Trends in Financial Services

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

Hans Hagen Founder at Alphastrike

Levering ATMs for Cardless Money Transfer

For some time I have been intrigued by banks' lack of interest in, or inability to leverage their ATM networks to gain a competitive edge. Traditionally used for cash advances and balance enquiries, ATMs have turned into more of a multimedia kiosk capable of providing a wide range of services. One area of particular interest, in my mind, is money ...

04 May 2009 /payments

John Cant Managing Director at MPI Europe Ltd

The innovation debate

In one of my recent Financial Sector bulletins, I initiated a discussion on whether innovation is a good strategy for current market conditions. The debate on our FS Think Tank LinkedIn group - a new and growing discussion group set up with a number of alliance partners - was particularly active and practical. For example, I was glad to read tha...

04 May 2009 /retail /wholesale

Retired Member 

The NVCA Four Pillar Plan

The National Venture Capital Association yesterday unveiled a four point plan to resuscitate the dead IPO market currently vexing the VC community. The plan calls for greater cooperation among ecosystem partners, enhanced liquidity paths, tax incentives, and regulatory changes. While all of NVCA's proposals are compelling and needed, we are partic...

01 May 2009

Retired Member 

Latest Pension Bombshell Betrays Poor Thinking

The proposal to impose a punitive tax on the impact of pay rises on final salary pensions, which was hidden in the budget, is another breathtaking example of the inability of those in charge to properly understand, and think through, the consequence of what they propose and implement. It is no surprise that so many things go wrong, when the thoug...

28 April 2009 /retail

Retired Member 

Time for a Referendum on the Budget

Not only are the projected borrowing figures staggering to comprehend, but they are also surely immoral. How can it be that any Government can condemn the population they purport to serve to a lifetime of debt in this way? It should not be possible, in our constitution, for any party to set us on a path like this without having to seek a fresh m...

23 April 2009 /retail

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

No more 'free smiles' as JPMorgan brings back boring banking

Conventional wisdom has it that bank branches should take their cue from modern retail practices. They should be bright and welcoming, preferably open plan with comfy seating and staffed by approachable, friendly sales people. So why is JPMorgan taking a bulldozer to the WaMu Occasio branch concept, a $1 billion branch remodelling exercise that fre...

17 April 2009 /retail

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

Too big to fail, or too big to compete?

UK retailer Tesco is not alone in enjoying the benefits of 'safe haven' status as consumers turn away from distressed banks and move their assets to more trustworthy institutions. The UK's Co-operative Bank - which last month posted a 70% rise in underlying profit for 2008 - is reporting a 123% annual increase in customers switching their current a...

08 April 2009 /retail

Retired Member 

What's Wrong with Making a Profit?

Why is it that the EC has such a problem with the card associations over cross-border fees, and interchange generally? What do they think is going to happen when these organisations find that doing business in the EU is simply too unprofitable? Surely, the fact that we have two large (and one smaller) associations competing for business means that...

07 April 2009

Retired Member 

12 Zeroes - Or Was That 20?

What the 20 heads of state at the G20 continually fail to understand is the plight of individuals and how that impacts on how well we will recover from this mess. How could they, as they are all insulated from the real economic world because of their status? What they didn't address is the dire state of individuals' balance sheets, and those of co...

03 April 2009 /retail

Retired Member 

G20 reach agreement - but is it enough?

According to the BBC - and who doesn't follow Peston these days ..... On behalf of the G20, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the following steps: Bankers' pay and bonuses will be subject to stricter controls A new Financial Stability Board will be set up to work with the IMF to ensure co-operation across borders and provide an early warning m...

02 April 2009 /regulation /wholesale