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Social media is more complicated than “ do it” now

Colin Henderson

This kind of post drives me nuts.  Datamonitor release a press release announcing that banks need to take social media seriously.  This is a headline from 2006.  Banks need to start taking social media seriously – Datamonitor Anna Large, analyst, Datamonitor, says: "Banks have adopted a "bury-their-heads -in-the-sand" approach to the part social media could play in both retaining and obtaining customers. At the heart of this is the idea that social media is just a fad, that consumers are essentially non-committal. However, the fact that 50% of UK consumers are using online tools to make their financial decisions indicates … Continue reading Social media is more complicated than “ do it” now

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IBM and BBA look at banks; restoring loyalty and trust

Colin Henderson

The British banking system has changed beyond all recognition.  It was not a difficult prediction that I concluded last year, but it has come to be sooner than even I thought. RESTORING LOYALTY, TRUST AND INDUSTRY PROFITABILITY | IBM / BBA Hand-in-hand with this increase in consolidation and government ownership, we have also seen a major new entrant arrive – Banco Santander now has over 1,300 branches through its acquisition of Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley – and non-banking groups flexing their muscles in the banking space. Tesco Bank has now exited from its joint venture … Continue reading IBM and BBA look at banks; restoring loyalty and trust

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Beware of Greeks bearing Gifts

Colin Henderson

Beware od Danaos bearing gifts. ((Laocoön warned his fellow Trojans against the wooden horse presented to the city by the Greeks. In the Aeneid, Virgil gives Laocoön the famous line Equo ne credite, Teucri / Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes) With that famous line, the worry of surreptitious infiltration is captured, as we now know as the Wooden Horse of Troy. When people accept a condition in the midst of a complicated negotiation with no apparent conditions beware. When I read this headline “Bankers in favour of paying global fee” my immediate reaction, as an ex banker … Continue reading Beware of Greeks bearing Gifts

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Congratulations to Obopay on being invited to World Economic Forum

Colin Henderson

Obopay are the only financials services company amongst ‘technology pioneers’ that are invited to this years forum that kicks off Wednesday this week in Davos, Switzerland.  Congratulations to Obopay. [emphasis mine] Q. Why is Obopay going to the WEF? Every year WEF recognizes approximately 20 technology pioneers and asks them to attend Davos. This year there were 26 companies recognized – of those 11 were IT companies, the rest were health, energy, or other. We were the only financial services company recognized this year. The forum is always interesting and the coverage is much easier from afar now, using youtube, … Continue reading Congratulations to Obopay on being invited to World Economic Forum

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Ten-Year Online & Mobile Banking Forecast and 2009 | Online Banking Report

Colin Henderson

Online Banker Report has just issued its latest and the topic is future based look at the next 10 years for online banking and mobile banking. Every year Jim and the team put together a review piece for the space the past year, and with predictions on usage patters for the next ten years. It is a must read for online banking professional in my view. New Online Banking Report Available: Ten-Year Online & Mobile Banking Forecast and 2009 The latest Online Banking Report: 2010 to 2019 Online & Mobile Banking Forecast is now available. The report includes our latest … Continue reading Ten-Year Online & Mobile Banking Forecast and 2009 | Online Banking Report

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The true meaning of innovation in financial services lies in the plumbing, not UI

Colin Henderson

This piece on internet and evolution of financial services has the best quote I have seen for some time. “these companies have merely built nice UI’s to Wall Street” How To Disrupt Wall Street | The Business Insider As I see it, these companies have merely built nice UI’s to Wall Street: Mint connects to your banks and Square to Visa and Mastercard and the bank that issued the credit card. If people at farmers’ markets use credit cards instead of cash, that means more money for Wall Street, not less. Brilliant. I take no issue with the likes of … Continue reading The true meaning of innovation in financial services lies in the plumbing, not UI

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Thoughts on p2p lending, risks and the future of the industry

Colin Henderson

In times of business renewal and especially following times of crisis it becomes easy to develop simple homely answers to problems. Mark Gimien falls into two traps, namely, coming up with a simple explanation that summarises a diverse set of peer-to-peer lending players, and that of a few simplistic anecdotes designed to explain a complex situation. Person-to-person lending is much riskier than you’ve been told | The Big Money – Slate Her credit rating is not bad. But then you lean back in your chair and wonder, “Wait a second! Why in heaven’s name would someone pay me this kind … Continue reading Thoughts on p2p lending, risks and the future of the industry

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Bank tax, bonuses and unintended consequences

Colin Henderson

I was a little surprised to see the UK conservatives support a global bank tax. In any event the amount of the bonus at JP Morgan Chase caught my attention, so I took a look at their capital base. With tier 1 capital of $133 bn, the bonuses represent a significant 7% of capital. Ironically, the international tax will produce the unintended consequence of reducing capital even more., within the limitations of Basle. It is hard to see how a tax would improve governance and capital retention. Osborne to push for global bank levy George Osborne, shadow chancellor, said that … Continue reading Bank tax, bonuses and unintended consequences

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Biggest Contraction since 1921 | NIESR UK

Colin Henderson

This new piece of analysis from NIESR (UK) makes the point based on prior recessions, that 20 – 30 months are left, at a minimum, before we get close to where GDP was before this recession period began. This point gets lots when the only measurement that media speak of is the last quarters +/-. What matters is where we are relative to where we began, and there a long way to go. http://www.niesr.ac.uk/ Our monthly estimates of GDP suggest that output grew by 0.3 per cent in the three months ending in December, following on from a growth of … Continue reading Biggest Contraction since 1921 | NIESR UK