Latest opinions that Paul Penrose has shared on Finextra

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Paul Penrose

Head of Research

Finextra

Member since

06 Oct 2006

Location

London

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Paul's opinions

Can I have another E please Bob?

The Bank for International Settlements thinks that financial instruments should be classified like medicinal drugs to protect investors and prevent firms from excessive over-indulgence in potentially lethal or toxic products. "The safest securities would, like non-prescription medicines, be available for purchase by everyone," says the ba...

29 June 2009 /regulation Whatever...

The magstripe is finished

Police in Devon and Cornwall are warning the public to be extra-vigilant after discovering three card skimming devices at cash machines in the south of England. It's a mark of how far we've come that such a scam - which duped hundreds of customers and may have netted the crooks hundreds of thousands of pounds - seems too mundane to even register on...

23 June 2009 /security

Ronaldo dribbles into European merger league

Nothing could illustrate the depression in the M&A markets more than the news that Christiano Ronaldo's £80 million transfer to Real Madrid ranked as the seventh largest deal in the whole of Europe last week. The preening footie star's move from Manchester United puts him in 31st position in the UK year-to-date M&A league tables compiled b...

16 June 2009 /wholesale Whatever...

Tesco vs the banks is like Darth Vader taking on the Daleks

UK supermarket chain Tesco opened its new banking headquarters in Edinburgh yesterday. The retailer is looking to cash in on consumer disenchantment with crisis-stricken traditional banks. Chief executive Terry Leahy is promising a return to old-fashioned, conservative values for customers who park their finances with Tesco Personal Finance. The ti...

11 June 2009 /retail Whatever...

We can predict the future - breach researchers amazing claim

Fourteen data breaches will, over the next year, each expose one million or more records to potential use by criminals. And, at least one breach of over 10 million records will affect nearly five percent of the US population. That's the claim made by Voltage Security, which has produced a visual map tracking US and global data breach incidents. Th...

29 May 2009 /security /retail

Time to scrap cash?

With the spectre of negative interest rates hoving into view, is it time to rethink the value of cash as a medium of exchange? Failure to do so will lead inevitably to currency hoarding as savers turn their assets into cash to avoid the deflationary effects of a move to negative interest charges. In his maverecon blog at the FT, Wiliam Buiter, a f...

20 May 2009 /payments /retail EBAday

The mysterious case of the dodgy VocaLink hotmail account

Another day, another sorry tale of dirty tricks, identity theft and corporate espionage on the Finextra news beat. Intrigued? Then read on. I promise you won't be disappointed. A couple of weeks back the Finextra news desk received an e-mailed press release announcing the acquisition of niche payments consulting firm The Sepa Consultancy by US tech...

12 May 2009 /payments /retail Whatever...

UBank's Twitter offensive

At the risk of becoming a Twitter bore, here's another innovation from the land down under: NAB direct banking offshoot UBank is offering a free IGB USB flash drive to its first 1000 followers on Twitter. The social media-savvy bank has been twittering since October, and currently has over 300 followers. Paying for followers may not be the best wa...

06 May 2009 /retail Finance 2.0

ANZ CEO announces resignation - on Twitter

Twitter ye not. Brian Hartzer, CEO of ANZ's Australian operations has just announced his resignation - on Twitter. In a valedictory tweet posted Monday, Hartzer says: "Folks, this is my last tweet as I've resigned to pursue an overseas opportunity. Thanks for your continued support for ANZ. All the best." The smart money says Hartzer is ...

05 May 2009 /retail Finance 2.0

Twitter and other banking fads

LloydsTSB's James Gardner has caused a bit of a stir with some provocative comments on his BankerVision blog about the value of Twitter to banks. The Twitterati don't take kindly to criticism (constructive or otherwise), as I discovered personally a few months back when I made the mild observation - in an otherwise flattering take on Twitter - th...

30 April 2009 /retail Finance 2.0