The biggest news stories of the week include:
Bank regulation reform needs to be more radical, say MPs (Guardian)
Let's scare the banks into lending with capital raising threat (Telegraph)
Is high frequency trading a good or bad thing? (Telegraph)
Was the AIG Bailout a Goldman Bailout by Proxy? (Seeking Alpha)
ECB survey sees credit crunch easing (Euractiv)
Lloyds Banking Group names Sir Win Bischoff as new chairman (Telegraph)
Five Firms Hold 80% of Derivatives Risk, Fitch Report Finds (CFO Magazine)
Darling to grill UK bank bosses on lending (Times)
This is how we let the credit crunch happen, Ma'am ... (Guardian)
And our key stories include:
I had a few calls yesterday to talk about what’s going on between the
Chancellor, Alistair Darling, and the banks. Oh yes, and Peter
Mandelson was in there somewhere. As I wasn’t in the room with them, I had no idea what was said, but here’s my fly–on–the–wall view.
Chancellor: “Why aren’t you lending?”
Stephen Hester: “We are.”
Chancellor: “Oh no you’re not” ...
Proof that (some) politicians have no idea
We
smile at the struggling actions of politicans and regulators to
understand and legislate for the complexities of the financial system
and economy, but if you really want to see how politicians mess up, you only have to look to our friends and counterparts in the USA.
big debate about it in the Financial Services Club a couple of weeks
ago.
The meeting was titled: "This house believes new liquid architectures
will dominate strategic plans for 2010", and was part of our Capital
Markets Chamber. The audience packed the room and this is because, under the latest UK
regulations, liquidity reporting rules are estimated to pontentially
cost banks in London up to £2 billion to comply.
Muhammad Yunus was honoured with one of the highest recognitions any
individual can receive: the Nobel Peace Prize. The Prize recognised
his work in creating the world's first microfinance system. A few years ago, some bright sparks in California decided to give this model of finance a 21st century makeover. The result is Kiva: a social network for linking those with money to those without.
What's up with the Greek bank?
Had a while to sit and read Private Eye yesterday, the UK's best selling current affairs magazine. Lots of stories about corruption, lies and backstabbing ... and that was just the bit about Eastenders. A number of bank related stories caught my eye too, starting with a dig at Lord Walker's report on corporate governance ...
If I ruled the world ... nope, Goldman Sachs does
Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed is always a great read, and today he's posted some blurb from Science Magazine that's worth repeating here as it graphically shows the interconnectivity of the global banking system.
Ever wonder what would happen if you suddenly got hit by a massive truck? I do ... not all the time obviously but when I'm jogging, wearing my iPod, and enjoying Britain's fantastic summer weather ;-) Solution? Deathbook!
Battling with the banks: ready for prime time (for BT resources)
As
traditional banks focus on balance sheet restructuring, increasing
capital reserves, paying back stakeholders and dealing with all manner
of governmental interference, is there a danger they could be taking
their eye off the ball?
SIBOS #1: Why banks don't get innovation
So it’s six weeks until SIBOS and, at SIBOS, I’m participating in a
stream all about innovation called innotribe. Innotribe is going to be
a hotbed discussion of new things in banking, particularly new
disruptive technologies such as cloud computing, mashups and
crowdsourcing.
One week left: have you entered the survey?
We are pleased to announce that, during the summer, the
Financial Services Club's in-depth analysis and research
project about the country-level plans for the transposition of the
Payment Services Directive (PSD) on 1st November 2009 and the
implementation of SEPA Direct Debits (SDD) on 2nd November has been a success.
Over
300 payments professionals from Europe, and worldwide, have completed
the survey so far. We have also had active conversations and
interviews with over 20 of the key actors involved, including the
European Commission, European Central Bank, European Payments Council
and more.
The results will be announced on 8th September and you
still have time to take part by clicking here.
For news by date, click on the dates below:
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
