Stanley Epstein Associate at Citadel Advantage Group
This is the time of year when the financial services industry, or at least the "techie" element heads off to some exotic venue for the annual SWIFT jamboree. SWIFT as we all know is the global financial messaging operator. And as part and parcel of what they do, they have also created the messaging standards on which the financial world ...
12 September 2009 /payments /sibos
All of a sudden, now that the economies of many countries, not to mention the banking industry, is in tatters, we have dozens of articles and blogs all bemoaning the state of risk management and what we need to do to get everything right again. All of them are pounding away on the same drum; all are documenting how badly everyone has done in managi...
15 August 2009 /regulation Innovation in Financial Services
I have been reading of late in the financial press and various blogs how bank Boards are, all of a sudden embracing a culture of risk management. Suddenly they are into governance issues too. What rot! Where have the banks and their Boards of Directors been these past ten years or so? And at the same time too, where have the regulators been? Basle...
31 July 2009 /regulation
A current question doing the rounds about banks and innovation really got me thinking. Are banks really interested in innovation or are these "innovators" just few and far between? When we speak about innovation it is not only technology. Innovations can come about without any technological advance. There is a distinction between "pr...
29 July 2009 /regulation Innovation in Financial Services
I have been following recent press reports with a growing sense of unease. What I am reading is that some of the big banks, including some that were only bailed out by their respective governments in both the US and the UK less than a year ago, are back at the casino tables. They are now shopping around for "talent" and they are willing ...
17 July 2009 Innovation in Financial Services
I generally find the subject of banking, risk management, payments and so on to be pretty serious stuff. After all I have spent my entire career dealing with the various aspects of all of this. I must admit however that there is always room for a lighter side to everything. But so far I always seem to have missed these more amusing moments. So my...
12 July 2009 /payments /retail Innovation in Financial Services
It never ceases to amaze me that in the world of banking two different worlds can seemingly co-exist side by side, each oblivious of the other. There are many examples of this, such as "sound risk management" versus "business imperatives". This particular issue lies, in my view, at the heart of the current financial crisis. Ho...
03 July 2009 /payments Innovation in Financial Services
Once again I am appalled by the banks. Here we are, all in the midst of the worst financial crisis of the past seventy years, brought on by the greed and stupidity of the banking community and what are the banks doing? Well they are now moaning at the poor folk setting the accounting standards. They don't like some of these accounting rules becaus...
03 May 2009 /retail
Although the world's financial system is still in dire straits, together with the economies that have been dragged down with them, there seems to be an element of optimism in the air. Perhaps it is the coming of spring that seems to engender new feelings of rebirth and of hope. What is disturbing however is the notion that the worst is behind us a...
26 April 2009 /regulation Innovation in Financial Services
I was really stunned today by how rapidly our current financial woes have affected the real world. Just three months ago, I was in London to attend to some business matters. Then it was the usual packed flight, business class just about full. Today I undertook the same journey. However, there was one big difference. I was the ONLY business class pa...
01 February 2009
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