Regulation

I often talk about how banks have five times more regulation than technology firms. That stat comes from Bank of America Merrill Lynch who published this chart a while ago: This is confirmed by similar charts, such as this one from Benedict Evans, a Partner at the firm Andreessen Horowitz, who just shared his Davos…

I recently posted a whine about HSBC charging 40 percent on overdrafts: Treating Customers Unfairly The fact I wrote this about HSBC gave the impression it was they who were the target. They are, but so are any banks who treat customers unfairly and the blog was meant to be more about the fact that…

Just before Christmas I heard of a new European payments initiative called PEPSI, short for Pan European Payment System Initiative. Nice acronym although I prefer Coca-Cola, the Co-ordinated Car Co-operative Association. Or something like that. Anyways, whichever Cola you prefer, this new initiative is interesting. Backed by over twenty mainly French and German banks, the…

I was going to write stuff about this but The Financial Stability Board did it for me. Here’s where the regulator will focus in 2020: The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its work programme for 2020. The FSB’s work priorities for 2020 reflect the evolving nature of the global financial system and associated risks to…

I’ve blogged many times that so called free banking is a fallacy.  It’s something I have blogged about for a decade, and the recurring theme is free banking should be banned by the regulator as it’s only free as long as you don’t go overdrawn. The result is that the most financially challenged group of…

I’ve noted that the bitcoin swings and roundabouts tend to often cycle around the hope and expectation of the US SEC giving approval to a bitcoin ETF … only to find that they never do and so it goes around. In an interesting article by Dave Weisberger on Coindesk, there may be a reason for…

I was running a fun panel on regulation this week. That kind of sounds like a lie – whatever can be fun about regulation – but hey, it was. I often reflect on the fact that regulators run with their eyes in the rear-view mirror. They can’t see what’s ahead as they don’t know what…

I just spoke at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum, a Davos for the Russian world and beyond. Hosted by Vladimir Putin there were stellar guests attending including Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, as well as other world leaders and Chris Skinner. Hanging out with the heads of Russia,…

Over a decade ago, I curated a book about MiFID – the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. I don’t blog about this much these days, as my audience is firmly in the retail and payments technology space, but I still keep close track of the investment markets, clearing and settlement, custodial banks and central counterparty…

I have this debate often: Why governments will fail to block the emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Can you have decentralised exchange without centralised control? Is the world being democratised through technology? How do governments regulate a networked world? A world without money A world without government? … and find the answer always the…