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Trends in Financial Services

Archive for: October, 2008

Graham Underwood - GFT - London | 17/10/2008 | 2290 views

Demand for knowledge transfer in outsourcing?

In an effort to find out what our clients and potential clients were thinking...we asked them. Although the tectonic plates in the outsourcing world seem to shift daily, changing the landscape dramatically, we discovered some interesting and relevant results: 1. A rising demand for knowledge transfer 2. An expected increase in the need for outsou...

Ralph Hazell - The Real Asset Co. and Microexchanges - London | 15/10/2008 | 1943 views

I prefer the casino

" Surely the stockmarket can't go any lower" Alot of people have been asking this question recently and wondering if its time to step in to the markets! After five days or so of heavy losses in the global stockmarkets finally we had a big bounce. But is this any different to red coming five times in a row on the roulette table and betting on the ne... Tags: Online banking, Retail banking

Jonathan Rosenne - QSM Programming Ltd. - Tel Aviv | 13/10/2008 | 3756 views | 15 comments

Is the use of PIN for every purchase justified?

Every use of the PIN exposes it, and the exposure has a cost attached. For small value transactions, say less than 50 Pounds, it is probably not economically justified. Moreover, establishements where most of the transactions are low value could probably use much cheaper terminals, that do not have PIN pads at all. No PIN used, no PIN stolen. Tags: Cards, Retail banking

Ralph Hazell - The Real Asset Co. and Microexchanges - London | 10/10/2008 | 2356 views

This sucker could go down

It seems that George Bush has more insight than I thought after making this comment last week. Alan Greenspan wrote a now famous research article on how the monetary system risked collapse if it wasn't fully backed by Gold. This was in the 70's shortly after the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement, and it seems that the old adage applies - tha... Tags: Online banking, Wholesale banking

Paul Penrose - Finextra - London | 07/10/2008 | 3211 views

The silent but deadly bank run

"We are not currently processing any deposits or any withdrawal requests through our Icesave internet accounts. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause our customers. We hope to provide you with more information shortly." The notice posted on the Icesave Web site today is the electronic equivalent of a Great Depression bank shutting its ... Tags: Online banking, Retail banking