Community

Pleased to report that Tom has broken cover. Apparently he's hugely excited, proud and honoured.

Startling insights - that should set the share price soaring.

I refer you back to my previous entry on the subject: Why does Tom Glocer really blog?

How long before the Mayor of New York decides to sell his stake in Bloomberg? Michael Bloomberg last put paid to speculation that he was prepared to sell up in October, despite having received bid approaches from a number of private equity suitors. A combination of soaring market values and increased competition in the shape of a re-invigorated Reuters/Thomson combo might just encourage a rethink. In fact, we can expect a flurry of M&A action in the financial terminal/market data business. In the fixed income markets the reverberations from the Reuters/Thomson tie-up are already being felt, with speculation surrounding the future of MarketAxess, the rival electronic platform to TradeWeb. Elsewhere, anti-trust officials are almost certain to demand strategic disposals by Reuters and Thomson as a pre-condition to agreeing the marriage.

Point taken - it seems that Gartner may have been a mite confused about royalblue's genesis and pedigree. I'll e-mail the post to David Schehr and see if we can get him to put his comments in context.

Person-to-person payments via mobile phones would indeed be a killer app. Citibank is partnering with Obopay to trial just such a system in the US. It will be interesting to monitor their experiences.

Reuters spent £77 million last year on its Core Plus investment strategy, which is designed to generate growth after year’s of cost-cutting. It’s a major strategic investment by the vendor, yet it barely rates a mention in Tom’s blogs. Likewise, where can we get Tom’s perspective on the changing nature of the market data industry, growth in credit and derivatives, consolidation among exchanges etc – and the implications of these marketplace upheavals for Reuters’ customers, prospects, shareholders and staff.

HSBC recently signed a global licence deal with Reuters that will enable it to use the vendor's data and information across its entire business. It’s a big deal and shows a new direction for off-floor data distribution, but Tom steers clear.  Sure, we don’t expect trade secrets, but it strikes me that Tom’s failure to address these issues head on and engage in a genuine debate with stakeholders through the interactive blog format is a missed opportunity.

Pleased to report that Finextra got the story straight in our obituary item following the death of Charlie Reuterskiöld last year.

It helped that thirteen years earlier I had tracked down Johannes Kraa for a series of articles to mark Swift's 20th anniversary. Kraa stepped down from the chairmanship in 1974 - a year after the co-operative was founded with 239 banks from 15 countries - but three years after the Dutchman had initially conceived the project with a positioning paper written in 1971.

"Under my brief chairmanship we attracted the top people and I handed over my responsibilities to Charlie Reuterskiöld," he reminisced at the time. "He liked sorting difficult projects out - he was my man for the job."

Bessel Kok didn't get a mention.

If it's random Internet experiences you're into I'd recommend a trip to stumbleupon. The downloadable stumbleupon toolbar monitors your channel surfing preferences and recommends random sites rated by other users that might pique your personal interests. It's an excellent aid to work displacement.

ING tacitly acknowledges the issue in its own blurb explaining the concept of ourvirtualholland, which it reflects "is linked to the open-minded culture of the Netherlands".

My fear for ING is that the entrepreneurial/creative-types the bank wants to attract may be rather thinner on the ground.