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History

To understand banking’s future, it is important to think about its past

I was super impressed by an article written by FinTech friend Bradley Leimer for International Banker the other day, and asked if I could share on the blog. Bradley kindly said yes, so here you are. Enjoy the read! The Invisible Hand of Financial Services by Bradley Leimer, Managing Director and Head of Fintech Strategy, Explorer Advisory…

Millennials: are you cool or history?

Another musing whilst on holiday is that it is difficult to get into the head of a twenty- or thirty- something millennial when you’re a Gen X or Baby Boomer. In my head, I still think I’m 20 but, when I look in the mirror, I know I’m not. This thought struck me as I…

The story of George W. Bush and the two big Black Swans

I just listened to George W. Bush being interviewed by AT&T CEO and Chairman, Randall Stephenson, and it was an interesting experience. For example, I’ve heard Bill Clinton speaking and Mikhail Gorbachev (twice), but this event was clearly far more security conscious than those. I mean we’re at an event with lots of corporate bozos…

Digital Human (my new book)

And continuing my shameless self-interest, a little more on the new book … I’ve been musing for a while about inclusivity, and find that the world is truly being transformed as everyone joins the network. It is the theme I present all the time right now, and discussions around M-Pesa, Saldazo, Paytm and Ant Financial…

Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism

Following on from the discussions of The Wizard of Oz being a political allegory and rally cry against Wall Street and capitalism, did you realise that the boardgame Monopoly is the same, as in a game meant to illustrate the evils of capitalism? If not, then this article by Kate Raworth, sums it up well: Monopoly…

The Wicked Witch is Wall Street

I was surprised to make a chance discovery about The Wizard of Oz.  The film with Judy Garland is firmly embedded in modern culture as a classic, but did you know that it was a rally call against the financial system when the book was originally written? It as a political, economic and monetary allegory…

Ten years since the crisis hit, what’s new?

Last week marked ten years since the financial crisis hit. On August 9 2007, BNP Paribas froze three of its American funds, the first in a chain of events which would lead to the biggest recession since the Great Depression. These funds were tied to American subprime mortgages and the freeze was the first public…

Did you realise it’s only 10 years since the iPhone was released?

It’s a decade since the iPhone launched.  Steve Jobs unveiled the new phone on January 9th, 2007. The first iPhones were made available to the grubby hands of the public on June 29th, 2007, exactly ten years ago today.  This was originally just for American consumers with the UK, France, and Germany following in November…

Will the last COBOL guy turn the banks’ lights out?

I regularly blog about the same subject, namely CHANGE YOUR CORE SYSTEMS.  Banks do a great job of not listening to me, but that’s because they’ve caught themselves in Catch 22: screwed if I change them and screwed if I don’t.  How did they get into this mess and how can they get out of…

A world without money

I have no academic papers or historical research view on what I’m about to post, although I will find some, but I was reflecting on my discussions of revolutions in humanity.  In particular, the second age of humankind, when we invented money as a control mechanism. Before this seismic change, money didn’t matter.  We shared beliefs…

Intelligent Money: Our Future Is Where We Do Not Think About Money, As Our Money Thinks For Us

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