Opinion

I just got back from Russia recently where I was interviewed by one of their leading journals. The journalist had read Digital Human, and took a very Russian take on it. His first question was along the lines of: if we are automating so much, then the people who own …

The United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking were released last Monday. The aim is to help any bank – whatever its starting point – to align its business strategy with society’s goals. It’s a nice idea, but is it practical? In a guest column James Vaccaro, Director of Corporate Strategy at …

Another theme that I talk about regularly, and that came up last week, is the FinTech relationship being like a parent and child. The parent wants safety and security and a nice stable home; the child wants to run around and kick and break everything, and challenge everything the parent …

I’m likely to be blogging about leadership all this week, as that was the theme du jour of our Nordic Finance Innovation meetings in Copenhagen and Oslo last week. Saxo Bank, DNB, Danske Bank, Nordea and more were discussing the challenges of digital transformation and the leadership challenge, and I’ve …

Something happened to me this week that made me think of big bank friends. It’s a different industry and one that, last month, I said we could learn from:the airlines. So, here’s a sobering, learning lesson. I’m a gold member of most airline networks, having flown Star Alliance and One World for …

I’m regularly asked why I don’t think banks are doing digital yet, and my answer consists of a series of steps. First, does the banks’ leadership team talk about digital, digital banking, digital investment and digital transformation? Invariably, all bank people tell me yes. OK, second, has the bank actually …

Emmanuel Macron faced protesters across France during the weekend, in a country where he has been dubbed The President of the Rich. What interests me is that title. The President of the Rich. Are not all governments, the governments of the rich? Isn’t that why we have the 99% for, …

I often talk about teaching children to learn what machines cannot learn. Our system of education was created in the Industrial Revolution, and is based upon kids being stuffed with facts, stats and dates. They learn to parrot-fashion repeat things, and are tested to see if they can remember. It’s …

As I travel around, I find different cultures fascinating Some are open, some are closed; some are welcoming, some are distrusting; some feel comfortable, some feel weird; some feel nice, some feel strict; and so on. A lot of the feeling you have about a country is a mixture of …

I got this headline today: Most banks will be made irrelevant by 2030 – Gartner Within 12 years time, 80% of financial firms will either go out of business or be rendered irrelevant by new competition, changing customer behaviour and advancements in technology, according to forecasts by Gartner. And it …

Every now and again people like me are drawn back into reality. Sure, I fly business class, sometimes first, and drink champagne at 40,000 feet. I land and stay in luxurious hotels whilst partying with a network of people who are friends, rather than business associates. I eat at fine …

It is interesting how the FinTech world has developed over the past decade. My first memory of any company that would fit the FinTech world stems way back to March 30, 2005. On that memorable evening, one of the funders of a technology start-up talked about a vision where platforms …

I enjoyed chairing a half day stream at #Money2020 in Las Vegas focused upon breaking news and views. It actually turned out to be more around how banks are partnering with start-ups, with several sessions discussing how the partnership started and how it worked. The first session had Amazon discussing …

Like many of us, I have several pet hates about banks. My main one is when they sting you with charges you don’t expect. I always remember getting a £50 charge for an unauthorised overdraft a few years ago. I’d been with the bank for over twenty years and never …

Ten years ago, I was presenting the concept of Banking-as-a-Service, with the idea that I could find a wide range of plug-and-play software in a cloud-based marketplace, and build my own bank by bringing these pieces of code together into an easy-to-use banking service. A decade later, that vision has …