The worst year for banks since 2008 - FT Film

The banking sector survived two big shocks in 2023: the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the disaster-driven sale of Credit Suisse. Swift action prevented a global economic crisis but threats remain 

US Banks’ $118 Billion Buffer Likely Wiped Out by New Rules

Wall Street's biggest banks are preparing for new regulations that could erase more than $100 billion in excess capital built up over the past decade. Vonnie Quinn reports on Bloomberg Television.

Why Banks Want to Know Your Salary So Badly

Banks are sending out more requests to customers for their annual salary information. 

WSJ personal-finance reporter Imani Moise joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss why, and whether customers are obligated to reveal their earnings.

Read the latest Edition (#131) of the Citadel Advantage News Digest

NEWS about Banking, Fintech, Payments, Business, Blockchain, Crypto, Money and more…

Read the newsletter HERE (with links to all the below mentioned articles).

Contents of this edition;

• Is it time to unbundle ESG?
• Et Tu, Muske?
• 6 Keys to Data Center Planning
• How banks can personalize financial wellness
• Consumers Expect Personalization at Every Banking Touchpoint
• Creating a Secure Mobile App: Main Vulnerabilities and Security Practices
• 4 Ways Citizens Bank Keeps 'Human' in Its Digital Banking Experience
• Your Complete Guide to Getting A Job On Blockchain
• Why Banks Need to Fix Their Poor Digital Onboarding Experience
• Artificial Intelligence in AP Automation – A Look at What Really Works, and What Doesn't
• High Rates & Tight Housing Spells Bleak Outlook for Mortgage Lending
• Making the branch relevant by design
• Electric Vehicle Lending: How Green Loans Can Accelerate Growth
• Nigerian Commercial Banks ‘Apathetic’ Over CBDCs, says Governor
• A Lifetime's Consumption of Fossil Fuels: Visualized
• What Happened to Terra Luna?
• Are We Having 1929 Again? - Warren Buffett
• What happens to investors money when a cryptocurrency exchange goes bankrupt
• How Blockchain Technology Is Revolutionizing Fintech in 2022
• How Payment Businesses Deal with Fraud and Data leaks
• The Importance of IoT Security
• Organization and metaverse privacy concerns

You can read/subscribe/get all the back issues HERE

Banking’s Best Annual Reports

A bland annual report is a massive missed opportunity for a bank or credit union marketing team. From highlighting customer stories to showing off new products and displaying community work, creative annual reports are a great marketing showcase.

HERE are 24 of Banking’s Best Annual Reports.

Data Modernization in Banking - A New Urgency

Financial institutions have come to the realization that legacy mainframe databases are ill-equipped to meet the demands of digital banking, personalization, and real-time analytics. As a result, more banks and credit unions are actively pursuing data modernization initiatives. The goal for these changes is faster access to data, scalability and seamless integration across the organization, all of which form the foundation for digital banking transformation.

Get all the details HERE.

Fintech Trends That Will Change Banking

As banking ecosystem continue to evolve, there are several emerging themes that will play significant roles in the transformation of both new and traditional financial services businesses. These trends should provide the foundation for strategic planning and for the prioritizing of investments in the near term.

Over the past decade, fintech firms have leveraged technology, innovative cultures and access to data and advanced analytics to transform the banking ecosystem. While the success of individual fintech firms varied widely, the solutions have impacted payments, infrastructure, distribution, access to financial services and components of sustainability.

Read the full story on The Financial Brand. Click HERE to access.

How Covid Changed the Payments Industry

Covid-19 caused clear shifts in payments preferences, changes that continue to reverberate through both banking and the world of nonbank payments providers. The most recent Federal Reserve Payments Study, delving deeply into data from 2019 and 2020, shows clear evidence that the pandemic jump-started migration from traditional forms of payments to a myriad of remote and innovative forms of payments.

Want to find out more? Click HERE.

What is the biggest challenge for traditional banks? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 9

From 11:FS. Banks are facing a lot of challenges compared to their fintech rivals. From issues of organisational structure to culture, it's a race against time to adapt and survive.

Swift Sanctions on Russia: How Cutting Off Banks Applies Pressure

A powerful coalition of democracies have announced that they will cut off some Russian banks from the global payment system Swift.

Here’s how Swift works, and how the move could ramp up pressure on Russian President Putin.

What are fintechs? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 8

From 11:FS. It's not just a buzzword. Fintechs have changed the landscape of financial services forever but how did they get here and what threat do they pose to traditional banks?

How has the banking battlefield evolved? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 1

11 FS kicks off their Decoding: Banks series with a look at the banking landscape today and how we got here. Over the course of the episode, we look at some of the fundamentals - what is money, what is a bank and how has the banking ecosystem today taken shape? We'll also look at how rival players have changed the game and what the future might hold. Let's get started.

Where Banks & Credit Unions Are Missing the Mark with Mobile Banking

Consumers expect more out of mobile apps than a glorified debit card and checkbook register. Their raised expectations uncover gaps in the quality of major financial institutions' apps in comparison with fintech apps, new research reveals.

Even the best of the best among the mobile banking apps of large financial institutions are doing only “C level” work compared to where they need to be. They are especially lagging in the digital money management functions that have made fintech and neobank apps so popular, according to a major consumer study by Insider Intelligence.

Get the details from The Financial Brand HERE. 

ATM usage is headed the way of the payphone

The availability of ATMs may have peaked at 470,000 units scattered across the U.S. in 2019, with a fall-off since then to 462,000 in 2020 and an estimated 456,000 last year, a spokesperson for research firm Euromonitor International said in updating its report on financial cards and payments in the U.S. 

Kendrick Sands, Euromonitor’s head of Consumer Finance Research, expects that downward trend to continue.

The automated tellers are disappearing in tandem with banks closing local branches. The banking strategy pivot comes as digital banking and payment alternatives become more widespread.

Get the full story HERE. 

Deutsche Bank’s ESG executive slams industry’s greenwashing practices

Kamran Khan, Deutsche Bank’s head of ESG for Asia Pacific, urged the financial services industry to step up its game and take responsibility for its use of ESG and net-zero labels. 

At a time when the possible ramifications of greenwashing practices multiply rapidly, Khan said there is a growing need to put a “reality check” and impose the authority of “saying no” to colleagues or clients trying to misleadingly attach the ESG label to their products. 

“When you look at it, any company can make a net-zero commitment, and come up with a nice little PowerPoint on how they’re going to move from today to 2030 or 2050,” Khan said at a Sibos 2021 panel last October.

Read the full article on bobsguide. HERE.

Banks and DeFi – like garlic to vampires? Or more like Peanut Butter and Chocolate

Alternative money management methods and payment approaches are also gaining speed, complicating the relationship between consumers and their preferred banking methods. With all of this change, where is DeFi’s place in banking? Is there a place for it? Join this must-see PYMNTS TV special as Editor-in-Chief Matt Nesto is joined by Algorand Director of Business Solutions Giuliana Berchicci and Bnext CEO & Co-Founder Guillermo Vicandi to discuss the state of the industry. 

Could digital currencies make money more fragile?

While the future is unpredictable, one where digital currencies dominate both money and payments seems a reasonable possibility. The benefits of convenience, lower cost and the possibility of greater financial inclusion seem irresistible. 

However, An area that hasn’t attracted sufficient attention is the potential increased fragility of money. And this has nothing to do with volatile cryptocurrency valuations. 

Find out more HERE.

Fintechs focus on cross-border business payments

Nonbank fintechs are gaining ground, mainly with small company customers, but target larger ones for cross-border business, even as competition gives way to symbiotic 'coopetition' with larger banks.

Consumers move funds to their friends through Venmo and Zelle with relative ease and low costs, but cross-border payments — particularly for businesses — are significantly more costly. 

Fintechs are attacking cross-border business payments as banks and legacy players join the rush to innovate

Read more HERE. 

 

Digital Payments - US still in the Dark Ages

Even though the US is home to both Silicon Valley and Wall Street, yet it has long seemed in the dark ages on digital payments.

Just consider that until 2018 card purchases still required hand signatures, 15 years after Europe switched to chip-and-pin. Then the cosy credit-card duopoly, consisting of Visa and Mastercard, works with the banks to issue cards, with the result that there has been too little competition and sky-high profit margins. 

The key to making payments more competitive in the US is to create a new network of financial plumbing: a “real-time” interbank-payment system that will permit near-instant and cheap transfers.

Read more from The Economist -Fintech comes to America at last

 

How much money is wasted by banks on digital?

This is the question that Chris Skinner is asking in his Blog.

He writes that while he sees banks maintaining their systems and approaches, they are not innovating. Given that banks have had Chief Innovation Officers and Chief Digital Officers for years where is the innovation? Where is the digital innovation?

Read his full post on Chris Skinner’s Blog