I rarely if ever do this, out of respect for my subscription to FT, however here is one of these occasions, and I hope they don’t mind. I am just a blogger, but I have been blogging consistently since March 07 about how the sub prime crisis will change everything in banking, and in the economy. For the full list see here. Its scary how long this has been a topic on this blog! That leads into …. I have never met Gordon Brown, but there are (at least) three thoughts that leap out at me from this FT piece, … Continue reading Exactly who is running the show?

Interesting shifts in the equity markets characterised by rise of hedge funds and investment alternatives for very wealthy only, and closed to individual investors. Goldman Takes ‘Private’ Equity To a New Level – WSJ.com These markets will generally be closed to individual investors. For instance, Goldman’s market is open only to large institutional investors with assets of more than $100 million. That is because the stocks traded on GS TRuE aren’t registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and issuers aren’t subject to SEC regulations designed to protect individual investors. It represents the latest step in the creeping exclusion of … Continue reading Goldman Takes
‘Private’ Equity
Goldman Sachs takes ‘Private’ equity to a new level

Courtesy of Finextra, and interesting approach by BofA to assess future innovations in Banking. I am not convinced on the merit of a lab based approach although it might include mathematical ‘what if’ scenarios, which could be valuable. Finextra: Bank of America partners MIT for banking research lab Bank of America says the new centre will serve as an “innovation engine that will seek to transform the ways banking will be conducted in a world of rapidly changing social, economic, and information landscapes”. Staff at the centre will explore ideas in banking by inventing technologies that reveal and use insights … Continue reading Bank of America partners MIT for banking research lab

See Ron’s “shameless plugs” for upcoming Banking 2.0 events, and in particular BarCampBankNE next month. One of these days I will get to a BarCampBank. Places To Go, People To See « Ron Shevlin’s Marketing Whims Shameless plugs for upcoming events you should be at Continue reading Upcoming conferences Banks will never see … but should

Consolidation of Banking was a genuine surprise to me. I expected this to be dry and academic. However the opposite turned out to be the case. The book covers the history and events in North American banking since the ’30’s and here is where the surprise came in. It details the changes and the reasons for the changes. It covers in some depth the impacts of foreign Banks, in the US and globally. The global aspect caught my attention, and this differs from the usual US centric view of the world in the US. The result is a good view … Continue reading Consolidation of Banking: Danielson | Book review

In usual form, Jim cuts right to the chase with some stats that simply prove what I believe to be the case that Facebook is first a foremost a social network, not an advertising network.  That is no comment on Facebooks business model.  I simply question that merely because young people are your target market, that you can stuff traditional interruptive marketing techniques into FB, and they will work.  Jim’s analysis proves that out. NetbankerOverall, the banking and personal finance apps have anemic usage levels totaling just 263 daily users (for apps with more than 1 daily user). That does … Continue reading Bank advertising doesn’t work in Facebook

Umair’s blog is one I just came across recently.  He is provocative, thoughtful, and insightful. This post is layered with insights, that will take me days to unravel, but Banks ought to take note of this quote “Goople findsvalue chains and industries in deep strategy decay …. “.  Banks are in strategy decay, so they are vulnerable.  It doesn’t have to be from Google, and thats not my point.  My point is that they are vulnerable to alternative strategies.  Edge Economy – Umair And that DNA opens new paths to strategy and advantage. Google finds value chains and industries in … Continue reading Google finds value chains and industries in deep strategy decay

In a piace entitled, ‘The Financial Sector returns to Earth’, The Economist manages to capture the current banking environment nicely.  From 1982 to 2000, a balanced portfolio of 60% stocks, 35% bonds and 5% cash delivered average real returns of 14.3%, according to BCA, compared with an average of 3.4% during the preceding 80 years. Fund-management groups and the trading desks of investment banks both benefited from this strong environment. While the article falls short of suggesting an all out crisis, it does suggest that things have changed from what we have seen over the last 25 years.  However, he … Continue reading Banking might just be going back to being boring

A thoughtful post on the nature of innovation, relative to globalisation, making the point that while the world appears global, the reality is quite local for effective innovation. The innovation levers technology and communication for the global aspects. One example is Zara. Based on NW Spain, they have developed a global strategy of successful stores, but the innovation is centred in Galicia. Irving Wladawsky-Berger On average, it takes nine months to develop a new fashion product and get it into stores. Zara is able to shrink that number to a remarkable four to five weeks. Consequently, it can assess in … Continue reading Innovation is local in a global context | case study – Zara

Just came across Umair’s blog today and wanted to reference it. He is beginning a discussion on corporate DNA and branding. Quite fascinating …. the decaying brands he isolates are Microsoft [tried to control the product standards], and Starbucks [tried to control the value chain]. Umair Haque Google and Myspace are perhaps the most obvious; Craigslist and Wikipedia the most radical; and Zara perhaps the least well understood. What all of these players have in common is that, as embryonic revolutionaries growing up in an era of turbulence, they’ve developed radically different DNA. So of course, I am thinking about … Continue reading Decaying brands, and implications for Banks