Future

Thirty years ago, I predicted the end of the intermediary. It’s the one prediction I got wrong as the intermediary – the middleman – is the key to good business. This is one thing I’ve learned after all these years. It’s not what you know. It’s who you know. The broker who can link the…

For many years now, we have been talking about digital identity. The core is how to prove you are you. You have to be identified, verified, authenticated and approved. You would think with so many layers of monitoring access that everyone online in the financial system could be trusted. So, how come there are criminals,…

I had a nice conversation the other day with a research group about the future of cash. Here’s a quick summary of the conversation. The conversation explores the future of cash and digital currencies, highlighting different demographic preferences and the challenges in transitioning to a cashless society. Demographic Tiers: There are three main demographic groups: tech-savvy…

It’s funny how things go around and come around again. For years, I’ve been bemused why banks cannot merge and be successful across borders. There have been almost zero European bank mergers of any size that are cross-border and the few that exist – Santander, Unicredit, Nordea to name a few – have all found…

As someone focused upon the future, there are a few futuristic cities that astound me. Dubai is one, as I go there every year for a winter break, and recently visited the Museum of the Future. That already sounds strange, as museums usually host the memories of the past, not the future. The museum was quite…

On Monday, the crypto-president of America takes office. Bearing in mind that I’ve said several times he will be the crypto-President it is interesting that, in the last few weeks, he will be more than this. He will be the Big Tech President. Here is why. We live in such interesting times. Digitalisation has creeped…

Donald Trump’s administration is expected to turn the US into a crypto-friendly hub using a range of changes to tax policies. Here’s the best guess of what that means. For some time I’ve talked about Donald Trump’s ambition to be the crypto President and, as his inauguration on January 20th approaches, it makes you wonder…

A final wrap-up of the big trends of 2025 is obvs to talk about fintech. Looking at the big fintech trends, probably the best place to start is with Simon Taylor’s 111 page report (ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN PAGES!!!). Simon and his BFF Jev at Sardine note a number of developments, such as the fintech hyperscaler….

I got a whole load of payments predictions for 2025 … just a shame that it was no one paying me! Seriously though, a lot of people shared a McKinsey report that focuses upon this area, released around Sibos 2024, that opens with: “The tantalizing vision for global payments has long been that they’d be safe,…

I wanted to make this a short blog update on tech changes in 2025, but it’s incredibly long and, unsurprisingly, nearly all about AI. If 2023 was the year of ChatGPT and 2024 AI, this is the year of Agentic AI. What’s the difference? Well AI has so far been pretty much a pull technology. You…