Our main stories this week include ...
Will bank developments in China lead to a global banking revolution? [Part One]
This blog was first published on SAP for Banking, 12th August 2015.
I recently found some exceptional insights into how China is leading the world of banking, as we saw the opening of digital banks WeBank and MYBank. If you are unfamiliar with these two bank titans, they both launched this year as offshoots of QQ and WeChat (Tencent) and AliPay and ANT Financial (Alibaba) respectively.
How to wake up the bank
I recently had a great conversation with the head of innovation at a bank. In the middle of the conversation, we got into a discussion about how to get rid of complacency in the management team. The fact is that this bank is doing well. It’s growing its customer footprint, cross-sell ratio, account holdings, deposits and credit markets. OK, here goes.
Just finished my latest book: want to know what it's about?
During August, I finally finished a new book. The book is with the publishers now, and enters the editing phase. That phase takes a while and, what with having to tee up the printers and all that, it looks like it will be published in January 2016. The book is called ValueWeb and focuses upon how mobile and blockchain technologies are changing everything we value in trade, finance, life and relationships. Here’s the outline:
The state of digital, fintech and the future bank
I was recently interviewed by Emerging Markets Review just before travelling to Korea in July. The interview lasted a while, but stunned me when they produced the magazine with yours truly front page and centre. Rather than saying anything more, here's the interview which you can download as a PDF if you prefer.
This week’s major news headlines include …
No expense expended on a new British brand for HSBC - The Independent
There has not been a lot to laugh about in banking of late, but perhaps that’s changing with HSBC’s decision on a shiny new brand for its UK arm.
Citi Joins Bid For £13bn Taxpayer Bank Assets - Sky News
The Wall Street banking giant Citigroup is joining forces with one of its biggest rivals in an attempt to snap up a £13bn package of mortgage assets owned by British taxpayers.
The personality test that could one day decide your credit score - The Independent
Borrowers are used to routine background checks that are needed before they are able to get alone. But now lenders are said to be looking at going one step further by asking applicants to take a personality test to see if they’re likely to pay money back on time.
Facebook's new patent could mean you are denied a loan because of your friends - The Independent
It might be time to purge your Facebook friends list of people you don’t trust.
French decide to act on executive excess - The Independent
Now a story from the other end of the scale. While it happened in France, it’s a common enough tale of executive excess that illustrates the two-tier society that is being created across the Western World, with an executive elite that lives by different rules to the rest of the
The future of high street banking? It's time to wake up and smell the coffee - The Independent
It was a rainy day in a city renowned for them, but the weather was no more miserable than I was on leaving the Royal Bank of Scotland’s branch on the Oxford Road, outside the University of Manchester.
Argentina orders HSBC to replace CEO in country - The Telegraph
Argentina's central bank accuses HSBC of failing to prevent tax evasion and money laundering
The one chart that shows stock markets only ever move this fast when there's about to be a recession - The Independent
A Goldman Sachs analyst has spotted that the VIX index, which is used to see how fast US stock market prices are changing, is at a level it only usually hits when the US is in recession.
Banking glitches are no surprise: the tech is 60 years old - The Telegraph
Companies are in no rush to untangle themselves from six decades of Cobol programming
A Chinese journalist has appeared on state television 'confessing' to causing the stock market chaos - The Independent
China has unveiled a slew of “confessions” from brokers and journalists as authorities struggled to contain the biggest stock market sell-off since 2008.
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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...
