Uncategorized

Aug 22, 2011

Data can be currency, just like salt

We are living in times where I often talk about data being our new currency, and that data is more valuable than money or gold in the context of modern life. This may sound like a joke, but historically we have often migrated value and meaning from different objects as our means of trade. In…

Aug 22, 2011

Data can be currency, just like salt

Aug 18, 2011

New York’s banks and breasts

So I’m walking around New York and stumble across Broadway and 32nd where this billboard is over Penn Station’s subway entrance: Now I am confused on so many levels. First, who’s that woman covering up her breasts? Isn’t America the land where any sign of a nipple results in a civil lawsuit (note Janet…

Aug 18, 2011

New York’s banks and breasts

Aug 18, 2011

Things worth reading: 17th August 2011

Things we're reading today include … MPs set to question role of new City watchdogThe Independent Deutsche Bank Faces Breuer Trial in Kirch Legacy of LitigationBusiness Week European Bankers Slam Transaction Tax PlansBusiness Week Top trader to exit BarclaysThe Independent RBS cutting customers' ATM accessBBC Leaders give lukewarm response to Sarkozy and Merkel's bid to…

Aug 18, 2011

Things worth reading: 17th August 2011

Aug 17, 2011

HSBC stumble with Secure Key

HSBC have just hit the headlines as they’ve launched an additional layer of internet security, in th form of a calculator terminal called ‘secure key’. The calculator is small enough to attach to a key fob, and generates a random pass code each time you want to go onto online banking. This is small, but…

Aug 16, 2011

Can the SEC and FSA really stop insider trading?

It’s funny and amazing how many ways we communicate these days as, being in the USofA, I’m in a meeting where we are all twittering, emailing, text messaging, Skyping … you name it. This makes it interesting from a regulatory and communications perspective with banks, as tracking who’s saying what to whom through what medium…

Aug 15, 2011

Bank brands leave something to be desired

I was trying to work out what would be a luxury or aspirational brand in banking. There are plenty of banks out there, and plenty of bank brands, but are any of those brands truly aspirational? For cars, it’s easy: Ferrari and Aston Martin, or BMW and Mercedes dependent upon your aspiration. For watches, it’s…

Aug 12, 2011

Banks need to radically shake up and wake up

Frank Partnoy wrote a fascinating opinion piece in yesterday’s FT about the coming world of smaller banks. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Partnoy, he is a Professor at the University of San Diego but, more importantly, the author of many books analysing the whys and wherefores of the financial markets with “Infectious Greed” and…