Opinion

Many of us get excited about new and different toys in the payments world. From Jack Dorsey’s twittering Square to PayPal’s billions of payments, we think the world is changing dramatically. SMS texting payments in Africa and credit exchanges on Facebook add weight to our arguments for change in the core of bank processing. We…

Over the past year, most of the banks I deal with have dropped the word ‘innovation’ from their mantra. It’s strange but true that the focus upon being innovative had been such a focal point during the 2000s and now it’s all over. To illustrate the point, the Top 10 American banks used the word…

Banks aren’t charities and yet the non-stop bleating about bonuses and interest rates would make you think they should be run as though they were not-for-profits. But banks aren't not-for-profit; they are proprietary firms with stock listings. They are there to make money, not to exist for the public good. So what’s gone wrong? Unfortunately…

Solving the bonus questions I’m fed up with the argument about bonuses and cannot believe it still rumbles on after a year of debate and G20 meetings. With Barclays announcing record profits last week, and therefore increased bonuses, the media latched onto this angle more than the fact that Barclays, UBS, Goldman Sachs and others…

Cayman – the bank’s main loophole? Three times this week, I’ve come across dodgy dealings by banks in the Caymans to avoid taxation. The first is the Portuguese Bank BCP, or Banco Comercial Portugues SA to give it its proper name. In a detailed report in Bloomberg Markets Magazine, they recount the story of billionaire…

As many readers know, I've disliked Chip & PIN pretty much since it was launched, as there are better solutions out there.  Here's my comment from 2006: Chris Skinner, CEO of financial services think tank Balatro told silicon.com: "I'm an anti-chip and PIN person. Sorry Apacs – I like them very much but it's not…