HSBC and Standard Chartered are wrong to kowtow to China over Hong Kong
I keep saying that I don’t want to be political on this blog – I’m not qualified and it’s not why you read it – but, as a human being, I cannot ignore things like Black Lives Matter, the lockdown approaches of different countries, the suppression of religious groups, the wars that continue (especially in…

McKinsey on digital transformation in banking (free research)
I only just stumbled across this 124 page report from McKinsey and, building on yesterday’s free research from Deloitte, this report is all about digital transformation and replacing core systems, my favourite subject. Here’s the intro: Next-gen Technology transformation in Financial Services Financial Services technology is currently in the midst of a profound transformation, as…

BaaS works, it’s the regulations that don’t
During my MoneyBox interview about Wirecard (see end of this blog), Paul asked me the question: how could this happen again? What’s next? And I said, we learn from our mistakes. Progress never stops. Wirecard won’t shut down FinTech. It will amend it. This means this is not the end of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), but an…

Is FinTech getting it wrong? Focus on needs and wants
A friend of mine, Alessandro Hatami, wrote an interesting piece on Sifted that I shared in my news yesterday. He claims that neobanks like Monzo and Starling are not reinventing banking at all. They’re just modifying and improving it. Alessandro then goes on to cite the key things that banking should really focus upon: There…

Are banks too full of testosterone?
There’s no logical reason for this, but I’ve decided the second week of June is women’s week. It’s a week to celebrate diversity, or the lack of diversity, in finance and technology. So, this week’s blogs are all about women and finance and technology. To start with, let’s look at banking. Banks are traditionally run…

The end of main street
Wondering about the future. Always wondering about the future. Thinking about where things are going. It’s the only thing we don’t know. We know the past; we live in the present; we wonder about the future. What’s my future? What’s your future? What’s the future for our children and our children’s children? What’s the future?…

Goldman Sachs compare bitcoins to tulips, and cryptofolks aren’t happy
Goldman Sachs just became the bad boy on the block in the bitcoin brethren by saying bitcoin has nothing behind it. Remember last week when we were all bullish for the Goldman Sachs Bitcoin call? L pic.twitter.com/W5lRyx1L5Y — Zack Voell (@zackvoell) May 27, 2020 However, when you look at their presentation … … they don’t…
























