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Steve Ellis

Founder

Finextra Research

Member since

16 Nov 2005

Location

London

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Steve's opinions

Oyster Card good, payment by mobile bad

London's Mayor, Ken Livingstone has earned some brownie points for the introduction and extension of the Oyster Card. But Writer and blogger, Matthew Stibbe vents on his experiences of being required to use a mobile phone to pay for a parking meter in Central London. Matthew used to run a software company, so if he has trouble with usability then...

21 December 2007

The shape of Thomson-Reuters after merger

Rafat at paidcontent has pointed to information emerging from a Thomson investor day that shared info on the likely shape of the business after merger (acquisition) with Reuters. While Reuters will represent 59% of the revenues of the combined group, Thomson will represent 57% of the operating profit. The full Thomson IR deck is here.

04 October 2007 /wholesale

5.5 million Filipinos use mobiles for cash and payments

Here MSN and Yahoo! are each running a story by PA's Oliver Teves, that states 5.5 million Filipinos are using their mobile phones as virtual wallets to store cash and transfer money. Apparently, one in ten Filipinos works abroad and needs to transfer money home. Using their mobiles as virtual wallets can avoid the necessity to open a bank account...

01 October 2007 Futuristic Banking

Web 2.0: Advanta launches IdeaBlob for SMEs

Advanta, a US based financial institution, with a big focus upon providing credit cards to the small business market place has used the Demo event in San Diego to launch IdeaBlob. IdeaBlob harnesses web 2.0 concepts around crowdsourcing to validate business ideas contributed by SMEs and then, potentially, win the cash to allow them to realise their...

27 September 2007 Futuristic Banking

I'm due a McLaren for Christmas this year, boss

In the interests of research for a project (honest), I recently had cause to look into slang terminology for different amounts of currency. Which made me consider that if 'a Bernie' is worth £1 million (from Bernie Ecclestone's £1m loan to the Labour Party), then surely 'a McLaren' must now be worth $100 million... A useful short hand denomination...

24 September 2007 Whatever...

World Stock Exchange hacked, run on deposits, bank closes

It must be purgatory working at Linden Labs. Citizens of Second Life seem hell bent on replicating every problem of the real world. Setting aside the sex pests and the terrorists, no sooner had the authorities at Linden Labs banned gambling than its uber governors have had to deal with a meltdown in the Second Life financial system. It emerged las...

10 August 2007 Futuristic Banking

Analyst: online banking could save 17m trees each year

Tekrati, the analyst reporting service, has flagged up research by Javelin Strategy and Research that puts a environmental value on the shift to banking online. Read the full Tekrati story here - or buy the report from Javelin, which covers more than just the headline grabbing green case. Some of the envirnmental headlines Tekrati highlighted wer...

25 July 2007 Going green

Squirrel espionage squad foiled by border guards

China is not the only nation to have trained creatures to do its bidding, the Washington Post points out an editorial by Saleh Eskandari headlined "spying squirrels," published July 10 by the Iranian newspaper Resalat. "A few weeks ago, 14 squirrels equipped with espionage systems of foreign intelligence services were captured by [...

23 July 2007 Whatever...

Tips: Cleaning debris from dealing room technology

Next time a trader drops his avocado and bean sprout wrap on his keyboard - or one of those private equity boys inadvertently squashes a Quail's egg with his mouse - help is at hand. Just stick it in the dishwasher. The Register spotted the story, originally here. Try it at your own risk - and check your warranty first.

21 June 2007 Whatever...

Where are they now: Ron Dembo

Not sure if Ron Dembo is still involved with Algorithmics - or indeed with financial technology - but TechCrunch's Michael Arrington tracked him down to a new start up called Zerofootprint, a not-for-profit that aims to help save the planet.

06 June 2007 Where are they now?