Opinion

May 3, 2012

CRD 4, Basel 3 – does that mean CRD wins?

I’ve been getting around a bit this week. Having had long conversations with cybersecurity experts, I’ve also been having long conversations with treasurers. Many of them. Many of them, mainly with the world’s largest corporations. And it’s been interesting, as they all share one over-riding common concern. Regulations. Now I thought bankers were the only…

Apr 11, 2012

This wirelessly connected planet

I was asked to chair a panel at the end of a one day conference on the future of payments. I therefore listened to every presentation carefully and, in opening the panel, was asked to give a ten minute summation of what I had heard that day. Here’s what I said: There are a number…

Apr 10, 2012

It’s 2012 and there’s one UK bank that still does not offer internet or mobile bank services

Trust you all had a good Easter break. I did … full of chocolate. Ah well, back to the grindstone, and thought that it might be worth mentioning a little incident that annoyed and then amused me last week. I won’t name the bank – although those who follow my twitter account will know who…

Apr 10, 2012

It’s 2012 and there’s one UK bank that still does not offer internet or mobile bank services

Mar 27, 2012

The next major financial crisis will be in 2045 (presentation)

I was asked to keynote at the ISITC 18th Annual Industry Forum & Vendor Show in Boston this week. Knowing that it’s always important to pull the chain a little bit, I put forward the title: “The next mega global financial crisis will be in 2045”. This was based upon an earlier blog, where I…

Mar 16, 2012

Contactless payments are already past their sell-by date

Spent most of this week at a payments conference. The theme was relentlessly around mobile payments, as this area of the market has truly kicked off as a major focal point for banks, telecommunications firms, retailers and merchants. There was a particularly interesting debate about contactless payments, as this is also something that is being…

Feb 9, 2012

Forget cashless and branchless, it’ll never happen

There are regular discussions at the Financial Services Club, conferences and meetings about the cashless, branchless future. Visa and MasterCard are huge advocates of a war on cash, as are the mobile wallet providers. Brett King and the Bank 2.0 crowd talk lots about a branchless world of banking and how branches are all irrelevant…

Feb 9, 2012

Forget cashless and branchless, it’ll never happen

Feb 3, 2012

What the Facebook IPO means for banks

I haven’t written much about social media lately. The reason is that it’s now mainstream and dull. When you're scanning future views, you’re not as bothered about Facebook and Twitter when everyone’s familiar with and using such services. Facebook's pervasiveness is well illustrated by the Facebook IPO announcement, which gave a raft of good stats about how…