This survey released today asked bank executives in institutions of banks, with 62% of the respondents being from small banks (those with less than $500 million in estimated assets). The picture is a disturbing turn for the worse as the realities of a new structural unemployment and the impact of government borrowing weighs heavily. Grant Thornton – Bank Survey – Sept 2010 CHICAGO, Sept. 29, 2010 – Bankers are again becoming pessimistic about the economy, according to Grant Thornton LLP’s 17th Bank Executive Survey, conducted in conjunction with Bank Director magazine. Only 15% of bank executives believe the U.S. economy … Continue reading Bank survey shows dramatic increase in pessimism in the U.S.

Its too bad this innovation panel brought out the usual bank thinking by focussing on what they thought they were doing that was innovative rather than greater focus on lessons learned. ING, HSBC and Nordea outline barriers to banking innovation | finextra Beurden goes on to say that banks need to recognise how many so-called "painful moments" they face off to their customers and reconcile these with what he describes as a "pleasure curve." (Such as a store offering a child’s play area, while parents wait in line at the register.) He adds that ING will be making a technology … Continue reading Banks’ view of innovation is sadly lacking in imagination

Ron did up a great post here reflecting on the reason for Wesabe’s failure and the arrogance of someone at Mint as to why they ‘won’ (quotes mine). First off this from Techcrunch in Sept 2009. Very early in Mint’s life they signed a sweet deal with Yodlee to provide all that back end technology. Mint focused on the front end user experience, and did a great job with marketing. People who have knowledge of the deal say total payments from Mint to Yodlee over the last couple of years are around $2 million/year. So Yodlee made $4ish million off … Continue reading The real reason for Wesabe failure, part trois

The state of Canadian finances is still the envy of the world, yet there continue to be areas of concern that pop up.  This statistic caught my eye.  The trillion dollar figure works out to be $100,000 on average for every bankable household in Canada.  The average is deceiving though because there are many homes with no mortgages. The other statistic there is that about 38% (although the numbers in the article do not add up) of mortgages are securitised and held by others as investments.  This could be hedge funds, pension funds and other investment funds.  Obviously any impact … Continue reading The size of the Canadian mortgage market approaches $1 trillion