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Trends in Financial Services

A community to discuss the future of financial services and any other interesting trends, strategies, ideas, views.

Richard Spong - Sterling Commerce - London | 06/05/2009 | 3329 views | 1 comment

Although many may claim to have done so, nobody could have predicted the severity of the current economic situation. The domino-effect continues and it is becoming more and more difficult to determine whether a business partner, competitor or service provider will be in existence next month or even next week. As a result many mergers and acquisit... Tags: Online banking, Payments

Hans Hagen - SmallChange - Mauves sur Loire | 04/05/2009 | 4754 views | 1 comment

Levering ATMs for Cardless Money Transfer

For some time I have been intrigued by banks' lack of interest in, or inability to leverage their ATM networks to gain a competitive edge. Traditionally used for cash advances and balance enquiries, ATMs have turned into more of a multimedia kiosk capable of providing a wide range of services. One area of particular interest, in my mind, is money t... Tags: Cards, Payments

John Cant - MPI Europe Ltd - London | 04/05/2009 | 2800 views

The innovation debate

In one of my recent Financial Sector bulletins, I initiated a discussion on whether innovation is a good strategy for current market conditions. The debate on our FS Think Tank LinkedIn group - a new and growing discussion group set up with a number of alliance partners - was particularly active and practical. For example, I was glad to read that ... Tags: Retail banking, Wholesale banking

a non-active Finextra member | 01/05/2009 | 4373 views

The NVCA Four Pillar Plan

The National Venture Capital Association yesterday unveiled a four point plan to resuscitate the dead IPO market currently vexing the VC community. The plan calls for greater cooperation among ecosystem partners, enhanced liquidity paths, tax incentives, and regulatory changes. While all of NVCA's proposals are compelling and needed, we are particu... Tags: Trade execution

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 28/04/2009 | 6693 views

Latest Pension Bombshell Betrays Poor Thinking

The proposal to impose a punitive tax on the impact of pay rises on final salary pensions, which was hidden in the budget, is another breathtaking example of the inability of those in charge to properly understand, and think through, the consequence of what they propose and implement. It is no surprise that so many things go wrong, when the though... Tags: Cards, Retail banking