Category Archives: Uncategorized

xxx Facebook put the safety of its content moderators at risk after inadvertently exposing their personal details to suspected terrorist users of the social network From Revealed: Facebook exposed identities of moderators to suspected terrorists | Technology | The Guardian xxx

I have to admit to having a soft spot for the Minister. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph back in September 2013, she noted that (just as I had predicted) that the Current Account Switching Service that launched that month was (I paraphrase) a bit of a waste of time and money. She thenContinue reading “Porting and portability”

xxx “Two years ago, the bank’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, proposed getting rid of cash in favour of a government-backed digital currency. But” via Cash is still king despite rise of contactless payment Now, Andy Haldane, who is a scholar, a gentleman and a man of exceeding wisdom (and, coincidentally, who wrote a foreword forContinue reading “Cash is still king despite rise of contactless payment”

The wonderful people at Gemalto invited me along to their Digital Banking Summit in Paris on a lovely June day to talk about the opportunities for banks in the burgeoning digital identity space. Perhaps it was psychological only, but I thought I detected more urgency in the air. If I were to hazard a guess,Continue reading “Amazon identity is the new Amazon money”

xxx “The Berlin Group, a-European payments interoperability coalition of banks and payment processors, is pushing a single standard for API access to bank accounts to comply with new regulations on freeing up customer data under PSD2.” Berlin Group to publish single API standard for PSD2 They plan to publish their framework around the end ofContinue reading “Berlin Group to publish single API standard for PSD2”

xxx “A central bank that provides deposits will not supply this full set of services, but it will have to offer accounting, payments system access, liquidity, and the tracking of information. As a consequence, the central bank will need to have compliance and risk management functions—including systems that prevent money laundering, tax evasion and otherContinue reading “Fintech, Central Banking and Digital Currency — Money, Banking and Financial Markets”

Why would a central bank be messing around with a blockchain? Not for creating a cryptocurrency, that’s for sure. As I have written at exhausting length before, it makes absolutely no sense for a central bank to create a cryptocurrency. However, that is an entirely different topic as to whether a central bank might wantContinue reading “Banks. central banks and blockchains oh my”

xxx “I explain that it may not be necessary to use DLT for a CBDC, but I also consider some of the reasons why it could still be desirable.” Central Bank Digital Currency: DLT, or not DLT? That is the question | Bank Underground The precisely echoes my thoughts on the same topic. It makesContinue reading “Central Bank Digital Currency: DLT, or not DLT? That is the question | Bank Underground”

xxx The number of people making a mobile purchase in the UK increased by 39 percent in 2016, comprising 86 percent of UK digital shoppers. Retail m-commerce sales will total £31.42 billion in 2017. From 86 PERCENT OF UK SHOPPERS HAVE MADE A MOBILE PURCHASE – Payments Cards & Mobile xxx

Guardian politics tweeted this lovely picture from last Thursday’s general election under “British democracy” with the comment “not sure how to explain this to our non-British followers”.     Indeed. This brought back some happy memories for me, starting with the 1983 general election. At that time,    because the first time that I came acrossContinue reading “British democracy”