EU

Moneysupermarket hit as Barclays closes loans unit

Colin Henderson

An interesting side effect of the economic situation, and the credit crisis. Moneysupermarket are estimate to lose $7 million in referral revenue as a result of Barclays cancelling their secured loan service. FT.com / Companies / Financial services – Moneysupermarket hit as Barclays closes loans unit The group said First Plus was the largest provider of secured loans in the market, and its withdrawal would cost it £7m in revenues in the remainder of this year. Analysts at Numis had previously expected revenues of £186m this year. Continue reading Moneysupermarket hit as Barclays closes loans unit

EU, P2P Lending1 Comment

Summary of p2p lending market in Poland | Cap Gemini & Gemius

Colin Henderson

Report with rich data on the Polish p2p market. Data is qualitative comparing typical internet population, and p2p population. In general it appears that p2p lending in Poland is skewed towards to the average internet population. Having said that, the distrust level of Banks in Poland is higher than in the west, so the outcomes are not directly comparable. Well worth the read. Internetowe pożyczki społeczne :: Gemius SA Raport w języku angielskim [note: link to English pdf] Continue reading Summary of p2p lending market in Poland | Cap Gemini & Gemius

AI

Citi to develop a new integrated technology infrastructure

Colin Henderson

Another signal of big [and needed] changes at Citibank. Their old strategy was highly collegial and permissive of disparate groups autonomy and individual projects. That is changing reflecting the obvious that its hard to be customer centric to the external customer, if you are not aligned that way internally. Finextra: Citi hires Lippert to overhaul IT operations Kessinger says Citi is looking to Lippert re-engineer the bank’s creaking IT infrastructure “by developing technology and operational platforms that are robust, agile, and cost effective. His role will involve the design and deployment of globally integrated solutions that are client-centric, and will … Continue reading Citi to develop a new integrated technology infrastructure

Social Lending, subprime

Global Financial Turmoil and the responsibility of social lending

Colin Henderson

Nice crisp explanation of the cause of the sub prime crisis by Governor Frederic S. Mishkin of the US Federal Reserve. In particular I liked this quote “a global margin call on virtually all leveraged positions”. Later on I offer an observation on how social lending has a responsibility, and a role to play in all this. FRB: Speech–Mishkin, Global Financial Turmoil and the World Economy–July 2, 2008 The subprime crisis exposed problems with the securitization of mortgages. In particular, it became painfully clear how poor the underwriting and credit-risk analysis were for a wide range of products. Some appraisers, … Continue reading Global Financial Turmoil and the responsibility of social lending

Social Media, Social networks3 Comments

examples of banks as leaders in web 2.0 ??

Colin Henderson

I was reading this interesting post from Cindy, when it really caught my attention with this point made near the end! Innovation and Transformation Wings: Social Networking : Good for Business or Not? At this stage in the Canadian landscape there are some leaders in developing innovative Web 2.0 approaches in companies like: Bell Canada, MTS Allstream, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, and early days for Bank of Nova Scotia and CIBC as well. I am pretty familiar with RBC’s efforts, at least on the customer external facing web, but not at all with CIBC, TD, BNS, or … Continue reading examples of banks as leaders in web 2.0 ??

AI1 Comment

Capital One Debit MasterCard is back and national

Colin Henderson

This got my attention from Morris. I thought that Capone had cancelled their debti card programme, but it turns out they just wanted to re-release as their own service. Now this gets interesting. Not much to judge about the service on the US site linked from Morris’s post, so any additional information welcomed in the comments. Decoupled Debit Card Lives Again! — from TMG’s Payment Industry Insider NOW, all bets are off since CapOne has gone national and has tied it to their own reward program. Potentially millions of consumers who are dissatisfied with their current bank or credit union, … Continue reading Capital One Debit MasterCard is back and national

Web/Tech4 Comments

Which Banks get the Web Lifestyle | RBC

Colin Henderson

Further to my post back in April, its time to re-evaluate the Banks that do in fact get the web lifestyle, and are trying different things.  Offerring online banking does not get any mention in this.  Others, including especially netbanker do a great job at evaluating the latest online banking offerrings.  I am interested in how Banks are broadly embracing the web lifestyle. Its not a long list, so suggestions are welcome. There are a few Credit Unions doing interesting stuff with blogs, and social media, and I will be looking to see if its clear that the conversations are … Continue reading Which Banks get the Web Lifestyle | RBC

Microsoft

Microsoft buys Powerset, and introduces new things for Bank web sites to consider

Colin Henderson

Why should Banks think about the Microsoft acquisition of Powerset, a natural language search engine? Powerset brings together a unique combination of scientific work in Artificial Intelligence, and Natural Language Analysis. Interview With Barney Pell and Ramez Naam About Microsoft’s Powerset Acquisition: Integration By End Of Year BP: I guess one way to think about it is like when you are learning how to diagram sentences in elementary school. You draw these trees of a sentence and find here is the noun phrase and a noun phrase has a determiner like “the” and then it has a noun like “dog” … Continue reading Microsoft buys Powerset, and introduces new things for Bank web sites to consider

Uncategorized

Disruption comes to politics and lobbying

Colin Henderson

No comment on the politics of this, but I love the disruptive influence internet is bringing to politics. Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger » Blog Archive The changing power in Washington DC « Back to why they are pissed. Barack Obama, Ross told me, is raising tons of money $50 to $100 at a time outside of this “bundling” system. The people in the old system don’t like that a new system is being built and that they aren’t part of it. Continue reading Disruption comes to politics and lobbying

subprime

When will the write downs stop at the big banks?

Colin Henderson

I said I would stop commenting on the credit crisis, but just wanted to throw in a statement of the blindingly obvious …. confidence in Banks balance sheets is at a very low ebb, and its not clear when this will get better. FT.com / Equities / Volatile market – Shares hit as fears grow over financial turmoil Investors’ fears of prolonged financial turmoil deepened on Thursday as blue-chip downgrades sent European and US shares into a tailspin and oil prices jumped above $140 a barrel for the first time. Continue reading When will the write downs stop at the big banks?