I was introduced to a lunch meeting by the Chairman of the Bank. As he made the introduction, he gave a personal account of how technology had changed the world during his lifetime. This is not his speech, but my version of his speech. I trust you like it. So, I grew up in a…

For those who know me they know that I travel a lot and, in those travels, it is fairly obvious that the world is not homogenous. Whilst the Chinese leapfrog the West and move to mobile banking, Europeans are seeing a surge of new banks trying to challenge the old, whilst the USA has megabanks…

I have many bad habits. The main bad habit is collecting. I collect lots of things. Old comics, old books, old people. Well, maybe not the last one, but one of my really bad habits is collecting money. I have this thing that I call the money museum at home, and in the museum are…

I was super impressed by an article written by FinTech friend Bradley Leimer for International Banker the other day, and asked if I could share on the blog. Bradley kindly said yes, so here you are. Enjoy the read! The Invisible Hand of Financial Services by Bradley Leimer, Managing Director and Head of Fintech Strategy, Explorer Advisory…

Another musing whilst on holiday is that it is difficult to get into the head of a twenty- or thirty- something millennial when you’re a Gen X or Baby Boomer. In my head, I still think I’m 20 but, when I look in the mirror, I know I’m not. This thought struck me as I…

I just listened to George W. Bush being interviewed by AT&T CEO and Chairman, Randall Stephenson, and it was an interesting experience. For example, I’ve heard Bill Clinton speaking and Mikhail Gorbachev (twice), but this event was clearly far more security conscious than those. I mean we’re at an event with lots of corporate bozos…

And continuing my shameless self-interest, a little more on the new book … I’ve been musing for a while about inclusivity, and find that the world is truly being transformed as everyone joins the network. It is the theme I present all the time right now, and discussions around M-Pesa, Saldazo, Paytm and Ant Financial…