The FinanSer
- Have you changed your feed yet?
Please go to www.thefinanser.co.uk to read this blog and, if you are using a feed, please use this one: http://thefinanser.co.uk/fsclub/atom.xml. The old feed is now broken and no longer works. - Use this feed now: http://thefinanser.co.uk/fsclub/atom.xml
If you want to keep up with the Finanser, go to www.thefinanser.co.uk and subscribe, or just enter http://thefinanser.co.uk/fsclub/atom.xml into your RSS feeder. - Feed no longer works - please change
Please note that theFinanser website has moved to the Financial Services Club's website. If you subscribe to this feed, please change your settings to the new one: http://thefsclub.typepad.com/fsclub/atom.xml. - Note: Blog feed and site changes
Please note that theFinanser website has moved to the Financial Services Club's website. Therefore, if you subscribe to the feed, please change your settings from the old feed to this one: http://thefsclub.typepad.com/fsclub/atom.xml - Banks ignore social media at their peril
James Gardner, Head of Innovation and Research for a major UK bank and author of the blog BankerVision, commented on my urge for banks to rush into social media last week, and reckoned it didn’t cut the cloth. Banks are... - Another UK bank goes kaput!
Just got news of the fact that London Scottish Bank, based in Manchester with around 1200 staff, has been placed into administration by the Financial Services Authority after being unable to meet its regulatory capital requirements. - Never mind the social media, here's the ********
In an interesting challenge to my own views, James Gardner at BankerVision posts a retort to the idea that social networking and social media are important to banks, by saying it's all irrelevant ... unless I'm mistaken. Based upon the... - m-billing: a killer app?
I had a fascinating chat today with the head of payments at one of the largest British utility firms. She was very interested in one new channel, mobile payments, and particularly the potential of m-billing. m-billing appears to be another... - Virgin’s multichannel misery
Speaking of Virgin Trains, I was subjected to an encounter with multichannel misery today which, although unrelated to banks, is worth recounting as we can always learn from good and bad service stories. Virgin offers a train ticket that is... - No answer from Mumbai
I've been having problems printing tickets for a Virgin Train I'm travelling on today, so I called their call centre. After going through the menu pick system, I got a message in an Indian voice stating: "Due to technical difficulties,... - Desperately Seeking Sultan
I’ve spent the last few weeks wondering about the fallout from the Lehman Brothers collapse and the onward losses in the stock markets. With $2.5 trillion of losses estimated by the Bank of England amongst the banking community, and over... - One year after MiFID, where is liquidity going?
Fascinating meeting today on liquidity and where it’s all going, as I chaired a panel session with Chi-x, Equiduct, Turquoise, NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Bourse. I was amused to find that the LSE was not there, after my comments of... - Banking that Rocks
It was interesting watching the discussions of bank retailers at the USA’s BAI Retail Delivery show. There was little discussion of the credit crisis, the bank bailout or subprime, although this was ever prevalent as a backdrop to the Show.... - Citigroup is dead
After announcing the lay off of 52,000 staff, Citi saw a massive 20 percent drop in share price on Friday alone, a 60 percent drop on the week and a loss of $20 billion so far this year. The result... - How to make money out of deposit-only strategies
So that’s the end of a week in Orlando in a Mickey Mouse conference. Lots of great stories about the banks that are surviving who all seem to have one thing in common: put the customer at the core of... - ING Direct: Rebels with a Cause
At every conference you find a few highlights, and this one is no exception as I attended a plenary keynote yesterday starring Arkadi Kuhlmann, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ING Direct USA. In a few short years, ING... - Resolving the credit crisis in Europe
Some friends of mine who run the European Finance Convention have lined up a great conference on 8th and 9th December in Brussels, focused upon how Europe will approach resolving the financial crisis. Speakers include: Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner for... - The Hills are alive with Britain's newest Bank
The reason for my excitement yesterday about a new retail bank for Britain is because it’s a new bank, and a bank by Vernon Hill. Vernon Hill is a bit of a legend, as he’s a guy who built a... - Breaking News: Britain's first new retail bank for years
For quite a while now, I’ve been keeping a secret. The secret is that there is a brand new retail bank being launched in Britain next year. And it’s not an internet bank. It’s not a call centre based bank.... - A Few Mickey Mouse Marketing Ideas for Banks
This week I’m at a major retail banking conference in Orlando, USA, home of Disney and Universal Studios. Sure, I can hear you all saying, what’s Chris doing at such a Mickey Mouse Conference, but it’s got over 4,000 retail... - G20 roller-coaster
I loved this cartoon about the G20 summit that appeared in the Financial Times by Ingram Pinn: As I'm in Orlando, I can thoroughly recommend that Disney puts up a ride called: "the Global Market Meltdown Rollercoaster" that works like... - Internet Banking by Dummies, Part One
A year ago, I talked about how unusable the Xiring terminals were and have seen loads of blogs and commentaries about how impractical these terminals are in everyday life since then. Thank goodness Visa has now integrated one-time passwords into... - Is now the time to invest in America?
Fascinating article sent to me in the New York Times just before the election results were announced. According to the article, "a $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican... - BAI Retail Delivery, Orlando
Flying out to the USofA tomorrow to host a group of international CxO's from European and Asian banks at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference and Exhibition. The BAI Show is the biggest Expo for Retail Banking in the world, with... - 1802 Quote about Banks from Jefferson
A mate of mine sent me this quote from Thomas Jefferson, written in1802: "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will... - The battering of the London Stock Exchange
I’ve been watching MiFID’s (the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) progress avidly in the background over recent months. I say, in the background, because there’s been so much stuff going on in the stock markets after Lehman Brothers that it... - Branch or Internet? A clear winner!
Yesterday I posed the question branch or internet, and made it an extreme choice. Everyone says you would never have such a stark choice, but there was reason in my madness and the rea