I have a keynote coming up on May 19 in Amsterdam with The Next Web, who I regularly write a column for now. Here’s my latest one: I’m delighted to be speaking at TNW on May 19 in Amsterdam. I wanted to talk about Digital Human, the theme of my next book, …
Read More »Arguing with a banker …
A banker and I were talking about the function of a bank. He gave me the classic view: “A bank is there to take people’s money and lend it out at a profit, whilst ensuring the risk of non-payment is minimised” No it isn’t, I said. I pushed the view …
Read More »Three rules for banking bots
Writing more and more about chatbots, robots and AI, I can see a day coming in the not too distant future where we won’t be able to tell the difference between the human and the machine. That’s not scary science fiction, as it’s now almost science fact. However, there is …
Read More »Digital is in our DNA
When you have your basic needs covered – food and shelter – what do you need then? According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s our psychological needs – love, belonging, self-esteem. This is exactly where digital plays into our hearts. Our love and belonging is in Facebook and Baidu, which …
Read More »Not all US banks are against Open Banking
I blogged recently about American banks beating up the regulators to stop account access via APIs. I heard this in various White House meetings in 2016, and assumed all banks and bank people felt the same way. Well, they don’t. Citi’s head of FinTech Policy, Andres Wolberg-Stok, got in touch …
Read More »You want the red or the blue cheese?
I often make a keynote presentation – about two or three times a week – and try to change my presentation as frequently as possible so that those who see me two or three times in a month – and it does happen – aren’t bored but, more importantly, to …
Read More »If you liked it then you should have put a chain on it
I tweeted this the other day, and it got a lot of likes, so I thought I’d make it today’s blog title. We seem to have lost a lot of buzz on blockchain this year, even thought it’s still buzzing away as much as ever before. I recently was talking …
Read More »GulfTech is the next big thing
I’ve just returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where there were a number of events. Just a few weeks ago, I was in Bahrain, talking at a conference about FinTech as usual. What struck me is the interest and excitement about FinTech in both countries. There’s also a lot …
Read More »Neobanks don’t need to be “real banks” to compete in banking
I wrote a piece recently about the challenges of being a challenger bank. It coincided with the news that my friends at solarisBank had just achieved a Series A funding round of €26 million. Neatly, co-founder of solarisBank Marko Wenthin spotted my post and decided to send a reply. Here is …
Read More »The largest payments company in the world that most people have never heard of
I blogged a year ago about TechFin, the incumbents’ view of applying technology to existing banking services, versus FinTech which seeks to transform the financial system. That has become one of the top search terms to find my blog, as it turns out, mainly because my blog entries are the first …
Read More »Will Apple Bank be the first new American #Fintech Bank?
On Wednesday the American Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)* followed up on its promise last December to introduce a national bank charter for Fintech bank startups by issuing a white paper on how to apply for a licence, the evaluation process and what will be involved. It’s …
Read More »The Boy who cried Wolf! (#fintech stylee)
I remember organising my first banking conferences in the 1990s and there was a regular mantra amongst the memes of the folks speaking on stage. There is more change coming and you’re going to be dead meat unless you change. It was a common theme to hear the word disintermediated …
Read More »Branches more important than apps?
Building on my challenger bank discussions, there’s some interesting points coming out of a new report by Price Waterhouse Coopers (or Playing the Wrong Cards as they’re now called, after the Oscars) on challenger banking. It’s well worth a read, especially as they found that having branches is more important than …
Read More »When will banks stop seeing financial inclusion as charity?
I was asked this question at a recent conference and yes, banks do believe that the mass poor are just that: poor. How do you make a profit out of the poor? Well, truth be told, the poorest are the most profitable. They’re the ones who need loans and go …
Read More »The Grade II Listed Bank
I got a laugh the other day when I referred to Grade II Listed Banks, but I was serious. For overseas readers, we have a system in Britain of listing heritage buildings. They have various grades which restrict what you can do with them. Grade I means you can’t really change the …
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