Great video which appears to have been a trailer for SIBOS 2010. Its only 4 mins but it covers technology evolution and the shift to “User Centric Finance”. Interesting use of example of religion and disintermediation of churches. Continue reading User Centric Finance
John Mauldin produces some great research and analysis in weekly emails. Thoughts from the Frontline. He has been focussing on Ireland, and this little snippet summarises the situation there. The history here is that the Irish Government guaranteed all bank deposits and bank bonds in 2008. This bubble chart shows the implication. The guarantee that the Irish took on is worth 30% of their GDP. As John points out if that was America that would equate to $4 trillion. In effect the Irish government has taken on bank bailouts to UK, German and other banks from around the world (the … Continue reading Thinking the unthinkable – will Ireland produce the next credit crisis?
This is a most unusual sight! Makes me wonder if there is some bigger problem going on in the background? Continue reading Bank of America web site is completely down – 11:30am
It just gets worse for GS. Goldman reveals fresh crisis losses | ft.com Goldman Sachs has revealed details of about $5bn in investment losses suffered during the crisis for the first time this week, in a move that will deepen the debate over companies’ financial disclosures. The figures, issued as part of internal reforms aimed at silencing Goldman’s critics, show that the bank suffered $13.5bn in losses from “investing and lending” with its own funds in 2008. But Goldman’s regulatory filings and its executives’ comments to investors at the time pointed to about $8.5bn of losses arising from its investments … Continue reading oops – there was another $5 Bn that we lost but failed to report | Goldman Sachs
The World Economic Forum which has their annual meting later this month have released their Global Risk 2011 report. Here is he summary from the report, and the full report is a free download here. Most likely and largest risks are those in the upper right as most likely and largest financial impact: Fiscal crises economic disparity energy price volatility global governance failure and climate change as most likely and largest financial impact This extract from the report is interesting view of the world and nicely summarises the risks. Three important risks in focus Beyond these two cross-cutting global risks, three important … Continue reading Global Risks 2011 report issued by World Economic Forum
Following up on yesterday’s post there are now indications that Bank of Canada and the banking regulator OSFI are working on a new set of bank stress tests. OSFI, BoC working together on bank stress tests | financialpost.com Rather than relying on the banks own internal tests OSFI and the central bank have created a "macro" test, Mr. White said, adding that the work has put this country at the forefront of macroprudential testing. Some analysts argue some of the results of Canadian bank stress tests should be made public in the interests of transparency. But according to Mr. White, … Continue reading New stress tests coming for Canadian banks
Over at CommunityLend we are excited about the launch of a new service today called Financeit.ca. Financeit.ca is a service for home improvement dealers that provides them with what we believe will be the easiest online application process in Canada. Here is the press release. The concept is for a platform that provides an effective means of originating borrowers are point of sale, and home improvement is the first roll out. The lending is provided by lenders at Communitylend. Technorati Tags: financeit.ca,communitylend. dealer financing,purchase financing,P2P Lending Continue reading New Sales Finance Platform Financeit.ca Launches to Help Increase Sales for Canadian Home Improvement Companies
This highlights the significance of one key aspect of Basel 3. The key part is that: Global accord targets credit bubbles | ft.com The agreement, struck last month, says that if a country decides its economy is overheated – based on the ratio of credit to gross domestic product – it can require banks within its borders to hold extra capital against potential losses. Thus if your central bank decides the economy is being overheated and too much debt is being doled out, then the collective wrath of your own central bank and the others in the world will befall … Continue reading Basel 3 has significant power to restrict banks and Canada shows indications of that
An interesting post at Celent that is probably directional rather than predictive but the direction is clear. Branches rule. The better news is that at least internet banking is clearly 2nd. The less good news is that mobile is not even on the radar yet. The problem I have with this kind of research is that priority is not defined. Two priorities that matter are costs and importance. I am betting that most bankers think in terms of costs when allocating priorities. If thats the case then this picture might be quite positive compared to 5 – 7 years ago … Continue reading Branches continue to rule bank investment priorities
For the economists. OECD report on generally positive growth indicators everywhere. There is a graph for most countries below and if unclear, here is a pdf PR_Tables (excel) of the graphs. The key is getting above 100 and staying there. 100 = steady state, no growth or drops. Note the large drop in 2008. _____________________________________________________________ OECD composite leading indicators show new growth momentum OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs), designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, point to an increasing pace of economic expansion in November 2010. The CLIs for China, the United States, France and Japan … Continue reading OECD composite leading indicators show new growth momentum
Bankwatch 