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Paul Penrose

Head of Research

Finextra

Member since

06 Oct 2006

Location

London

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Paul's opinions

Protestors vandalise Sir Fred's house

Public anger at banking excess seems to be boiling over into direct action and mob rule. Following the public hanging of a banking effigy at a rally in Marble Arch and the bus tours of AIG executive mansions organised by US activist groups, the latest person in the firing line is former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin. Police in Scotland are calling fo...

25 March 2009 /retail /wholesale Whatever...

Sibos sobers up

Sibos will never be the same again. In killing off its Thursday night party, Swift has moved with the prevailing mood music. Lavish, big budget entertainment is off the agenda as the financial services industry adapts to a more austere economic climate. But for many long-time Sibos devotees, the party was as big a draw as the conference agenda. It ...

20 March 2009 /payments /wholesale Finextra@Sibos

PCI compliance through the looking glass

This whole PCI DSS compliance thing is beginning to make my head hurt. Here, Visa chief enterprise risk officer Ellen Richey says: "PCI DSS remains an effective security tool when implemented properly - and remains the best defense against the loss of sensitive data. No compromised entity to date has been found to be in compliance with PCI DS...

19 March 2009 /security /payments

Does Jon Stewart use inside information?

Having mopped the floor with Jim Cramer and CNBC, the Daily Show's Jon Stewart has turned his attention to the practice of short-selling in this typically barbed report from regular correspondent Samantha Bee (AKA the Money Honey Bee). For a comedian, Stewart's done a lascerating job in exposing Wall Street hypocrisy and cant. But is he trading o...

18 March 2009 /wholesale Video extravaganza

Bernie Madoff is the Cookie Monster

Want to know how Bernie Madoff swindled his billions, but only got a minute to spare? Ernie from Sesame Street explains all here. Not sure that I fully approve of Ernie's rather Tarantinoesque retribution.

16 March 2009 /regulation /wholesale Video extravaganza

Barclaycard goes viral with waterslide creative

A good example of viral marketing from Barclaycard, which is challenging the public to create a home-made version if its waterslide TV advertisement, in which an office drone travels from work to home down a gigantic waterslide, paying for goods and services on the way using his contactless debit card. The bank has posted its own spoof ad at http...

12 March 2009 /retail Video extravaganza

SFO to lift clear-up rates; invents new case in Ambridge

"Serious Fraud Office questioning Archers' Matt Crawford over possible fraud in Ambridge" That's the headline from a real piece of PR sent out by the real Serious Fraud Office about a probe into the activities of a well-known but fictional British businessman. For those of you not steeped in this quintessentially English institution, the ...

06 March 2009 /retail /wholesale Whatever...

There's one born every minute

You've got to admire those Nigerian 419 scammers. Here's the latest that popped into my inbox, offering compensation from the Nigerian government to all those sad individuals who have been conned in the past: FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (PANEL ON CONTRACT PAYMENT AND COMPENSATION) It has been resolved by the Senate special committee on Foreign Rel...

02 March 2009 /security /retail

Flying high: Ken Lewis stonewalls in style

Bank bosses just don't get it. BofA president Ken Lewis is once again in hot water after flying to a hearing in New York with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on a luxury private jet. Lewis was there to answer questions about billion dollar bonus payouts to Merrill staff in December. Officials say he refused to supply the information Cuomo wanted, but...

27 February 2009 /retail /wholesale Whatever...

Protestors hang banking effigy at 'family event'

This is getting serious. Following on from the politically-sanctioned banking witch trials in Parliament, demonstrators have hanged an effigy of a banker from Marble Arch in protest at the growing financial crisis. The Evening Standard reports that a group called the Government of the Dead dressed up as zombies for the demonstration. Scores of rev...

27 February 2009 /retail /wholesale Whatever...