Trends in Financial Services

A community to discuss the future of financial services and any other interesting trends, strategies, ideas, views.

Retired Member 

Why isn't banking leading the way in security?

I was recently surprised to read an article on Finextra that highlighted Which? had reviewed UK banking security and concluded that seven of the top twelve UK banks did not offer 2FA for online banking. Why this surprised me is that banks have lead the way with 2FA for decades by using the debit card. To take out money from an ATM or spend it in ...

14 February 2019 /security

Retired Member 

What can four innovative fintech startups and their investors tell us about the future?

Fintech is a sector that thrives only through innovation. It’s in constant flux; changing and evolving all the time. While we can see spikes of activity and the general trajectory, it’s hard to predict what lies ahead just by taking a high-level view. To get a more accurate picture you need to drill down and analyse some of the startup companies t...

11 February 2019 /startups

Retired Member 

Mortgage technology in 2019 - hype versus reality. Part 1

Technology based predictions often appear to veer from, “really” will that happen? to disrupting paradigm shifts that can catch traditional players out. We should be wary of accepting every prediction. If you were born before 1990, you will probably remember the prediction that the modern world was “almost” going to end with the Y2K or Millennium b...

22 January 2019

Retired Member 

The value to Banks in using intelligence and 'as a-service offerings’

The 2018 McKinsey Banking Review noted that, on average, between 2012 and 2017, banks valuations lagged those of all other industries, meaning that investors are and will be looking elsewhere for value. How will banks respond to this phenomena? In the UK it appears that revenue is now more important than cost control. In the two years to the start...

13 January 2019

Andrew Beatty Head of Wealth, Retirement & International at FIS

What does 2019 have in store for UK Banking?

The turn of the year offers a perfect opportunity to review the past 12 months and to anticipate what might happen in the next 12. So, how was the past year for the UK banking and payments sector and what lies ahead of us in 2019? The year open banking arrived 2018 will be remembered as the year in which open banking became a reality in the UK. How...

09 January 2019 /retail

Retired Member 

The regulation vs competition debate: Is it time for new business models?

As Autumn turned to Winter and the Christmas tree went up, I’ve found myself daydreaming of a European holiday somewhere sunny. Maybe it’s the Instagram feed full of friends on a sojourn to Italy, France, or Germany, or the constant barrage of Premier League adverts on the NBC Networks (Let’s Go Gunners!), but earlier this year it was something el...

18 December 2018 /payments /regulation

Retired Member 

Invisible PFM Will Transform Banking As You Know It

Personal Financial Management (PFM) has evolved greatly since its birth in the early eighties. Originally developed to bring money management into what was then a widespread technological shift to the nascent personal computer age, PFM has since become a sophisticated means of managing your money. But in its current “visible” guise, PFM is not ne...

14 December 2018 /retail

Sam Goffman Business analyst at Forex

Security Token Offering: analysis, problems and prospects

Considering the increasingly strict approach of regulators to tokens and cryptocurrencies in recent years, attracting investments through Security Token Offering (STO) is the next logical step for the industry as a whole and determines the course of its development towards a more civilized and transparent market. Security Token Offering involves ...

13 December 2018 /regulation

Retired Member 

How can innovative technology bring an end to the global late payment epidemic?

Late payments are a perennial problem for businesses. They have a pernicious effect on global supply chains, placing undue constraints on smaller suppliers and even putting them at risk of going bankrupt. Research has found that late payments are putting one in four companies at risk of insolvency, and a culture of paying late can even devastate l...

07 December 2018 /payments

Bob Lyddon Consultant at Lyddon Consulting Services

BoE fears for UK stability due to Italian banking crisis. Unicredit needs EUR35bn more capital

The Bank of England recently woke up and issued its Financial Stability Report and Stress Test results - November 2018. In it the Bank warned that a “further deterioration in Italy’s financial outlook could result in material spillovers to the euro area and the UK”. In its more detailed comments the Bank noted that Italian Non-performing loans (NP...

07 December 2018 /wholesale