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I bet you thought I was talking about Europe's sovereign debt issue but no, I'm talking about the average trade size for equities trading across Europe having just received some fascinating data from the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE). The data shows a considerable change in the European equities markets over the past four…

I recently went to see the latest revival of Andrew Lloyd-Weber’s Jesus Christ, Superstar.   The new version of the musical toured the UK’s largest Arenas, with an all-star cast and a lengthy TV audition show to select the man to play JC. Having seen the musical a few times already – we love all…

It surprises me that banks rarely get lauded and applauded, as it is far easier to critique and blast.  A good example is the post Hurricane Sandy fallout, where banks in the USA are doing everything they can to support hard hit Americans. I didn’t see much about this in the news generally but, whilst…

Japan has so much culture, tradition, beauty and … downright weirdness. I spent the weekend in Tokyo and noticed lots of unusual sights: kimonos, kabuki, maple trees and such like.  Then there is the night life, the lights, the music and the karaoke.   People compare Japan to Britain: it's an island nation with a…

So there we go, another year, another SIBOS. It’s been an interesting one, with many calling it the Zen SIBOS as we had a lot of time and space. Or some did, as I don’t think I had any time.  The week flew by and before we know it, we’re on the flight home. The…

The other thing I did this year was collect some of the specials being given away by exhibitors.  Here are a few of the best. Smartstream's iPod speaker: XSP's wireless mouse: Sake (various, this one is from NEC Decillion): Euroclear's travelbag: Romanian Wine and Panpipes from Allevo: iPad cases (this one is from ANZ and…

As I walked around the exhibit hall and conference centre this week, there were many amusing moments.  Here are a few. Changing batteries: Still constructing that China Bank: The power of networking: Lion around: Innotribe: enabling collaboration …. This system needs a reboot: Come on.  One of us must know how this works: Waiting for…

The final keynote at SIBOS 2012 is Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and Chairman of the Yunus Centre. I blogged a little about him earlier, but here’s the full speech: I got into banking by accident and, at the beginning, had no idea what I was doing.  I was a teacher.  I got forced…

The final innotribe session is underway,  playing to a really packed crowd. It's no wonder as this is the startup challenge and innovator pitches, showcasing the work of the 15 most innovative software companies providing solutions to banks in 2012. That's 15 companies selected from around 450 that applied, so these guys really are the crème…