Digital Bank

I recently read a book to my kids. It was Dr Seuss’ I Had Trouble In Getting to Solla Sollew which, if you don’t know the book, involves an arduous journey to Solla Sollew, “where they never have troubles! At least, very few”. Solla Sollew is believed to be a place of hope and wonder,…

With great power, comes great responsibility. It’s a quote from Spiderman, but actually not. It’s from Spiderman’s Uncle Ben. Well, it’s not tbh. It’s from Voltaire … or is it? Wherever it is from, it’s a great phrase. So, here’s a new one. With great power, comes great threat, and that one is from me….

I was talking with my 8 year-old son and said that the whole world had just stopped. He asked what do you mean? I replied that everything stopped. Airlines, banks, shops, trains, hospitals and more. He asked what happened? I said that an update from a company to the core of the computer systems of…

I’m sure you’ve all noticed that artificial intelligence (AI) is the big news of the last year, but have you been watching Nvidia, the chip maker that drives AI? It’s now bigger than Intel and about to exceed Microsoft and Apple in market valuation. Here’s an analyst’s view from Barrons: Nvidia Has More Than Doubled…

I travel the world a lot and am amazed about the wave of changes technology has introduced into banking. In almost every country I visit, fintech has grown from an ember to a burner, and almost every country is being transformed. From Taiwan to Timbuktu, everything is changing. Therefore, just to give one more example…

I just spotted a great article about JPMorgan’s CIO who manages a $17 billion budget (last time I looked, it was $11 billion). That sort of budget makes most fintechs look like small fry. Nevertheless, how much budget goes into innovation versus keeping the lights on? How much goes into development versus salaries? How much…

I remember ten years ago when fintech was emerging from under the hood and challenger banks become a new phrase. Most of the bankers I spoke to back then said they would never be really challenging. Ten years later, the situation is rather different. Revolut has over 40 million customers and is profitable; Monzo has…

I got an email the other day about a data breach at Evolve Bank. Who? I don’t deal with Evolve Bank. What’s going on? The email came from Wise and reads as follows: There’s been a data breach at Evolve Bank & Trust. Evolve Bank & Trust is a regulated bank that we worked with…

Being debanked is pretty awful … just ask Nigel Farage or Chris Skinner … but what about if you’re a woman? As money controls life, do women get a good deal? Not really. Everywhere around the world, women have less access and use of banking, and yet women are the global influencers of finance. What’s…

I was thinking about whether we need another digital bank in Britain the other day. I know that’s UK-focused and am very aware of digital banking developments in other countries, but the UK kind of led the way with the launch of Monzo, Starling, Wise and Revolut a decade ago. They may be the headline…