Our biggest stories of the week are ...
Are payments infrastructures fit for purpose?
On Wednesday 22nd June, we are running a private dinner meeting of the Financial Services Club in London to launch the results of our recent survey: "Are payments infrastructures fit for purpose?" which was completed by 350 payments professionals worldwide.
It amazed me to see the back office of one of the largest operations in the world in action today. Yes, I’m talking about Amazon. A place you would think would be a seamless operation of high technology but, in reality, is a bit of a mess ...
Oh, for them good old cheque days
June 9th 2065: we just celebrated grandad's hundredth birthday. He was a banker, and he recorded a speech for us to play to the family. We decided to share his speech as it captures a moment of history that many …
Two out of five businesses switch banks due to fraud
I regularly write about fraudulent aspects of finance, and it’s getting worse. As I say in my presentations: “with five billion points of data breach, how can you keep secure?” and this is a key question, as every mobile device...
Poor are #1 prey for financial predators
It’s fairly obvious that the less you have of something you want, the more you want it; whilst the more you have, the less you need it. It’s not true of everything I guess as, for example, I don’t have...
The major general news stories of the week include ...
Banks' D-Day in Westminster: as it happened June 8, 2011 - The Telegraph
Our coverage of the grilling by MPs of banks and their bosses.
Should the UK switch from banking to manufacturing? - BBC
Should Britain bid farewell to the golden eggs of banking?
Lloyds plans IPO for branches as sale kicks off - The Independent
Lloyds Banking Group is ramping up plans to float more than 600 of its branches as a new bank on the stock exchange if prices offered by bidders are too low.
Northern Rock set to be sold alongside Lloyds branches - The Telegraph
The biggest shake up of high street banks to come out of the credit crisis is set to begin with the sale of Northern Rock and 620 Lloyds Banking Group branches.
Europe's Banks Too Fragile to Absorb Greek Default - Business Week
Efforts to resolve Greece's debt crisis are complicated by the failure of European regulators to make banks raise enough capital to withstand a sovereign default
European Central Bank risks being 'wiped out' by bail-outs - The Telegraph
The European Central Bank is "looking increasingly vulnerable" and may face "hefty losses" as a result of propping up indebted eurozone countries, a leading think-tank has warned.
US regulator 'almost ended Barclays' Protium deal' - The Telegraph
US regulators would have shut down Barclays' controversial Protium deal over questionable accounting practices had the bank not moved first, regulatory filings show.
ING: paying the price - Financial Times
Chief executive Jan Hommen is in an awkward position – a unique business with such brand value should be worth much more
Dimon confronts Bernanke over banking rules - The Independent
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, one of Wall Street's most powerful banks, took his complaints about too much regulation directly to the chairman of the Federal Reserve last night, challenging Ben Bernanke to prove that new banking rules are not crimping the economic recovery.
Square Raising New Round, Joining Billion Dollar Valuation Club - Techcrunch
There are a bevy of startups in the process of raising big rounds of capital at billion dollar or higher valuations - something that was a rare occurrence even a few months ago. We're tracking most of these deals (and have written about the ones we've confirmed ). Now, we've ...
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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...
