Author: Colin Henderson

Progress in era of productivity
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Stripe–simple online payments levering technology banks are missing

Colin Henderson

Here is a brilliant example of how online payments should work.  I have always maintained banks should be dominating this space.  But no.  Banks lost this battle by refusing to adopt new technology that works with the web.  Banks are still too focussed on platforms that support legacy systems, and that’s where a company like Stripe excels versus banks. What is Stripe: In typical developer form (take that as a compliment) they forget to tell site visitors who they are and what they do.  Any home page which includes reference to Stripe.js or anything *.js makes me smile.  The home … Continue reading Stripe–simple online payments levering technology banks are missing

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A road map for Blackberry – forget about hardware

Colin Henderson

I clearly remember my first Blackberry in 1998 +/-  There were only a few hundred out there and this was bleeding edge when a few tens of us at mbanx got one. Email connection in your pocket.  Before that I used a Psion 5c while others use Palm Pilots.  Those devices were powerful but the frustration was lack of connection to the grid.  There were modems being sold to work around that, but the magic of connection in your hand was not there. The Blackberry introduced that magic.  It used the pager network as a workaround to get connectivity.  It … Continue reading A road map for Blackberry – forget about hardware

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An interesting mobile/ ABM innovation could have unintended consequences

Colin Henderson

This is one of those innovations that kind of makes you wonder if it is a good thing.  I can see criminals loving this one. Banco Sabadell adds cardless ATM withdrawals to mobile app However, in a neat twist, the Banco Sabadell service explicitly promotes the capability for customers to send the code on to the phone of a second person, effectively making it a person-to-person payments system. The pros are distant at best.  You can interact with the ABM from your phone.  You generate a code in advance and use that at the ABM to get your cash.  Yes … Continue reading An interesting mobile/ ABM innovation could have unintended consequences

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How far has the economy really come since 2008?

Colin Henderson

This rather complicated image from here is actually quite telling if you take a minute to study.  The black line is the supposed normal long run level for each indicator.  The red line indicates when QE began in 2009, and the blue is where we are today. In summary not much has changed and despite the month to month improvements, the relative improvement to where we were prior to 2008 is immense. Continue reading How far has the economy really come since 2008?

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Who is your Edward Snowden?

Colin Henderson

The story of Edward Snowden is becoming more interesting than the message he has brought.  He has been a spy all his adult life and he has been with Booz Allen for 2 months~.  Further he is 29 years old suggesting a career span of 10 – 11 years max.  The dichotomy of this apparently intelligent young man lies in the range between delusions of grandeur and deep experience with the shadow world of espionage. The personal history of Snowden will become a large part of this increasingly fascinating story.  Booz Allen Statement on Reports of Leaked Information Booz Allen … Continue reading Who is your Edward Snowden?

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To the Guardian – why PRISM? ECHELON has been around since 1948 supported by US, UK, Canada, Australia

Colin Henderson

It is not at all clear to me why everyone is so excited about PRISM and the apparently new ability to monitor private communications that the Guardian got all excited about last week.  It took me a day or two to remember the name, but I have this piece (below) from 2003 which documents ECHELON which has been around since 1948.  PRISM reads like an extension/ subset/ addition to ECHELON. For the record I am not afraid of this kind of thing.  Indeed we can’t on the one hand be happy to throw everything personal out there, and the on … Continue reading To the Guardian – why PRISM? ECHELON has been around since 1948 supported by US, UK, Canada, Australia

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Chip card implementation remains fundamentally flawed

Colin Henderson

Sometimes when I read the debates on chip, PIN and EMV I feel I am listening to the Flat Earth Society.  America is home to some home truths including gun ownership, religion and mag stripe in ways that just seem contradictory to common sense. That said, when it comes to chip there are aspects that payment security adherents are probably not addressing in sufficient clarity otherwise one would think logical thinking people would come around even if they are American.  (I love America by the way) So what is the issue ?  Why is it so hard to make the … Continue reading Chip card implementation remains fundamentally flawed

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World Retail Banking Report 2013 | CapGemini / EFMA

Colin Henderson

The new CapGemini/ Efma World Retail Banking report is out today. This is the 3rd annual.  A link to the full report, press release and infographic can be found here.  Its 40 pages and worth the study for anyone in bank channel strategy and management. Paris, New York – April 23, 2013 –  Within the next six months, ten percent of retail banking customers surveyed globally will likely leave their bank and an additional 41 percent of customers say they are unsure if they will stay or go finds the tenth annual World Retail Banking Report 2013 (WRBR 2013) released … Continue reading World Retail Banking Report 2013 | CapGemini / EFMA

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“This Time is Different” comes under fire from Amherst professors | what does it mean for austerity?

Colin Henderson

It is not unusual to have economists debate how to manage inflation, growth, and employment.  The solutions vary from extreme Keynes supported by Government spending, to extreme austerity and we have seen all of those especially since 2008. A guiding light of clarity that appeared in 2010 was the Reindhart/ Rogoff book entitled ‘This Time is Different”.  The title implied with irony that in fact it is never different, and that it went on to empirically prove that over 800years of data it is proven that countries with excess debt suffer low or negative growth.  I have quoted the book … Continue reading “This Time is Different” comes under fire from Amherst professors | what does it mean for austerity?