The Euro crisis originated with the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) otherwise known as the peripheral economies.  At first it was believed that the problems in those countries could be managed with a straightforward bailout with the set up of a bailout fund, and some haircuts for bondholders. However the brilliant Euro economists forgot that the bondholders are primarily European Banks.  The haircut, which is a write down of an asset (bond issued by a PIGS country) , eats into their capital base. This required bailout provisions for banks in Greece and now Spain.  The Germans insisted on this … Continue reading Euro crisis is now about avoiding an even larger Lehman moment | will they be forced to nationalise the banks?

Banking is no longer about banks. Marks & Spencer to move into high street banking Over the next two years, 50 new ‘branches’ will be opened in M&S stores across the UK, with the first branch scheduled to open in July at Marks & Spencer’s flagship Marble Arch store. Continue reading Marks and Sparks move into banking

It is good to see someone finally call out card read speed as an issue.  I feel the same about chip speed;  there is a palpable delay after the clerk has packed my, lets say, bottle of wine, and we are both waiting for the response from first the chip, and then the bank.  Mobile NFC fails TfL’s need-for-speed transit tests TfL ran successful tests of mobile access using a Nokia handset in 2007, but Verma says that industry changes since then to switch the secure element from the phone to the SIM has slowed the read speed down to … Continue reading Chips, NFC and processing slowness

The burden of regulation in financial services.  This is all the talk in Europe at the moment, and this article sums it up in a way that resonates personally for me, and in a way that we can compare to the rules in Canada through our experiences with peer-to-peer lending oddly enough. (P2P lending is governed by securities regimes hence the personal connection through my association with CommunityLend) Investing: Tangled up anew | ft.com One of those start-ups is Premier Alpha Capital, run by Brian Cordischi, the American former head of investment management at Barclays Wealth. “The rules look like … Continue reading Financial Services and regulation | too misunderstood and too political

There is much talk about the end of things as we know it.  Raoul Pal founder of Global Macro Investor “previously co-managed the GLG Global Macro Fund in London for GLG Partners (ht ZeroHedge) and wrote this straightforward piece.. The single piece of evidence in this piece is one that I have mentioned here often.  That is the $600/ 700 trillion in derivatives that exist.  The set of financial hedges that represent 10 x world GDP. Right after the crisis began there was much talk and effort focussed on unwinding those contracts. not only did that not happen, they have grown from 600 then to … Continue reading The End Game | Raoul Paul

A strongly worded warning on Canadian housing prices from the EIU and backed up by comments from the OECD. Canada banks: Piling up profits | Economist Intelligence Unit (reg’n required) The OECD has taken notice of Canada’s housing bubble, advising the Bank of Canada to begin hiking interest rates with a target of 2.25% by the end of 2012, up from 1% where it has stood since September 2010. The fear is that Canadian homebuyers are borrowing more than they can sustain once rates turn higher. This situation could result in a real-estate bust and massive mortgage defaults in a … Continue reading Canadian housing price warning from Economist Intelligence Unit

The best they can do is come up with a statement like this. Police warn of Toronto debit card skimming scam Urging retailers to pay close attention to their point-of-sale (POS) devices, Toronto and Peel Regional Police announced newly discovered technology used in the scams Thursday. Pay close attention?  How many merchants lock their devices away at night I wonder? Just to be clear, here is the issue that I have been ranting about ever since the early days of chip card planning at the bank where I worked. There is no issue with chip cards per se.  Consumers can … Continue reading The Canadian Police are helpless in the face of the chip card offerring from Canadian Banks.

A brilliant and insightful few minutes with Niall Ferguson on the precipice we face today.  ht Zerohedge. http://www.cbc.ca/video/watch/News/TV Shows/Lang & O’Leary Exchange/ID=2239470660 Continue reading Are The Europeans About To Start The Second Half Of Our Great Depression?

Who knows if the audience in this survey is accurate but the sentiment certainly rings true.  A large proportion of bank customers would happily do everything online if it was available.  Half of Americans want to do all banking online | Finextra Of just over 1100 respondents, 52% say that their provider’s Web site is their primary method of banking, with 48% revealing that they would do it all online if it were possible. In contrast only a third of respondents consider the branch their primary method of banking. Currently, Web banking is used primarily to check account balances and … Continue reading Message to Banks: Most people want to do much more online