Latest opinions that Paul Penrose has shared on Finextra

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Paul Penrose

Head of Research

Finextra

Member since

06 Oct 2006

Location

London

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Paul's opinions

LloydsTSB appoints head of innovation

James Gardner, director for retail banking in the global financial services group at Getronics is to take up a new position as head of innovation and research in group IT at the UK's LloydsTSB. "Its an exciting role, and my team and I will be looking at ways we can productionise innovation, both from a business and technology perspective,&quo...

23 March 2007 /retail Futuristic Banking

Time trials tax Banksys m-pay programme

For merchants and consumers alike, speed of throughput at the check-out remains the primary incentive for uptake of a new payments format. This is why SMS-based mobile phone payment programmes such as that promoted by Belgium’s Banksys and wireless operators Base, Mobistar and Proximus, will never make the cut. It may be cool and funky to pay by ...

22 March 2007 /payments /retail Futuristic Banking

Undercover reporter blows the whistle on Barclays

Offensive stereotyping, routine mis-selling, lying to customers. All in a day’s work for Barclays Bank staff, according to an undercover investigation by the BBC’s Whistleblower programme. The serious customer services failings were allegedly uncovered by BBC reporter Amanda Egbujo, who got a job at a Barclays Bank call centre in Sunderland, then ...

21 March 2007 /retail

Does Tom Glocer really blog?

That was the question asked by Andrew Martin at The New Marketing blog site. He'd noticed that postings to Tom Glocer's blog seemed to be made by two individuals. The first is Tom Glocer who has posted twice. The other is someone called tom who has posted 55 times. "Is one of them a ghost writter concocted by an overeager PR machine?" ...

20 March 2007 /wholesale

Book your tickets to Boston

Registration for Swift's annual conference and exhibition, Sibos 2007, officially opens today. Taking place in Boston, US, from 1 to 5 October 2007, the theme of this year's event is 'Gaining momentum'. Interesting to see that Swift has dealt with a long-standing beef from exhibitors and provided open access to the conference sessions for all par...

19 March 2007 /payments /wholesale Finextra@Sibos

Missing Link for Lloyds TSB Registrars

Shares in Lloyds TSB have firmed up on weekend reports that UK ATM network operator Link has emerged as the frontrunner to buy the bank's share registration arm. Link, backed by US buy-out firm Bain Capital, is leading a short list of about four trade and private-equity suitors for Lloyds TSB Registrars, according to this report in the Sunday Time...

19 March 2007 /payments /retail Finextra50 fintech index

Are all supermarkets evil?

Peter Roberts asked earlier: Are all retail banks evil? The UK’s banks have had a lot of bad press lately. From gross – and it seems illegal – overcharging to a succession of mis-selling scandals, the banks have not done much to endear themselves with their customers. But how do they stand up against their non-banking competitors in the retail se...

16 March 2007 /retail

Ice, ice baby

Icap broker Johnny Black and fintech headhunter Chris Mike have posted a video of their charity striptease at Bank tube station on video-sharing Web site YouTube. As it’s all in aid of a good cause we’ve posted the x-rated vid on Finextra. Just click on the link below and watch grown men cavort to the sounds of Vanilla Ice as innocent bystanders...

13 March 2007 /wholesale Video extravaganza

CEBR bowls a googly with dodgy cricket stats

Apparently, the Cricket World Cup - which officially starts in the Caribbean on Tuesday 13 March - could hit UK productivity to the tune of £200 million. Those clever chappies at the Centre for Economic and Business Research have noticed that two of England’s matches, against New Zealand on 16 March and against Pakistan on 30 March, are on Friday a...

09 March 2007 Whatever...

Virtual money worries

Chinese authorities have acted to curb the spread of virtual currencies into the real economy. The FT reports on a recent formal notice from the government and central bank effectively banning the use of virtual cash to pay for material goods and services in the real world. The edict was issued in response to the growing popularity of Q-coins, the...

08 March 2007 /payments /retail Futuristic Banking