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3659 Results from /retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Hands Up Anybody Who is Not A Hard-Working Family

One of the phrases that bugs me at the moment is 'hard working families'. Gordon Brown uses the phrase often, usually to preface an announcement of what he's going to do to 'help them'. I think I'm right in thinking that I've heard other parties use the same phrase. This suggests to me that those who aren't 'hard working' aren't worthy of suppo...

/retail Transaction Banking

Steve Ellis

Steve Ellis Founder at Finextra Research

Google Maps embedded inside La Caixa ATMs

Came across this post (via prolific tweeter James Governor) describing Spain's La Caixa ATMs having Google Maps embedded. Not sure if this is news to you, but it was to me. Any other Web 2.0 / Mashups made it inside ATMs?

/retail Finance 2.0

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

Beat the crunch this Christmas: Eat peanuts, drink beer

The Finextra news desk is groaning under the weight of Christmas-themed press releases, as companies desperately try to generate some extra seasonal income during the economic crisis. One of the more bizarre examples to hit the newswires this week was an urgent dispatch from the American Peanut Council, which advises cash-strapped consumers to beat...

/retail /wholesale Whatever...

Retired Member

Retired Member 

One loan to save them all?

The government’s recent colossal capital injection into the UK’s banks is obviously a good thing for all those with a vested interest in the banks. Increasing liquidity in inter-bank lending is one piece of the puzzle needed to start fixing the unquestionably broken face of business and finance in the UK. And, while it won’t fix things overnight, ...

/payments /retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Soviet Britain

Interesting to read in the papers today that at least 10 boroughs in the UK now have almost 50% of the working population employed by the state, rather than the private sector. This, with what is happening in the economy, and the continuing evolution of the tax and benefits system in the image of the Government, looks a bit like creeping Sovietis...

/retail Transaction Banking

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Cracking Nuts With Sledgehammers at UK FI

Last week saw the start of ramping up staff numbers at UK Financial Investments, the 'arms length' company the Government is setting up to manage the investments in RBS and the merged Lloyds group. It seems to me that the numbers involved amount to overkill - unless there are objectives to achieve that HMG are not saying... According to the Treas...

/retail Transaction Banking

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Forcing The Banks To Lend Part 2

Yesterday saw the ante being well and truly upped on this issue, with the Bank of England Governor weighing in and the Chancellor speaking forth too, issuing veiled threats aplenty. This smacks at a spot of scapegoating that does nothing much to help the real issues. For starters, why would it be a good idea to expand mortgage lending still furth...

/retail Transaction Banking

Daniel Smith

Daniel Smith CEO at Raisin Technology Europe and USA

About forcing banks to lend...

I read an interesting post here yesterday (or was it the day before?) about "forcing banks to lend" and am curious to see if anyone has a similar feeling to myself. As we all know, any well run bank will (or should) study the risk before lending, look at the return, and then take a decision. With the current "crisis" many centra...

/regulation /retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

The 'Yes Buts' Are Ignored Again At Our Peril

Why is the the contrary view so devalued these days? In years gone past, savvy managers would ask people (the 'yes buts', or Devil's Advocates) to think about the downsides of any proposed course of action, not necessarily to stop an initiative in its tracks but to tease out the wrinkles, analyse them and improve the initiative before launching. ...

/retail Transaction Banking

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Why doesn't anybody love me?

"In it's sixth Sepa progress report, the ECB welcomes the effort made so far, but stresses that work 'urgently remains to be done' to ensure the success of the Europe-wide project." You don't say? Is anyone surprised? Talk about stating the obvious... With banks being bailed out and IT budgets across the board slashed beyond recognition...

/payments /retail EBAday

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