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Innovation in Financial Services

A discussion of trends in innovation management within financial institutions, and the key processes, technology and cultural shifts driving innovation.

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

What we did right

What we (collectively) did right when launching e-invoicing in Finland and recommend: 1. Banks joined collectively with invoice portals and file transfer > payment automation was improved, financing aspects added and non-bank service providers were much invigorated. Only banks have the capability and business case to sign up the SME-sector qui...

/payments

Pat Carroll

Pat Carroll Founder/Executive Chairman at ValidSoft

Social media, the fraudster's friend?

There is a growing number of examples of fraudsters using social media to extract personal information from customers. A recent case hit the Bank of Melbourne, when fraudsters sent direct messages with a link aiming to harvest users' Twitter credentials (Finextra Sept 16 2011). One of the problems for the security industry is that on social media...

/security /payments

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Putting the horse before the cart

I have long been arguing that the natural way to SEPA-payments is through e-invoicing – especially now when ISO20022 for e-invoicing is ready. Here you do not need to force anybody to do SEPA-payments – they materialize automatically. And as posted before – a u-turn in direct debit – should also be done – e-invoicing becoming the master would save ...

/payments

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Still time for u-turn

SEPA direct debit is a huge step in the wrong direction - making direct debit more complicated for users and more expensive for invoice senders (who naturally add these costs into higher prices - the consumer always pays - every cent). The obvious much better alternative is to integrate direct debit into e-invoicing - which is any way on the rise a...

/payments

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

First in the world

Now the first e-invoice using ISO20022 e-invoice standard has been exchanged - cross-border and using SWIFT! http://boharald.blogspot.com/2011/09/first-in-world.html Now it is time for all interested in improving interoperability and starting cost lowering trend for the benefit of enterprises, society at large and also themselves to join the pionee...

/payments

Felix Kronabetter

Felix Kronabetter Business Development Manager at RBR

Finland the pioneer, Sweden the catalyst

It is not an easy decision for banks to agree to pool their ATMs – they are, after all, giving up control of one of their key channels. So what is it about the Nordic countries which means they embrace ATM pooling in a way that other countries find difficult? I ask the question because five of Sweden’s largest banks – Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, ...

/payments

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Tax payer's money - and much more

We all know how burning the need to save costs is in the public sector - to have to borrow less and avoid competitiveness destroying tax hikes etc. When this is coupled with a need to move a soon scarce workforce to more productive, better paid and more motivating tasks - which will take time - it is obvious: NO TIME TO LOSE - structural and wide...

/payments

Pat Carroll

Pat Carroll Founder/Executive Chairman at ValidSoft

When is a bank not a bank?

Increasingly the answer is “when it’s a telephone company”. Last week’s news that Canadian telco Rogers had filed for a banking licence was just the latest example of the competition between banking and mobile telephony. Rogers, which controls 36% of the Canadian mobile markets, has filed with the Canadian federal government to open a bank, and the...

/security

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Sowing The Seeds Of The Next Housing Bubble

Here in the UK, mortgage providers are already sowing the seeds of the next housing bubble. I read in this weekend’s Telegraph about a product innovation that is ‘designed to help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder’. Expecting to read about how house prices would continue to fall to affordable levels, and thus enable people to actually ...

/regulation /retail

Bo Harald

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

Disruptive innovations

Rereading Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma. Some takes (emphasis mine) : - most successful enterprises get into deep trouble sooner or later and one theme common to these failures is that the decisions that led to failure were made when the leaders were widely regarded as the best in the world - Good management was the reason for failing to stay a...

/payments

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