History

May 10, 2013

Sir Ranulph Fiennes caught trying to rob a bank

Like others in the conference hall, I felt a sense of awe as the world’s greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph ‘Ran’ Fiennes, took to the stage to recount some of the stories about his life and travels, including the day he was in court over trying to rob a bank. Bear in mind, this is…

Apr 2, 2013

400 years of boom and bust

I just had a quick tour of the British Museum inspired by an article I read in The Telegraph about their exhibition of British bubbles and bankruptcies. The exhibition traces back schemes from the 1600s, such as the Darien Disaster, right through the Railway Mania and Overend and Gurney Bank failure of 1866 through to Northern…

Apr 2, 2013

400 years of boom and bust

Jan 18, 2013

Try to destroy yourself … and then do it

One of the panellists at this week’s conference said that he employed twenty people whose sole duty was to find a way to destroy the business. I liked the idea of that. It is a strong and emotive statement. But what did he mean? “I employ twenty people in my innovation department who purely look…

Jan 18, 2013

Try to destroy yourself … and then do it

Dec 20, 2012

Were Skinner’s 2012 predictions correct?

At the start of the year, I always make a few predictions about what will happen in the following year. Watch this blog in January for 2013’s predictions. But what were the predictions for 2012? Well Economically, I made the following forecasts: Asia’s light continues to shine, but not quite as bright American equities is the place…

Dec 20, 2012

Were Skinner’s 2012 predictions correct?

Dec 14, 2012

Risk is a many splendored thing

I was asked to give a pre-dinner speech by SAS for a group of Chief Risk Officers (CRO’s) in Amsterdam recently. Here’s the speech. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I wasn’t sure how to start this evening, and decided to begin with the collective noun for a group of CRO’s. You are collectively known as a…

Nov 23, 2012

Too fast to innovate, too slow to change

As mentioned yesterday, the regulator tries to keep up with the banks who try to keep up with customer, and I said that banks often innovate too slowly. There are many examples of this, but the one that I come back to regularly is Chip & PIN. Chip & PIN has been an enormous success,…

Nov 22, 2012

Why should we innovate?

I was talking at a conference and a regulator was on the panel. The panel chair asked him: “should we think about innovation first or regulation?” and he responded by saying: “It is not a question of regulation or innovation. I would rather ask the question: why do we need innovation at all? Who is it…