Opinion

People were surprised to see a headline that garnered much market shock: Markets Crash after reports that Binances Shangai Office Closed in Crypto Crackdown Argh. Crypto meltdown! I was amused to see a headline that garnered much online mirth: Markets Crash after reports that Binances Shangai Office Closed in Crypto …

Interesting conversation about switching accounts. I’ve had a few people saying that banks don’t have loyal customers, but they have trapped customers. By way of example, an email from a friend: I am just exactly as loyal to my bank as they are to me, which is to say not …

I picked up a few innovative changes taking place this week within banks. In fact, I should point out that banks are not static beasts, as many claim. They are changing all the time, doing things all the time, adapting all the time. The question is: are they adapting in …

My blog often seems to return to the subject of sex, whether it be sexism or basic sex. It is for the reason that money and rumpy-pumpy are the twin engines powering everything we do, as Jeremy Clarkson so succinctly put it. However, today I’m not writing about sex per …

Just over a month away from Christmas and the festive season is off to a rock and roll start. This week sees the launch of the annual John Lewis schmaltzy advert (see every one since 2006 here) and after six on December 5 sees the lighting of the Trafalgar Square …

Actually, it’s not just banking. It’s money. Money is about control – something I blog about regularly – and men control societies, economies and the world. Women are subjugated in that world, which is why there is a minority of female founders of FinTech firms and female executives in the …

It’s a weird world. I know lots of grumpy old men like me lament that, when we were growing up, we were left outside to run about as we felt, find our own way to and from school, were encouraged to read more and exercise, and such like. It seems …

I’m going to write the last of my blogs at this point on being purpose-driven to reference something that irks me a lot. Exclusivity. We have exclusivity a lot in life. The idea is that it creates ambition, hope, focus, hunger, direction and reward. We want the next airmile to …

I was a bit agog and aghast at the recent announcement from 192 US CEOs, who said that stakeholders are now more important than shareholders. This focus upon stakeholders has been an emerging trend for over the past quarter century and here’s what these great US leaders said: Statement on …

There’s a comment that has stayed with me for a long time. It goes along the lines of if you’re earning $10 million a year then spending $10,000 is only the same as someone who earns $100,000 a year spending $100. It’s just relative. This often strikes me as I …

I saw a list on Facebook the other day about being old. It was a note that said: “How to tell when you’re an adult: you gain 30lbs overnight you’d rather sleep in than go out everything hurts comfort comes before style everything feels like a chore you’re always annoyed” …

I was talking with a senior banker, who told me that he was in charge of the Artificial Intelligence program in the bank. I was impressed as he is part of the executive leadership team of the bank and not the CIO. We have invested widely across the board in …

I finally hit the nail on the head about why you can’t have money without government. It’s because you can create as open a system, complex a platform, distributed an idea, decentralised a currency as you want but, unlike most industries, without some form of supervisory oversight the whole system …

When did you last write a check (cheque)? When did you last receive one? Although a valid payment mechanism in some countries, it has been phased out in many. Finland stopped using checks in 1993 and Poland in 2006. The Netherlands have taken it a step further. Having banned domestic …

I enjoy being around bankers who have been immersed in the industry nearly all of their lives and hearing their war stories. I heard two stories recently from a retiring banker, and thought it worth sharing to show just how far we’ve come. This friend started life in international banking …