Latest opinions that Nick Ogden has shared on Finextra

Join the Community

23,130

Expert opinions

43,854

Total members

350

New members (last 30 days)

169

New opinions (last 30 days)

29,028

Total comments

Join Sign in

Nick Ogden

Chairman

Ogden Research

Member since

17 Sep 2008

Location

London

View Nick Ogden's full profile

Nick's opinions

The Start

The announcement this am that the UK Government is supporting tech startups with up to £1.2Billion is great news, and as I predicted last week, matches the existing approach used by the BCR, the Banking Competition Remedies Scheme. That scheme albeit still in its early days is showing real results amongst its fintech participants. This scheme ann...

20 April 2020 /payments /covid-19 Banking Strategy, Digital and Transformation

How do Fintech entrepreneurs get help?

One interesting option is through the SETsquared Entrepreneur Programme for Tech Start-ups which has its next 2-day programme in Guildford - 1st and 2nd February 2018. SETsquared is the world's largest university based business incubator and has supported over 1,000 hi-tech start-ups to develop and raise more than £1.25bn of investment This progr

08 January 2018 /startups Fintech innovation and startups

Negative Interest Rates - UK banks introduce plans to charge their customers

Who could have predicted that in 2016, following the disasters of 2007-9 that the main banks in the UK would be planning for negative interest charges against their business customers. Never, absurd, I hear the cries of common sense but sadly true as many business customers are finding out today in their post. I quote "The interest rate we ...

04 February 2016 /retail

Competition probe, your views count!

Great News today! At last we are going to get some action over lack of competition and the shape of the financial services market for the future but only if we all engage. Alex Chisholm, CMA chief executive, is quoted as saying it was "vital" that the banking sector worked properly, which was why the full eighteen month investigation was ...

18 July 2014 /payments /retail

Birth of a new Currency?

As you may already know the leaders of the five Brics countries have announced and signed an agreement yesterday (15.July 2014), to create a new $100bn (£58.3bn) development bank and emergency reserve fund for their countries, and one would also assume this will also become available to some of their “partner” countries in due course. For many ye...

16 July 2014 /payments /retail

Non Bank, Business Bank Accounts?

It is a real irony that when a business asks it’s Bank for financial support, and gets told “no”, and finds alternative funding, it pays the money it has raised elsewhere straight back into the Bank that said “No” so that it can use the money within its business. Strange, but true. Every business requires payments to function on a daily basis. Hi...

22 April 2013 /payments Innovation in Financial Services

Politics, Payments and DNA

Yesterday, given that it was a Monday, was an interesting day in the UK. We confirmed that we had exhumed Richard III and then George Osbourne had this to say. “Payments systems sit at the heart of the banking system. They are the hidden from view wirings that operate every time you get wages paid into your bank account, deposit a cheque or withdr...

05 February 2013 /payments Innovation in Financial Services

A Change is in the Air

The autumn statement is upon us and the country is eagerly waiting decisions on small business lending, with recent pressures and initiatives demanding a clear Government plan for growth. Clear signals need to be communicated in this statement; otherwise more businesses will be left on the sidelines once again. We have seen many policies come and...

04 December 2012 /retail Innovation in Financial Services

Alternative lending and Government spending

The relationship between banking and small business financing is not a healthy one. Recently this has become more extreme as media attention increasingly focuses on the failures of high street banks in the lending stakes. Now we see banks, non-banks and politicians alike entering the fore in a bid to support small businesses. But given current ec...

22 November 2012 Innovation in Financial Services

Business bank accounts - free vs. fee?

Banking has been hitting the headlines in all manner of guises over recent months – from IT problems through to bonuses, the UK’s banking community has never been under more scrutiny. This is why it came as little surprise a few months ago when attention turned to banking fees and the idea of ‘free banking’. Of course, there are strong arguments o...

01 November 2012 /payments Innovation in Financial Services