Whatever...

A place to share stuff that isn't at all fintec related but is amusing, absurd or scary.

Retired Member 

Australian Bosses will legally Read Staff Email

As part of the 'War on Terror' Australian bosses will soon be able to legally read their employees email. Do we really have to? I can see some executive wage pressures. This is apparently neccesary to spot terrorist risks, according to the government. I can see a training opportunity here - someone will have to teach the executives how to read, in ...

14 April 2008 /security /regulation

Retired Member 

Phishing scams only work with flawed processes and humans

Humans are flawed, they fall for con tricks. We have to accept that and have a system which expects people to occasionally have poor judgement. Mastercard's system is an example of a flawed process. The human can be fooled into giving away the key to the system. This make it useless in at least 5% of the cases. The human is just going to be fooled...

11 April 2008 /security

Retired Member 

Is UK ID infrastructure or 87 billion pound slush fest?

I am the first to agree that ID is essential infrastructure for business, government and citizens. I do not agree that it should cost £87 billion to provide it. I did a few back of the envelope calculations assuming: The British Government can do back of the envelope addition, division, multiplication etc It would cost the rest of the EU and wo...

11 April 2008 /security

Retired Member 

Ebay-Paypal immune to financial and monopoly laws?

Ebay restrains Paypal competitors by banning other payments in it's march towards monopoly. Financial institutions should be concerned that Ebay/Paypal is entering the financial services sector without being required to adhere to the same laws as FIs. The playing field is no longer level when a major global payment player is able to ignore laws de...

10 April 2008 /payments /retail

Retired Member 

Soros and market visibility - by the noneconomist

George Soros has 'come out of retirement' albeit to launch his new book Credit Crisis 2008 and what it means. I haven't had time to read it yet so I'll go by his spoken words. Recent statements by Mr Soros on market transparency and market dynamics give food for thought. Perhaps if he could have given a little earlier warning of what was to come ...

09 April 2008 /regulation /wholesale

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

A letter to the editor

Who would want to be a bank boss? Andrew Clare from the Cass Business School, clearly thinks it worth a punt. From the letters page of the FT: Sir I know that this is not normally the forum to advertise one's qualifications in the hope of finding a new career, but hopefully you will excuse the liberty. I have no experience whatsoever in running a b...

08 April 2008 /regulation /wholesale

Retired Member 

Police Minister Crying Wolf or Under-informed ABA Chief?

What's going on here then? Police Minister Urges Consumers To Look Out For Credit Card Fraud “There are potentially thousands of customers across all the major banks whose details have potentially ended up in the hands of criminals. — Media Release from David Campbell MP, Police Minister Urges Consumers To Look Out For Credit Card Fraud, 28th Marc...

08 April 2008 /security /retail

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

Bank execs pay ultimate price for wrong bet

Two bank workers who stole 45 million yuan (HK$49.93 million) to buy lottery tickets have been executed in Hebei province, according to an AFP report quoting the Xinhau News Agency. The two vault managers started taking money from the safe to play the state lottery, hoping they would eventually win back enough to replace the missing funds. Makes y...

07 April 2008 /regulation /wholesale

Retired Member 

More's Law and the FBI IC3 Internet Crime Report 2007

More's Law ... more or less. More(profit.per.fraud) x More(potential.for.fraud.data.breaches) x More(people.trying.to.commit.fraud) = More fraud Add some economic hardship into the equation somewhere. + or x More(economic.hardship) What's the answer to that one? More... Internet crime (FBI Internet Crime Complaints Centre Report 2007.pdf: ...

06 April 2008 /security

Retired Member 

Banking like a customer at Bank of America

Bank of America have done well to emulate their customer's actions automatically. I've been only transfering the amount I wish to pay into my special travel and 'internet only' Visa Debit corporate account card due to concern about card security. I know others who do the same. Automating the process makes it easier for corporations to alter their...

04 April 2008 /payments