Innovation

I’ve talked a lot on this blog about P2P or social lending, mainly because I’ve been involved with Zopa since its launch and followed its siblings: Boober, Smava, Prosper, Lending Club, Ratesetter, Cashare, Loanio … Suffice to say there is a world of direct social lending out there and it’s …

We had a great discussion at the Financial Services Club Central & Eastern Europe (FSClub CEE) this week.  Now in its fourth year of operation, the Club meets regularly at the residence of the British Ambassador in Vienna, Austria (see postnote if you want a laugh).  The theme of the …

In case you didn’t see it, Wired magazine ran an article about Jack Dorsey and Square this month.  Throughout the article, they compare Jack Dorsey to Steve Jobs and Square with Apple. In a long opening – the first page is just about pouring tea! – they finally get to the …

I’ve already given some reflections on last week’s innotribe meeting in my write ups of Metro Bank and Fidor Bank. Now, for a more general write-up, I’ve taken the inputs of Kosta Peric, the SWIFT innovation group leader who runs innotribe; the innotribe start-up details; and the input of participating company Allevo; to …

After discussing Metro Bank yesterday, the other presentation that caught my attention at innotribe Belfast was from Fidor Bank. The two presentations are like going from one extreme to another however – Metro with their branch based focus compared with Fidor with their GLoSoMo (Global-Local, Social Mobile) approach. I interviewed …

I had an interesting dialogue over lunch yesterday. One of my colleagues had just got his iZettle dongle. iZettle is a Square for Europe, offering Chip & Signature payments on smartphones (Square reads the mag stripe). It was originally going to be Chip & PIN, but the PIN terminal detail …

Whilst in Russia last week, I was lucky enough to be there when good friend Daniel Gusev launched a new bank initiative for OJSC Promsvyazbank (PSB).  PSB is a privately-owned universal commercial bank. Founded in 1995, PSB currently ranks 10th by assets among Russian banks and Daniel is innovation advisor …

Whilst in Russia last week, I was lucky enough to be there when good friend Daniel Gusev launched a new bank initiative for OJSC Promsvyazbank (PSB).  PSB is a privately-owned universal commercial bank. Founded in 1995, PSB currently ranks 10th by assets among Russian banks and Daniel is innovation advisor …

I’ve been struck by many nuances of culture and creed lately. There are many examples, but it all comes down to dealing with the customer as a unique entity, not some mass market. For example, why does Spain have so many bank branches? Spain has around 43,000 bank branches, about …

Everyone’s now talking about mobile payments and mobile banking.  I was talking about that effectively as a core strategic area back in 2004.  So it took about five years to become the mainstream bank conversation. Now, I talk about social payments and social banking.  I’ve been talking about this as …

There’s a strong dialogue about why new services such as PayPal and Square take off so fast, and the answer is a combination of usability and accessibility. If something is easy and it works, then it can gain critical mass fast. That’s true of Facebook, Twitter and other social media. …

I’ve spent my life working with banks and technology firms, trying to align technology with business strategy and vice versa. And yet it was only yesterday that I realised that these two industries are ripping each other apart. The fact is that banking was managed in a risk averse way …

I’ve spent my life working with banks and technology firms, trying to align technology with business strategy and vice versa. And yet it was only yesterday that I realised that these two industries are ripping each other apart. The fact is that banking was managed in a risk averse way …

I did a webinar on innovation yesterday. It's a one-hour session, which you're welcome to watch if you have the time:   Alternatively or, in addition, here are the slides I presented if you want a quick view of the info provided. Innovation in financial services View more presentations from …

I did a webinar on innovation yesterday. It's a one-hour session, which you're welcome to watch if you have the time:   Alternatively or, in addition, here are the slides I presented if you want a quick view of the info provided. Innovation in financial services View more presentations from …