In the 1990s, I spent a long time studying bank trends and the future strategies banks and other would take. The conclusion I came to is that there would be a general cross-industry bank trend, where non-banks would enter banking and, in order to get banking skills, would acquire banks. The end-game would be that…
I’ve written about the end of privacy before, but now the big news in the UK is that privacy is a joke. There is no such thing. For example, we had a court of law here that could implement superinjunctions to stop the media leaking information about people’s private lives. Major stars of media, sport…
Mobile featured heavily throughout the International Payments Summit and it is clear that mobile is not only important; it is imperative. This was made loud and clear by a comment from Daniel Marovitz of Deutsche Bank that it used to be that online and offline worlds were separate because, to make an online payment, you…
A long conversation about digital worlds and social banks yesterday. I was asked what is a ‘social bank’, and had to explain two or three times to really get the point across. That worries me, as social banking should be a simple concept. The issue is that it gets confused with social work and social…
Some time ago I was having a debate about social networks and the problems of where they overlap with professional networks. For example, when I first registered on Facebook, I connected with everyone I knew – family, friends and business acquaintances. The result is that I have a completely messed up Facebook life, where I…
Looking at technology specifically in financial services, there are many that are being cited as hot for 2011: More social media developments as firms like Foursquare, Groupon and Quora add functionalities not seen before; More bank mobile apps, with clever structures and device-specific security; The creation of new retail payments structures, as Apple and Google…
The Banking Year Ahead. Sounds like some sort of swear word but no, it’s all to do with predictions time. What are the big events of 2011 going to be? Barack Obama begins the campaign trail for election 2012. North Korea ignites a battle with South Korea that sees a distance divide between China and…
