Opinion

I can understand why bankers can be sceptical about what technologists say. For years, technologists have been telling them that their business is threatened by technological change. They’ve been shouting that they will be disintermediated; they say that the bank must change and change fast to keep up; they argue …

I got a large number of pings over the weekend to read and comment on an article on Medium by Lance Ng headlined: Facebook Plans to Become World’s Biggest Central Bank? It is a conjectured article that takes the story from The New York Times discussing Facebook creating its own …

This is an old but true story of my very own. Back in the day, I worked for a computer firm that had a unique piece of hardware and software called the Contents Addressable File Store, or CAFS for short. I was the marketing manager for this remarkable piece of …

I go around a lot of banks and am always struck by their similarities and differences. To be honest, there are more similarities than differences. Most have big corporate offices, with great views over their home cities; their branches are now well-lit stores with open counters; and their apps all …

There’s a lot of talk about trust when you meet with people in finance. Customers trust us with their money … there is trust in banks … we are trusted when it comes to advice … our brand is a trusted brand. I usually keep quiet as most of that …

One of the things I say fairly often is that the FinTech start-up community is fairly naïve. Not all, but many, do not understand the nuances of finance and why it is regulated the way it is. Equally, some but not all behave in a way which is not aligned …

Marko Wenthin is contributing this week. He began with funding and then moved on to the issues you face once you secure that funding. In this final part, he focuses upon why it may be better to focus upon B2B2C, rather than just B2C. The beauty (and the beast) of …

As mentioned yesterday, Marko Wenthin is contributing this week on how to become a FinTech unicorn. In Part One, he talked about fund raising. In part two, he focuses upon the challenges that then follow. How to be a Unicorn (Part Two) If you manage to get some investors interested …

Marko Wenthin, co-founder of solarisBank, recently contributed to my blog and, as a mate, has sent some great insights about starting up a FinTech firm which I thought I would share of FinTech banks last week. How to be a Unicorn (Part One) After announcing a whopping 300M$ D-round at a 2.7 …

I often reflect on how quickly China is moving towards being cashless, as are parts of Africa and much of India. I then realised that it is a strong mix of simple infrastructure and strong incentive. In the case of M-PESA in Kenya, there was no method of making payments …

Name the company that strikes fear into everyone’s hearts in business? In the 1980s, it was IBM. You never get fired if you buy IBM, even though It’s a Bloody Mess. In the 1990s, it was Microsoft. Sure, Most Intelligent Creatures Realise Our Software Only Fools Teenagers, but yes, they …

Yep, there’s a clickbaiting title if ever I saw one. But it seems to be true. Ten years ago, we had a global financial crisis. Now, ten years later, the banks are heavily regulated, their risk-capital ratios stabilised, their leverage reduced and the regulators breathing down their necks, promoting competition …

One of the issues I have with financial services is that it’s frightening. You might not think so, but I grew up in a world of cushioned money. I didn’t know much about money at all. The most I knew about money is begging for more pocket money. The Bank …

As usual, I began the year with a bunch of predictions. I always like to end the year by going back and reviewing them. My own predictions were a little bit off. I said the main four things that would happen this year were: Getting down to business with Artificial …

As a professional conference goer, I have certain routines. My main focus is to learn and, although I won’t attend every session, I will attend many. Unfortunately these days, the wandering mind and desperate need to get to the next level of Candy Crush, means that most of the time …