Blog Index

This main stories over the past fortnight are … Something better change A true story. The year is 1990 As robo-advisors take over, how do the incumbents respond? Yesterday I said something better change, and it is.  This blog has covered extensively how things are changing in payments, retail and commercial banking, but I haven’t…

This week's main stories are … Question: change the bank or launch a new bank? So I was talking about the big challenges of creating a Digital Bank, and am reminded of the approaches that banks take to do this.  The first is the hardest, and it’s the one I described last week: transformation. Banks as…

This week's main stories are … The Digital Bank Debate Continues I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had a great twitter debate between Brett King and Michal Panowicz, with others joining like Jim Marous and myself. The debate continues, as there were too many reports coming out at the weekend signalling the death…

This week's main stories are … Banks question Fintech disruption … and ask the wrong question I recently attended a conference in America, where the audience of mainly bankers could post questions to the speaker.  During the digital bank discussion, here are the questions that came in and, purely because they are fairly common in…

This week's main stories are … Hampered by heritage … or just an old bank dinosaur? I spent a long time talking with banks in Turkey yesterday, and realised that my message is off mark with some markets.  This arose when one of the banks told me they had just been to America to visit…

 This month's main stories are … The challenges of client onboarding (or why bitcoin will be regulated) I hosted a dinner last night and the conversation was all about client onboarding and the challenge of keeping it fresh.  You get the KYC info, and then the customer is onboard.  But for how long?   Is a…

This week's main stories are … Why the blockchain will radically alter our futures There’s an interesting debate about blockchains, sidechains and identity taking place that is emergent right now but, soon, will be mainstream.  For those who are unclear about these things, blockchain is the technology protocol invented by Satoshi Nakamoto with bitcoin, although…

Our biggest stories of the past week are … Why you should feel revulsion for the term ‘omnichannel’ A lot of folks are asking me whether I’m really saying that banks need to start all over again?  Is that really feasible, Chris?  How can you recommend that we tear down the house and rebuild it?  Well,…

Our biggest stories of the past week are … Rip it up and start again … I’m having so many conversations about so much stuff that my head is spinning these days.  Fintech, digital, transformation, change … it seems to be on the lips of everyone I meet.  Yet the one thing that stands out…

Our biggest stories of the past week are … What keeps Jamie Dimon awake at night? (clue: Fintech) I’ve written a lot about incumbents versus startups lately and noted with interest that Jamie Dimon’s annual letter to JPMorgan shareholders picks up on this theme (not as a direct result I’m sure?).  He talks about “hundreds of startups…