The under appreciated problem is looming for Bitcoin


It appears the disappearance of Bitcoin exchange, Mt Gox, is not a problem, at least to those who did not keep their Bitcoins there. Fate of Mt Gox questioned after Bitcoin trading suspended One of the protesters, London-based developer Kolin Burges, said on Tuesday that his faith in Bitcoin as an alternative payment system had not been shaken. “If Gox is finally disappearing, it is bad news for everyone with their money in there, but good news for the rest of the industry.” I would have to disagree and say this is a huge problem for Bitcoin.  As I have … Continue reading The under appreciated problem is looming for Bitcoin

Funny how our own obvious predictions actually come true – look at Office Max


Humans are interesting.  We speak casually about trends, end of book shops, paperless, cashless, but we continue to be surprised at our own predictions.  Witness Office Depot share price following their investor guidance indicating 2014 revenue will be less than 2013.  It does make me wonder when we will see this with traditional banks. For 2014, market trends are expected to remain challenging across our product lines and distribution channels. Consequently, Office Depot expects total company sales to be lower than 2013 pro forma combined sales. Office Depot – It is going to be a challenging year peddling pens ft.com Continue reading Funny how our own obvious predictions actually come true – look at Office Max

Some dramatic quotes from the just released Fed minutes over the three weeks following Lehmans Sept 15th 2008


The release of the Fed minutes from 2008 right after Lehman provide a dramatic insight into the workings of central banks at that time. I have covered much of this before but this is the first time we have word for word insight into those dramatic days. First this exchange between Evans and Bernanke reviewing the at that time, 1Bn increase in the Fed balance sheet.  This explains the thinking that central banks have zero risk.  Think Europe in the years following this. Clearly, confidence in the markets is extraordinarily poor and fragile, and that’s another reason that an escalation … Continue reading Some dramatic quotes from the just released Fed minutes over the three weeks following Lehmans Sept 15th 2008

Disaggregation of banking is a popular topic


Data is great.  After the post on disaggregation a few minutes ago, here was the reaction on this blog.  Thank you. 21/2 @ 00:38 : Mesquite, Texas, US 21/2 @ 00:38 : London, GB 21/2 @ 00:32 : Ashburn, Virginia, US 21/2 @ 00:29 : Norway, NO 21/2 @ 00:27 : Paris, FR 21/2 @ 00:24 : Mantin, MY 21/2 @ 00:18 : San Francisco, California, US 21/2 @ 00:16 : Norway, NO 21/2 @ 00:13 : Central District, HK 21/2 @ 00:08 : Minneapolis, Minnesota, US 21/2 @ 00:08 : Montréal, CA 21/2 @ 00:07 : Bethesda, Maryland, US … Continue reading Disaggregation of banking is a popular topic

What I like about whatsapp business model – simplicity and focus


I like two things about whatsapp business model and the simplicity in this points to their success. ruthless dislike and avoidance of advertising (from Yahoo days) focus on mobile only What WhatsApp Did Right, According to Jan Koum Last year, Koum appeared for an interview at our Dive Into Mobile conference, at a time when his company had more than 200 million active users. He talked about the larger opportunity in messaging, how much he hates advertising businesses, and why he wanted WhatsApp to stay an independent company. Of course this singular anti consumer marketing stance requires me to quote … Continue reading What I like about whatsapp business model – simplicity and focus

Graphic that represents the current startup activity focussed on disaggregation of bank services | Pease Blog


Over at Business Insider a link to a brilliant analysis graphic using Craigslist as an example of new services that have taken individual services in Craigslist and made a business out of it.  But the interesting one is this graphic from same source at Alexander Pease blog that demonstrates the degree that is already happening to bank services.  This is a topic that this blog talked about a lot several years ago, but now it is getting the attention of the Venture Capital community.  Traditional banks need to look over their shoulder. Continue reading Graphic that represents the current startup activity focussed on disaggregation of bank services | Pease Blog

5th largest law firm in Canada, Heenan Blaikie close down – a sign of the times


Heenan Blaikie, 5th largest law firm in Canada (534 +/- employees) are closing down following weeks of rumours, and many significant exits by senior lawyers recently. Heenan Blaikie, law firm home to Trudeau and Chrétien, closing down | CBC “I am deeply saddened to learn that the partners of Heenan Blaikie have decided to dissolve the firm. I am particularly distressed by the fact that hundreds of lawyers and members of the Heenan Blaikie staff, who have together provided the highest quality of legal services to their clients, will have their lives disrupted,” the email said. Support staff at the … Continue reading 5th largest law firm in Canada, Heenan Blaikie close down – a sign of the times

How Gen Y are coming to dominate the workforce and new customer base


This graphic from CompTIA (Non-profit trade association) is fascinating.  Basically it says that GenX who represent about 1/2 the population of Gen Y are being quickly overtaken by Gen Y.  Gen Y are replacing Gen X rapidly and Gen X just get older.  This from a CompTIA report that highlights the extraordinary impact that Millenials will have on the workforce.  I would add the impact on Banks, channel usage and expectation will be similarly dramatic.  We should be increasingly viewing the channels and account acquisition in context of Millennials expectations, as they gain income and wealth. Refresher: Generation X Born: … Continue reading How Gen Y are coming to dominate the workforce and new customer base

Basic rules for application upgrades not followed by Financial Times today for their mobile app


The Financial Times html5 web app just upgraded on my iPhone.  I say upgraded with some hesitation – the upgrade was anything but graceful.  I will say the end result was positive and I like the upgrade but zero marks to FT for their handling of the upgrade which went like this.  Without warning one of my icons was duplicated.  The new duplicate icon was a shortcut to a safari link – lets call it icon2.  Now it appeared twice – once in its original location, and now strangely the 2nd location was precisely where the FT app used to … Continue reading Basic rules for application upgrades not followed by Financial Times today for their mobile app

Technology is quietly impacting middle class roles beyond manufacturing


There is a general sense among many, myself included that a transformational and structural shift in employment is occurring because of technology impacts.  However it has not been well defined and usually manifests in the shift of labour from established economies to emerging economies such as Mexico, China and those of other emerging Asian countries who exhibited labour costs at 1/10th of established economies. But there is a bigger story.  If it were just a question of labour cost that would be a relatively fleeting change as emerging economies production costs equalise.  Labour costs do not represent structural change.  There … Continue reading Technology is quietly impacting middle class roles beyond manufacturing