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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
In a penultimate view of the history of Swiss banking, one important dimension is why the largest Swiss banks – UBS and Credit Suisse – are based in Zurich, rather than Geneva, Basel or Bern. Zurich. The largest town in Switzerland with a population of 400,000 people is tiny compared to London with its millions…
In a penultimate view of the history of Swiss banking, one important dimension is why the largest Swiss banks – UBS and Credit Suisse – are based in Zurich, rather than Geneva, Basel or Bern. Zurich. The largest town in Switzerland with a population of 400,000 people is tiny compared to London with its millions…
