Art would not flourish without banks
Having spent some time talking about life 700 years ago, you relaise that some things stay constant. The inter-twining between where the powerbase lies and finance is always a close tie. Back in the Medici era, it was the Vatican and Pope, the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire that enabled the Medici’s to…

Art would not flourish without banks
Having spent some time talking about life 700 years ago, you relaise that some things stay constant. The inter-twining between where the powerbase lies and finance is always a close tie. Back in the Medici era, it was the Vatican and Pope, the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire that enabled the Medici’s to…

What did the Medici Bankers ever do for us?
I spent some of the recent holiday in Florence, visiting many of the amazing Renaissance buildings, whilst reading a great historical novel about the rise and fall of the Medici bankers in the 15th century. The book is called Medici Money written by Tim Parks, and traces the fame and fortune of five generations of Medici…

What did the Medici Bankers ever do for us?
I spent some of the recent holiday in Florence, visiting many of the amazing Renaissance buildings, whilst reading a great historical novel about the rise and fall of the Medici bankers in the 15th century. The book is called Medici Money written by Tim Parks, and traces the fame and fortune of five generations of Medici…

The biggest barrier to entry to banking is the regulator
I’m just preparing a presentation in Canada and realised that, like most countries, the competitive landscape of Canadian banking has not changed much in the last century. Sure, there’s been some M&A and sure, the big banks are competing hard with each other but, outside that … Here’s the issue: the major banks in most…

The Ambassador, Embassy, Ferroro-Rocher and a Banker
As mentioned, we had our first meeting of the Financial Services Club in Oslo last week, and a fine affair it was. The most impressive aspect of the meeting being the palatial surroundings of the British Ambassador's Residence in Oslo. We hold many of our European meetings in partnership with the British Embassies, and sometimes…

Vikings: raiders or traders?
We had our second meeting of the Nordic Financial Services Club in Oslo last week. It was a fantastic meeting with case studies from a number of local firms including Schibsted Media Group, ValYou and Nordea. I’ll write up some of this later this week, but wanted to begin with some history. Not some history of…

Vikings: raiders or traders?
We had our second meeting of the Nordic Financial Services Club in Oslo last week. It was a fantastic meeting with case studies from a number of local firms including Schibsted Media Group, ValYou and Nordea. I’ll write up some of this later this week, but wanted to begin with some history. Not some history of…

Swiss banks, the Nazis and PEPs
OK, a last and final post about Swiss bankers and then I’ll shut up. For centuries, Switzerland has been the centre of banking in Europe. As explained, this is due to the Knights Templar and Protestant Reformation at its heart, and is the reason that led to Voltaire (1694-1778) being quoted as saying: “If you…

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