The Financial Services Club's Blog

Things worth reading: 20th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

The Finanser's Week: 13th May - 19th May 2013

Our biggest stories of the past week are ...

Faster Payments is five years old

The UK's Faster Payments Service (FPS) celebrated its fifth birthday on 8th May.  Since 2008 the system has grown rapidly, as evidenced in the transaction volumes:

• an overall transaction percentage increase of 181%
• 735.6 million annual transactions in 2012
• 900-950 million transactions anticipated in 2013
• processing around £740 billion a year

Banks designed for humans, not money

I was in an interesting debate yesterday about the future of banking, as usual, and the future of branches, yet again. It was all interesting stuff. Then one of the presenters – a design agency that created and designed the... 

Banks designed for humans by geeks

I was going to move away from further debate about branch and omnichannel today, as there’s far more interesting stuff about Google giving payments away for free with Gmail and PayPal doing the same with mobile, but that will have...

Changing a bank's culture needs actions not words

We had a fascinating discussion about how to fix the banks at the Financial Services Club last night (Part Two next week) and the gist of what most panellists came back to, as well as the audience, is that we...

Bank security is like a King with a Princess

Once upon a time, there was a King. The King had been married to his Queen for three years, when the Queen gave birth to a Princess. Sixteen years later, the King was worried about his daughter. The Princess was...

From Bloomberg to Snoopberg

The shock news of the day, or not, is that Bloomberg’s reporters have been spying on their customers. Or that’s the suspicion anyway, and was kicked off by Goldman Sachs complaint that a reporter from Bloomberg had telephoned to find ...

  
The major general news stories of the past week include ...  

HSBC eyes 14,000 job cuts as it looks for $3bn cost saving - The Telegraph
HSBC could cut as many as 14,000 jobs in the next three years in an effort to reduce its annual costs by between $2bn (£1.3bn) and $3bn.        

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Bankwatch: Bill Oddie evicted from HSBC headquarters after protest over bank's links to logging companies blamed for destruction of the rainforest in Malaysia - The Independent
Bill Oddie, the naturalist and BBC television presenter, has made a provocative protest film intended to embarrass the global bank HSBC over its links to logging companies blamed for the destruction of the rainforest in Malaysia.        

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Lloyds may appoint woman as next chairman as Bischoff seeks exit - The Independent
The starting pistol was fired on the race to find the next chairman of Lloyds Banking Group yesterday as the current chairman, Sir Win Bischoff, 72, said he wanted to retire no later than next year's annual meeting.        

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Bloomberg scrambles to reassure users - Financial Times
Clients now asking if group’s greatest asset – its ability to generate stories from terminals on almost every trading desk – has become a liability

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Co-op pioneers would not be amused by bank crisis - The Telegraph
The Rochdale Pioneers would not have been amused. The group of 30 weavers and their friends who struggled to open what was arguably Britain's first co-operative store back in 1844 would have regarded the plight of the Co-op Bank as a symptom of a society that did little for them.

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Fed orders Citigroup to improve money laundering checks - Reuters
(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve has ordered Citigroup Inc to better police for the risk of money laundering, part of a broad U.S. regulatory crackdown on the potential for illicit money flows.

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After ATM heist, India's IT sector again in unwelcome spotlight - Reuters
MUMBAI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - A breach of security at two payment card processing companies in India that led to heists at cash machines around the world has reopened questions on the risks of outsourcing sensitive financial services to the Asian nation.

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For banks in cyber heist, how to get their money back? - Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Because the sums were large and such attacks are relatively new, the two Middle East banks hit in a $45 million ATM heist face an uncertain path in trying to recover their losses, financial, insurance and legal experts say.

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France threatens to take euro crisis to 'higher plane' , says billionaire hedge fund boss Michael Hintze - The Telegraph
A stagnant economy, a weak President and a jump in car burnings are all signs of a looming crisis in France that threatens to drive the eurozone's problems to a "higher plane", says hedge fund boss Michael Hintze.        

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The great credit card takeaway - BBC
How people are persuaded to give away their plastic  

 

If you like the Finanser, check out the books of the blog: the Complete Banker Series

 

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Banks designed for humans by geeks

I was going to move away from further debate about branch and omnichannel today, as there’s far more interesting stuff about Google giving payments away for free with Gmail and PayPal doing the same with mobile, but that will have to wait until next week as yesterday’s post created quite a stir.

I guess it was the mention of Apple (whose glossy rosy tint has reduced of late).

Or maybe it is that core message about designing for humans rather than money.

In fact, I did toy with the idea of Banks designed for humans, not geeks as a title, as the techno crowd fall into the same fervent misnomer as the branch crowd.

Equally, most get this wrong because they built their operations for one point of emphasis – branch, call centre, internet – and now are struggling because no longer do we deal with channels, we deal with a human at their point of need or want or desire or thought.

This is what the data geeks are really drilling down for: to get to the customer 24*7 as they have financial needs, wants, desires and thoughts, and that is why today's title is Banks designed for humans by geeks. 

Things worth reading: 17th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

Banks designed for humans, not money

I was in an interesting debate yesterday about the future of banking, as usual, and the future of branches, yet again.

It was all interesting stuff.

Then one of the presenters – a design agency that created and designed the Apple stores – talked about designing branches for people, not money.

Things worth reading: 16th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

Changing a bank's culture needs actions not words

We had a fascinating discussion about how to fix the banks at the Financial Services Club last night (Part Two next week) and the gist of what most panellists came back to, as well as the audience, is that we need to return to basics and get the culture right.

This is not an overnight change, a quick fix or an easy thing, but it is a fundamental.

The values and culture need to focus back upon doing what’s right for the customer and society, being ethical and moral, open and transparent, trusted and secure.

Faster Payments is five years old

The UK's Faster Payments Service (FPS) celebrated its fifth birthday on 8th May.  

Since 2008 the system has grown rapidly, as evidenced in the transaction volumes:

• an overall transaction percentage increase of 181%
• 735.6 million annual transactions in 2012
• 900-950 million transactions anticipated in 2013
• processing around £740 billion a year

Things worth reading: 15th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

Bank security is like a King with a Princess

Once upon a time, there was a King.

The King had been married to his Queen for three years, when the Queen gave birth to a Princess.

Sixteen years later, the King was worried about his daughter.

The Princess was very beautiful, and he did not want her to meet the wrong sort of suitor.

So he built a tall tower within the Castle Keep, where his daughter was kept in privacy, away from prying eyes and undesirable peasants.

Even so, the Princess was restless and would often stand at the window looking out to the town and beyond.

Things worth reading: 14th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

From Bloomberg to Snoopberg

The shock news of the day, or not, is that Bloomberg’s reporters have been spying on their customers.

Or that’s the suspicion anyway, and was kicked off by Goldman Sachs complaint that a reporter from Bloomberg had telephoned to find out why an employee of the bank had not logged on to their Bloomberg terminal yet.  Had they lost their job?

Apparently, reporters at Bloomberg did the same in 2012 when trying to find out what was going on at JPMorgan over their London Whale  incident.  There are also concerns that they may have been tracking Tim Geithner, US Treasury Secretary, and Ben Bernanke, Head of the Federal Reserve.

Things worth reading: 13th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

The Finanser's Week: 6th May - 12th May 2013

Our biggest stories of the past week are ...

Sir Ranulph Fiennes caught trying to rob a bank

Like others in the conference hall, I felt a sense of awe as the world’s greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph ‘Ran’ Fiennes, took to the stage to recount some of the stories about his life and travels, including the day...

Citibank: a flawed innovation process? No, but a ruthless one

I just got a heads-up about an interesting project taking place in Citibank called Darbie. Being aware of the challenge of new start-ups like Simple and Square, Citi are concerned that they might be disintermediated from the customer relationship, as...

Not bank branches again (yawn, zzz, duh)

The hardy perennial discussion of whether we need branches or not comes up again this week. It’s a regular debate on the blog and in the Financial Services Club, with various entries that are relevant to contribute towards the debate:...

Predictive, proactive, proximity based payments

After my discussion about the augmented economy which focused upon customer service, I thought about it from the other side: transactions. Many years ago, my technology firm made a play for banks to deploy data warehouses to perform predictive analytics...

  
The major general news stories of the past week include ...  

Cybercriminals 'drained ATMs' in $45m world bank heist - BBC

A gang of cybercriminals stole $45m (£29m) by hacking into a database of prepaid debit cards and draining cash machines around the world, US prosecutors say.

Eye-catching recruits and full bank buyout fast-tracks grocer's push for supremacy - The Independent

Sainsbury's is gearing up for a major assault on the banking sector with ambitious plans to take on HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and the rest of the financial high street.        

Say goodbye to the pin: voice recognition takes over at Barclays Wealth - The Telegraph

Barclays Wealth customers will no longer need to answer security questions and remember pin codes to use telephone banking.

Can customers ever trust bankers again? – BBC

Free banking at risk as EU wants us to bank anywhere in Europe - The Telegraph

 European proposals that would allow Britons to switch to a bank account in another country could hasten the demise of free banking, experts have warned.  

Nat Rothschild rues 'terrible mistake' in tie-up with Bakries - The Independent

The City financier Nat Rothschild has given a rare insight into his personal life, claiming he no longer drinks or smokes and goes to bed at 9.30pm.    

US banks tipped off to Harp loans - Financial Times

Banks say they have been able to use release to identify and analyse Harp loans, highlighting the industry’s use of ‘big data’ analysis              

Co-op Bank could need taxpayer support, says Moody's - The Telegraph

 The Co-op could require taxpayer support for its banking arm after the business had its credit rating downgraded by Moody's, which warned the mutual faced losses that it might not be able to afford.        

'Crisis over' hopes after HSBC posts £5bn profit - The Independent

HSBC has moved to put allegations of money laundering for Mexican cocaine gangs in the past as it posted a storming set of results that gave hope the banking crisis could finally be over.        

Treasury boss who drove President Obama loopy hits on a new signature for bank notes - The Independent

When US President Barack Obama nominated Jack Lew as the new Secretary of the US Treasury in January, the media had one overwhelming concern about the appointment: Lew’s illegible signature, which resembles the doodle of an absent-minded child, would now appear on every US banknote.        

 

 

If you like the Finanser, check out the books of the blog: the Complete Banker Series

The Financial Services Club is sponsored by:

    

For details of sponsorship email us.

 

 

Sir Ranulph Fiennes caught trying to rob a bank

Like others in the conference hall, I felt a sense of awe as the world’s greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph ‘Ran’ Fiennes, took to the stage to recount some of the stories about his life and travels, including the day he was in court over trying to rob a bank. 

Things worth reading: 10th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

Citibank: a flawed innovation process? No, but a ruthless one

I just got a heads-up about an interesting project taking place in Citibank called Darbie.

Being aware of the challenge of new start-ups like Simple and Square, Citi are concerned that they might be disintermediated from the customer relationship, as are most old guard banks.

But rather than ignoring this threat, Citi has taken it on board and created a counter offer.

Things worth reading: 9th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...

Not bank branches again (yawn, zzz, duh, wtf)

The hardy perennial discussion of whether we need branches or not comes up again this week.  It’s a regular debate on the blog and in the Financial Services Club, with various entries that are relevant to contribute towards the debate:

• To dump or not to dump the branch (2007)
• Branches Wanted: Dead or Alive? (2009)
• The branch-based banking model is dead, Part One (2009)
• Branch-based banking is dead, Part Two (2009)
• Bank branches are not dead (2011)
• Do banks need branches? (Financial Services Club Debate, 2012) 

It is a discussion that never goes away because no-one knows the answer.

Things worth reading: 8th May 2013

Things we're reading today include ...