Going back to the idea that a bank could offer a widget-based business model of functionality and that everything these days is free, makes me realise exactly what tomorrow’s bank will look like. The thought struck me yesterday when I took my brother-in-law’s lad to see Clash of the Titans – more my thing than…
Story breaking in the USA this week is all about Washington Mutual (WaMu), the Seattle-based mortgage bank closed down by the FDIC in September 2008 to be taken over by Bank of America. What a difference a year or two makes. In 2006, just two years before their collapse, an employee annual jamboree for the…
I hope you all had a lovely Easter break. I know I did. Lots of chocolate, reading, walking and sleep. Eating, drinking, chocolate and chat. TV, driving, thinking and chocolate. Wonderful. During my reading I came across this, first published in the magazine Punch back in April 1957. It’s a classic and worth everyone taking…
I'm sure you realised this was an April Fool … or was it? The Wall Street Journal reports this week that "U.S. and European governments are moving toward a consensus on taxing large banks to cover the cost of any future bailouts rather than asking taxpayers to foot the bill, as happened regularly in past…
Don’t get me wrong, I love France and most things French, particularly the South of France and the Cote d’Azur, Tourettes-sur-Loop, Bordeaux and Provence. Beautiful. But get me to Paris and my love affair with France always seems to fly out of the window. Take my latest trip, by way of example. First thing that…
I guess these desperate times cause desperate actions, as the last few weeks must have created the funniest spate of bank robberies ever seen. First, there was the Russian Sumo wrestler who wrestled an ATM out of the wall … March 9th – Total Pro Sports You always wondered why these sumo wrestlers gained all…
Thinking about millenials, or Gen Y as some call them, reminded me of marketers wonderful ways of coming up with new terms for consumer segments. When I was growing up, it was yuppies – young, upwardly mobile, professionals. These were the new pin-striped generation of City styled workers, who went skiing every year and had…
Watching the Carling Cup Final yesterday, I noticed a chap who obviously didn't realise that sitting next to England Manager Fabio Coppello would immediately get him noticed … Yes, it's Mervyn King (on the left), Governor of the Bank of England, sitting watching his favourite team Aston Villa lose 2-1 to Man United. Shame. But…
According to Fast Company, only one of the Top 10 financial websites of the world comes from a traditional bank. That bank is Itaú Unibancoe in Brazil. Well done Itaú Unibancoe … what happened to the rest of you? Oh yes, banks don't innovate. I forgot. Mind you, plenty of innovation from outside banks and…
