The Finanser’s Week: 22nd February – 28th February 2016

Our main stories of this week includes …

The start-up economy

I seem to find myself travelling all over talking about innovation and meeting start-ups.  It’s the start-up economy, and there’s probably been no better time to be young, hopeful and visionary.  Thinking back to my younger days, leaving university, the idea of creating my own …

Augmenting finance is far more interesting than disrupting it

I had a realisation this week.  The realisation is that banks have always been hot on technology and innovation.  If you don’t think so, then just checkout this blog from April 2008 – eight years ago – where I talk about the rise of innovation in banking.  …

The top ten trends in banking innovation

We had two Financial Services Club meetings on the same night this week: one in London where Chief Executive of the Payments Council Maurice Cleaves talked about the landscape future for UK payments markets; and one in Warsaw where Lukas Dzuroska presented the top ten …

Digital Bank in one picture

I spent a day working on a bank’s digital strategies the other day.  It was a fascinating day and, as is the norm with some of these offsites, a scribe artiste was scribbling my ramblings on a chart.  The summary I like so much that …

 

The past week’s major news headlines include …

Payments 'too controlled by big banks' - BBC
Big banks should loosen their stranglehold on the system behind the way consumers pay for things to encourage innovation, a regulator says.

Banks told to sell £6tn payment system - Financial Times
Regulator says Vocalink should be opened up to encourage competition

What Brexit could mean for the City - Financial Times
There is a clear split over how a vote to leave would shape the capital’s future as a financial centre

LSE and Deutsche Börse in fresh talks to create European powerhouse - Guardian
Third attempt at £21bn ‘merger of equals’ likely to be closely monitored by politicians in run-up to EU referendum The London Stock Exchange and Germany’s Deutsche Börse are in talks about a £21bn merger, in a move likely to be closely monitored by politicians in the run-up to the referendum

British bank annual results – interactive - Guardian
The bank reporting season has started, with HSBC posting profits of £13.2bn, followed by Standard Chartered announcing its first annual loss in 27 years. Other UK banks – RBS, Lloyds and Barclays – will announce their results by next week, but with the sector still in turmoil, how will they

Mastercard rolls out selfie ID checks - BBC
Mastercard is deploying an app that lets users prove their ID via a selfie or fingerprint check to authorise online purchases.

Vienna named world's top city for quality of life - Guardian
Study examining socioeconomic conditions places Austrian capital at apex of index while London, Paris and New York fail to make top 35 Vienna is the world’s best city to live in; Baghdad is the worst, and London, Paris and New York do not even make it into the top 35,

Why Cameron tussled with the French over the City - The Telegraph
An idea persists that London is a cowboy market. But the evidence suggests it is just as tough a location to base a bank as Paris

Pound hits seven-year low after Boris Johnson's Brexit decision – as it happened - Guardian
Sterling slumps by nearly 2% to its lowest point since March 2009, following London mayor’s decision to back the campaign to leave the EU Latest: Pound hits lowest point since March 2009 Sterling on track for worst day since 2010 Citi: Brexit risk up to 40% Politics Live: Moody’s warning

New market storm could catch euro zone unprepared - Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - Distracted by an unresolved migration crisis and negotiations on keeping Britain in the European Union, euro zone leaders could be caught unprepared by a new storm on financial markets.

 

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