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Risk: the Nature of the Beast

When I first started working in banking, I didn't have much idea about risk, Then I was told about market and credit risk, the two major forms of trading risk in the mainstream markets. Put simply: market risk is the risk of losses from trading whilst credit risk is the risk of the counterparty being…

UK takes a lead in addressing the ‘casino capitalist’ culture

After the huge arguments between London and Brussels over bankers’ bonus levels, where the UK has argued Europe is encouraging our bankers to leave and go to Geneva, New York and Hong Kong, we have now responded by introducing levels of punishment for financial wrongdoing that far outstrips those in Geneva, New York and Hong…

Casino capitalism

Are you a career optimist or a headless chicken?

I just read some interesting research by the Bank Workers Charity, a charity set up over a century ago to provide education to orphans but, today, a charity that looks after the needs of redundant or sick (not cool, but ill) workers in finance. They’ve been very busy lately. One of the more interesting things…

Types of bank worker

Banks need rock star coders to survive

I was having a debate the other day with two bank CEOs. One runs a direct bank that is going digital and the other runs a branch based bank that is investing in digital. At one point in the conversation, we got into a discussion about coders and, in a surprisingly frank dialogue, both CEOs…

Satoshi

The biggest barrier to clouds in banking is the banks themselves

Returning to the subject of cloud computing, I mentioned that it is starting to succeed by being more relevant through a vertical focus, but there is still more to be done for cloud to truly take off in banking. In particular, most banks have a concern about the risk of cloud and who is accountable. …

John Finch, CIO of the Bank of England was speaking at the Cloud World Forum in London on Wednesday

Things worth reading: 14th July 2014

Things we're reading today include … Citi agrees to pay $7 billion to settle securities investigation Bank branches still popular as online banking continues to rise Global fund managers face multi-asset skills shortage Thousands refunded for payday loans Co-op Bank boss to head AIB BIS chief fears fresh Lehman from worldwide debt surge Insurers struggle…

Q: Why are banks organised in product silos? A: McKinsey

I often hear the lament from bankers that their business is designed around products, rather than customers. They have been built upon product silo’s, where customer consistency of experience and interaction falls through cracks. As you look at processes, the hand-off between a customer with a deposit account to their mortgage account, their cards, their…

Dilbert-consultant

Customer focus in banking: where is it?

We had another fine evening at the Financial Services Club the other night, debating customer focus in banking: where is it? with a debate between: Owen Woodley, Managing Director, Retail Banking, Lloyds Banking Group; Derek French, Head of the Campaign for Community Banking Services (CCBS); and Anthony Thomson, co-Founder Metro Bank and Atom Bank. Owen…

Focus3

What can bankers learn from retailers and vice versa?

I organised a fascinating dinner focused upon what banks could learn from retailers the other night. As the evening transpired, various thoughts popped into my head and felt it worth recording them here. On the one hand, we are in awe of technology retail brands, especially Amazon; on the other, retailers have no idea about…

Harrods Bank

There is no next big thing …

Speaking at a recent conference about the Bank of 2020, I started to get a little edgy. The moderator was asking repeatedly about The Next Big Thing, and that mobile devices seemed to be about it. Where’s the next major technology revolution going to come from? she asked.  Isn’t there anything on the horizon we should be talking about…

Intelligent Money: Our Future Is Where We Do Not Think About Money, As Our Money Thinks For Us

What is the future?

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