Some interesting thoughts here on the notion of creativity and current organisation structures. Conclusion:  Typical Bank organisation structures are not set up to effectively deliver on the needs of customers.  Irving Wladawsky-Berger: Some Thoughts on Multidisciplinary Innovation A mismatch thus exists between the way companies are organized for the effective operations of their current offerings, and the emerging needs of their customers and the marketplace in general. ….. Perhaps the very notion of a hierarchic organization is an outmoded concept, a remnant of the industrial economy of the past hundred years.  Perhaps it’s not the way to organize work in … Continue reading Innovation, departments, and current organisation don’t mix well

CIBC leads the way in Canada, with a large writedown, between $300M, and $500M, and so as predicted a couple of months back the Canadian Banks are all announcing or expected to announce losses associated with the US sub-prime crisis.  The exception is TD Bank.    Canadian Banks & Insurance Investors now know size of write-down at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce on US subprime exposure, and can pretty much assume Toronto-Dominion Bank doesn’t have any. Both banks announced Visa restructuring gains, with CM noting they’ll cover the CDO hit. But jury still out on Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of … Continue reading CIBC writes down sub+prime loss

Matt, founder of WordPress that hosts this blog speaks here.  I like his style and approach, and how that translates into a simple, yet constantly improving blog platform.  I recommend to anyone, because it virtually eliminates all the problems (technical set up, comment spam, easy commenting) and allows bloggers to focus on blogging. WordPress founder looks into blogging’s future | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone Now, the site draws roughly 100 million unique monthly visitors and is among the top 25 global sites, according to research firm Comscore. Still, WordPress and Automattic only have 18 employees and they … Continue reading Matt Mullenweg speaks about WordPress and blogging

Courtesy of Trey with the potentially prescient title, of Sub-Prime 2.0, he highlights this Fortune article on Yahoo, reflecting the UK experience with their home price crash two years ago, and supplemented by observations from North American Card companies.  The upshot is that we will see a significant jump in credit card defaults over the next 1 – 2 years. The $915 Billion Bomb in Consumers’ Wallets Citi said the change in loan losses was “inherent in the portfolio but not yet visible in delinquencies.” Then American Express said that it too was seeing “signs of stress” and would boost … Continue reading Credit cards – starting to show signs of strain – US

This from the US Federal Reserve shows the dramatic shift in values of world currencies that has occurred.  Much of the shift has occurred in 2007.  The biggest shifts are those with high levels of outsourcing , eg Canada, and India.  Those costs will be much higher for Banks with those outsourcing arrangements outsourinng as a result. FRB: G.5 Release–Foreign Exchange Rates–November 1, 2007 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN OCTOBER 2007 TOGETHER WITH COMPARABLE FIGURES FOR OTHER MONTHS. Numbers represent cost of $1 US in local currency Oct 07 ‘Sep 07 Aug 07 Oct 06 … Continue reading Currency shifts, will alter views on outsourcing

The impacts of the sub prime situation are now beginning to have a impact on the big Banks. Expect more of this. Citigroup CEO Prince to resign: reports | Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Charles Prince plans to resign this weekend, the Wall Street Journal said, as the widening subprime mortgage crisis deals a final blow to a reign long under attack. Technorati Tags: sub+prime Continue reading Citi Chief Executive Charles Prince plans to resign