Payments

We make the financial world incredibly complex and, because I’m going to spend the whole week talking about Clearing & Settlement, we need to simplify it. In order to do that, I thought I would relay a conversation I had over the weekend where I tried to explain capital markets to a friend, and it…

During the last year, we’ve all enjoyed the rise of social media and social networking, with many of us now happily Twittering, Facebooking, Beboing, StudiVZing, MySpacing, Cyworlding, Mixiing, QQing or whatever takes your fancy. In fact, the numbers are quite incredible. Considering most of these sites had virtually no users in 2006, the fact that…

During the last year, we’ve all enjoyed the rise of social media and social networking, with many of us now happily Twittering, Facebooking, Beboing, StudiVZing, MySpacing, Cyworlding, Mixiing, QQing or whatever takes your fancy. In fact, the numbers are quite incredible. Considering most of these sites had virtually no users in 2006, the fact that…

Today was a really funny day. I'm in Hong Kong and have a bit of time to walk around before my first meeting here, so I go out and about, up and down the Nathan Road, which is one of the main streets of Kowloon near my hotel. As I'm walking I see this massive…

Today was a really funny day. I'm in Hong Kong and have a bit of time to walk around before my first meeting here, so I go out and about, up and down the Nathan Road, which is one of the main streets of Kowloon near my hotel. As I'm walking I see this massive…

Today was a really funny day. I'm in Hong Kong and have a bit of time to walk around before my first meeting here, so I go out and about, up and down the Nathan Road, which is one of the main streets of Kowloon near my hotel. As I'm walking I see this massive…

I was privileged to join a presentation today from one of the best internet banks in the world: eBANK, Japan. That’s a bold claim, but the only bank that comes close to eBANK, for me, is the Bank of America and that is because the BoA have 25 million internet users and over a million mobile…

A story picked up by various media this week is the news that a beggar, Laxmi Das, has managed to save over 30,000 rupees over a period of 44 years, begging at a busy junction in Calcutta, India. Why? For her old age of course. Rather than buying food and drink, she hoarded away spare…

A story picked up by various media this week is the news that a beggar, Laxmi Das, has managed to save over 30,000 rupees over a period of 44 years, begging at a busy junction in Calcutta, India. Why? For her old age of course. Rather than buying food and drink, she hoarded away spare…

In case any of you have missed it, I’m enjoying a knock-out discussion with Stephen Wilson. Stephen decided to take me to task over my contention that governments will force us into biometric banking. That started over here in mid-June. Over the weekend, Stephen then moved the debate to this entry on Finextra. I will…