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…
So this week I thought it worth posting a few reflections on 2010, the year that was, and begin with some thoughts on retail banking (tomorrow will be payments and Wednesday, capital markets). Surprisingly, retail banking has not had any really startling changes. Branches are still the focal point, as evidenced by Santander who increased…
I was quite intrigued to hear a speech by Ben Ramsden, Founder and CEO of Pants to Poverty. Ben's talk was all about social business which, when combined with social finance, creates a completely different and new form of commerce that, if the next generation has any say, will compete with and potentially merge with…
So to the really interesting question: if the industry is a polluting, festering, rotten and foul mess, should we try to shut it down? The reason I ask this is that this is the question that came up as I was writing yesterday's blog, debating the similarities between the banking and oil industries. If BP and…
I bet Venessa didn’t realise what she had started when she had her rant the other day, but I’m enjoying the thought process started by Venessa’s reactions to SIBOS, my reactions back and the reactions of the community reading these entries in their commentary and thoughts. In fact the commentary is great, and I appreciate…
SIBOS sparked two big conversations this year. Two separate conversations both targeted at fundamentally changing financial thinking. The first was the Long Now, which was all about how to invest for the long-term health of our planet. I’ve talked about that enough for the moment. The other conversation has been bubbling on twitter, and is…
