Finextra community home

Finblog

Paul Penrose - Finextra - London | 25/02/2010 | 6430 views | 8 comments

The ATM was the last great financial innovation

How do you define innovation in finance? Are we talking about the creation of new synthetic debt instruments, famously decried by Warren Buffet as "financial weapons of mass destruction". Or should we be looking at tech or service-led innovations that have contributed to the social good. The reason I ask is because MIT has just published a ranki... Tags: Retail banking, Wholesale bankingGroup: Finance 2.0

Paul Penrose - Finextra - London | 30/10/2009 | 2861 views

Finextra Community sets up Twitter A-list

Micro-blogging site Twitter has begun rolling out its new list-building feature which enables users to curate themed lists of Twitter accounts. For example, you could create a list of celebrity accounts or choose to follow a narrower list of friends, co-workers or business contacts. We've been dabbling with the facility this afternoon and have cre... Tags: Retail banking, Wholesale bankingGroup: Finance 2.0

Paul Penrose - Finextra - London | 03/09/2009 | 3188 views | 2 comments

Prince Obi's Chinese riddle

HSBC is doing its bit for international relations at this year's Sibos in Hong Kong by sending out a handy wallet-sized Cantonese phrase card to all delegates attending the international banking convention. Sadly, this inspired marketing ploy has been let down somewhat by including only two useful phrases, 'Good morning' and 'please/thank you'. Th... Group: Finextra@Sibos

Paul Penrose - Finextra - London | 23/07/2009 | 3107 views

Go-go years catch up on Swift

For a Swift geek like me, the publication of the co-operative’s annual report offers a rare opportunity to gauge the mood of the executive committee and the board ahead of the annual user conference. Often this requires some educated guesswork, reading between the lines and picking up on nuances in tone and emphasis in the opening messages fr... Tags: Payments, Wholesale bankingGroup: Finextra@Sibos

Paul Penrose - Finextra - London | 16/03/2009 | 3139 views

Bernie Madoff is the Cookie Monster

Want to know how Bernie Madoff swindled his billions, but only got a minute to spare? Ernie from Sesame Street explains all here. Not sure that I fully approve of Ernie's rather Tarantinoesque retribution. Tags: Risk & regulation, Wholesale bankingGroup: Video extravaganza