There have been a few more developments reported in the press, in this situation, surrounding the expected loss of $450 million at BMO, as a result of allegedly excessive risky positions in natural gas options. For context that loss represents about 80% of one quarters net income. Executives at Optionable Inc., the New York commodities broker linked to Bank of Montreal’s natural-gas trading fiasco, cashed in stock worth US$27-million days before the Canadian bank received a strongly worded auditor’s report into the activities of its options trading desk. Source: Canadian Banks & Insurance Executives at Optionable potentially make Martha Stewart’s … Continue reading BMO and Optionable saga continues to deteriorate

BarCampBank comes to North America, with the next one in Seattle expected later this year, date TBD. The focus is on innovations, and disruptions within the banking world, and has generally been centred in Paris so far, and its nice to see Frederic planning to attend, and he drew my attention to the arrangements. If you are an innovator, a disruptor or a professional of the banking and finance industry, if you are excited by or just curious about all the innovations that the new technologies could bring to the banking and finance world, if you want to present a … Continue reading BarCampBankSeattle coming soon

New study from McKinsey points out the gap in Emotional Quotient (EQ) between Banks and their customers. A big prize awaits companies that can develop deeper and more lasting relationships with their customers. Yet many businesses rely too much on IT and perform poorly on the front line. In particular this point resonates, and supports the points made by Ron here. …. a different perspective by showing how the aggressive behavior of some sales teams at leading North American banks generated negative moments of truth and has conspicuously weakened the reputation of these institutions. This is interesting because earlier in … Continue reading Banks, and the downside to aggressive selling