This paragraph within an FT article tonight caught my attention. This is directly reminiscent of 2008 when a French Real Estate Fund froze redemptions. On Tuesday, the pound shed 2 per cent after a handful of large UK commercial property funds froze redemptions by clients, stoking concerns the fallout from last month’s vote in favour of leaving the EU was gathering pace. The “froze redemption” link goes to this: Investors have been barred from cashing in their assets in two more big commercial property funds amid widespread disposals of UK assets on fears that the economic fallout from last month’s vote to … Continue reading 2008 Banking redux

It seems to be that time again where we are on the cusp of a shift in internet behaviours and platforms. I have been noting themes in my reading over the past few months, and two recent pieces in particular solidified them for me. Mary Meeker report, State of the Internet that I referred to a few days ago, and several recent articles by Ben Thompson. The broad themes are: 1. Chat (as in texting) as an interface. 2. Natural Language Processing (NLP) (as in speaking) as an interface. If we think about it, these directions are entirely rational especially … Continue reading ChatUI and NLP as next generation interfaces

I watch and listed to Google I/O today. The stuff about the new communications app Allo and new emojis was a bit underwhelming but I sensed a deliberate shift under the guidance of SEO Pinchai towards commercialization with the likes of Google Home coming this year. This is going right after the Amazon Echo market, no doubt with a view to address and expand upon the earlier narrow view exemplified by the Nest purchase. But one comment from Pinchai on “Move 37” came closer towards the end of I/O struck me as prescient with regard to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and … Continue reading Move 37 | Implications for progress on Artificial Intelligence

I just made my first Apple Pay transaction at Tim Hortons in Toronto. Very smooth – double press the home button on your locked phone. This has the double effect of unlocking the iPhone, and activating Passbook. Then simply hold over the merchant device to pay. Despite the naysayers, it is actually easier than debit card tap to pay, because the phone is usually more accessible than debit card, and the activation levers the finger print authentication. Now we just need more merchants in Canada to accept Apple Pay. Continue reading Apple Pay at Tim Hortons in Canada

P2P Lending held out as a great opportunity to disrupt banking … back in 2006. I was with CommunityLend then, and the opportunity seemed endless. Since then the Canadian regulation stopped P2P lending in Canada. Meanwhile in the rest of the world the market moved from P2P to “Institutional Lender”2P. Now the Institutional Lender market seems to have dried up. The fact that Lending Club, the most successful P2P lender is increasing their rates in order to attract lenders has a sense of desparation. This from Finextra. Prosper slashes workforce as online lenders feel the heat With Citi recently deciding … Continue reading P2P Lending is in trouble

Their annual report is out now. Some useful country specific information regarding customers experience level and feelings about their banks. Capgemini and Efma today released the findings of their annual World Retail Banking Report (WRBR) 2016. The report reveals that fintech providers are making increasingly significant inroads with customers – two thirds of customers are now using fintech products or services – yet banks are struggling to keep pace, with the vast majority admitting they are not adequately prepared to manage this threat. Key findings include: * Not only are a majority of customers now using FinTech products or services, … Continue reading World Retail Banking Report – 2016 (Capgemini and Efma)

The United Payment Interface (UPI) launches commercially in India on Monday 18th, April, 2016. The first step was the launch of a national biometric identification system. This first step has met with apparent resounding success. Bloomberg So far, India’s attempt to assign every citizen a unique 12-digit number associated with a person’s unique iris, fingerprint or facial features, is succeeding—just last week, Aadhaar reached its milestone of registering 1 billion people. With more than 80 percent of Indians enrolled, it gives the payments system a solid base to build on. The Bloomberg article goes on to note that the UPI … Continue reading India launches ubiquitous mobile banking infrastructure