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Trends in Financial Services

Archive for: March, 2009

John Cant - MPI Europe Ltd - London | 31/03/2009 | 2892 views

Mine detecting bees

Whether it is certain bonuses in financial sector, or league tables and performance stars in the public sector, there have been numerous recent illustrations of the harm that poorly set business targets can cause. It seems deceptively easy in theory to use targets and rewards to drive desired behaviour. Take the mine detecting bees for example. No... Tags: Risk & regulation, Wholesale banking

Elton Cane - Independent - Brisbane | 24/03/2009 | 2479 views

Trust me, I'm an expert ...

It' s a line we seem to fall for far too easily, and this is something that scientists say has contributed to the current financial crisis. Studies suggest that the normal mechanisms people use to evaluate risk and reward are not being used when you have an expert telling you what to do. This is backed up by anecdotal evidence that has emerged ab... Tags: Wholesale banking

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 24/03/2009 | 2379 views

Deflation? Cobblers

I suspect that many people are like me in not believing we are in a deflationary situation. It is complete cobblers and should not be influencing economic policy. The principal reason why the RPI is dropping into negative territory is that interest rates have been destroyed in recent months. This allegedly reduces the cost of living, which is ru... Tags: Cards, Retail banking

Graham Underwood - GFT - London | 17/03/2009 | 2635 views | 1 comment

Is Spain plus Brazil more effective than India?

Spain’s star is on the rise in the outsourcing world. Too long in the shadow of India and Eastern Europe as near and offshore solution, Spain is becoming the thinking company’s destination of choice. This is supported by Forrester’s recent research (Spotlight on Spain) which suggests that companies should take another look at Spa...

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 17/03/2009 | 2270 views

Card Cheques and Auto Limit Increases

Interesting development on the credit card front. Once more, the Government is trying to make out that the financial services industry is at fault for pushing credit on people. Whilst I subscribe to the view that there needs to be shackles on mortgage salary multipliers and LTV ratios (because that is heavily price-inflationary), I am less certai... Tags: Cards, Risk & regulation