Technology

I was thinking about not sharing this info but hey, as you are good enough to read my blog … here’s the bottom-line on digital disruption (ed: oh no, Chris said the D-word!). There’s a slide that’s been doing the circuit for a while.  It comes from Visual Capitalist, and charts the change in the world’s…

Talking about moving from proprietary to open, from controlled to marketplace and from internal to external focus, another key change is the very nature of technology itself.  It’s quite clear that a start-up today could launch with just a few thousand dollars, Amazon Web Services and a bright idea.  There is no need to build…

I often write some things that I don’t believe, such as yesterday’s blog about the fact that we don’t need to rip up the roads.  Of course we need to rip up the roads, because our mode of transport has changed dramatically.  A great example of this change is just the very nature of the underlying…

I find it a little amusing to see the noise being made by banks about FinTech.  Lots of noise, not so much action.  And where there is action, it’s not necessarily real.  There are a few exceptions, but the majority seem to be tackling FinTech as more of a marketing requirement than an active cultural…

I was having a nice relaxing Sunday, when alerted to a tweetfest taking place between industry heavyweights Simon Taylor (an ex-banker) and Mariano Belinky (a banker).  It all started with: Fintech didn’t disrupt banks but banks are slowly dying. Creating an ever growing opportunity for #fintech — Simon Taylor (@sytaylor) September 18, 2016 @sytaylor low…

I’ve spent a lot of this week talking about marketplaces.  We have a growing number of financial marketplaces appearing.  Lending marketplaces, credit marketplaces, payments marketplaces and more.  A marketplace is the bazaar.  Market stall holders gather to meet with prospective clients, and the digital version of the marketplace is the focal point for many FinTech…

As mentioned last week, the CIO’s role is changing from running an empire of maintenance engineers to organising a distributed development organisation. The change in the role is one from a hierarchical control structure, where everything is proprietary and internal, to a flattened organisation that is open and broad. Much of the developments will come…

Building on yesterday’s blog (Do bank’s need a CIO?) , the key misunderstanding is the role.  Most banks thing the CIO is there to run the technology.  They’re not.  That’s what they used to do.  That’s not the job for the future. First and foremost, the person leading technology developments in any incumbent bank of…

I’ve blogged a lot about digital identities, but failed to cover an in-depth review of the largest identity program in the world: Aadhaar.  It’s been very remiss of me, but I’ve been waiting for the right moment and now seems to be that moment. Aadhaar is well known for those in the identity field, but…

Building upon Friday’s discussion of how the system treats the poor, there are interesting movements afoot at the Brookings Institute.  If you’re not familiar with Brookings, it is one of America’s oldest Think Tanks and provides independent research into social sciences, particularly economics, governance and foreign policy, for the US Government. The Institute has a…