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Jan 26, 2015

Man vs Machine: can the City be run by one man and his dog?

I’ve used a joke for a long time about the City being run by just a man and a dog. The dog is there to stop the man from touching the computers. The man is there to feed the dog. Image: Serpent's hand It’s certainly true that computers have taken over much of City trade…

Jan 20, 2015

The investment management industry is broken (it’s no longer about Alpha)

I just received some fascinating research into the state of the investment management industry from State Street Research. The research was conducted over a period of 18 months through surveys of 3,744 investors, investment providers, government officials and regulators, across 19 countries. Here’s the summary: THE FOLKLORE OF FINANCE The models for success in the…

Jan 19, 2015

Do corporates give a buck?

I regularly encounter discussions about corporates’ needs from banks that say: the corporate generally doesn’t give a buck about their banking. Apparently most corporates do not understand banking, do not care about getting the best services and rely far too much on their cosy sense of keeping the status quo. Actually, banks probably feel the…

Jan 16, 2015

February discounts … Finovate, Next Bank Europe, Bank Innovators Lab Day

There's a busy week coming up in February when all the innovators gather in London. First, there's the Bank Innovators Lab Day run by FSClub friend JP Nicols on February 9. Then there's Finovate Europe on February 10 and 11, run by our friends Jim Bruene and Eric Mattson. And the week ends on February…

Jan 13, 2015

Which bank stock would you buy?

I was asked which bank to invest in the other day, and it’s been on my mind ever since, as that’s a tough question. Which bank stock would you buy? Since January 2008, Bank of America has lost nearly 56% of its value, compared with 81% in Citigroup and 4% at Goldman Sachs. Conversely, J.P….

Jan 12, 2015

Sign of the times: Bank Systems & Technology ceases print media

I stumbled across a blog post from a colleague in the USA, Kathy Burger, announcing the end of Bank Systems & Technology (BS&T) last week. I then noticed her commentary was deleted from the website. My guess is that BS&T is ceasing print media and has made Kathy redundant, as her post implies that BS&T is…

Jan 12, 2015

Sign of the times: Bank Systems & Technology ceases print media

Jan 9, 2015

Why #Vodafone sucks and mobile carriers will lose in banking

We see the media regularly slagging off bank customer service as terrible. Bank complaints are soaring, and branch closures are regularly reported as a disgrace. But this is where the media gets it wrong. First, bank customer service is second to none compared to other industries and, second, banks don’t need branches to provide service. As…

Jan 9, 2015

Why #Vodafone sucks and mobile carriers will lose in banking

Jan 7, 2015

2015 for banks: a year of metamorphosis

I was surprised in 2014 by how many banks started to get the digitisation message, and this will snowball in 2015. Already we see big changes, with banks such as Lloyds and ING stating that they have to change massively to reduce costs, lay off staff, close branches and move their investments towards digitisation. Alongside this,…