Tag: banking

Banks offer data centre storage

Posted on February 25, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-02-25 at 14.02.45After Santander said a couple of weeks ago that it would offer its data centre for storage, IDC is speculating whether this is going to become a trend.

According to Lawrence Freeborn, a senior research analyst at IDC, this could be the start of a trend, as banks have already invested money in their data centres.

But he does wonder if it’s likely. Banks, he said, have so far only offered storage to ordinary people rather than businesses, although one or two banks offer online cloud storage using Dropbox, or Google Drive and the like.

Banks, he said, are tending to drop safe box products while Barclays provides storage of paper documents rather than safe boxes.

Barclays already offers personal and business customers a cloud storage service for documents such as deeds and the like.

Freeborn said: “Focusing on delivering core offerings well… rather than moving into essentially unrelated services, should always be the guiding principle of any bank. This is the surest way to ensure that a bank can protect its business from the tech companies that are looking to move into banking: much better than trying to move the other way.”

 

Smart card shipments soar

Posted on January 27, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-01-27 at 14.41.32Despite the saturated nature of the market, smart card shipments totalled 8.8 billion last year.
That’s an increase of over nine percent compared to 2013and of those shipments, 83 percent went into the SIM or payments cards market, according to a survey from ABI Research.
Regulatory matters caused shipments to fall in 2013 – only 5.1 billion shipped then.
Commoditisation is causing prices to fall and vendors of the card are attempting to make more money out of software and services rather than the cards themselves.
What’s happening, according to senior analyst Phil Sealy, is that more non-card based embedded applications emerge and there are opportunities in new markets including anti-counterfeiting measures and brand protection.
He said that the smart card market will continue to grow, with vendors attempting to include, as an example, pre-paid apps on national ID cards -giving digital banking facilities to people who don’t have bank accounts.

 

One in five Brits would sell their own data for £5,000

Posted on September 24, 2013 by - News

visa-epayLack of trust has been plaguing online businesses for years. Many people simply feel uneasy about sharing their data online, although ATMs and cashiers aren’t much more reliable or safe than online services.

However, there are quite a few people who don’t mind sharing their information. According to a new survey published by Interxion and OnePoll, a whopping 17.5 percent of Britons would sell their own personal data for £5,000. Interestingly, 91 percent of women said they would never sell their data, which means men are just greedier. We don’t need a scientific survey to know that.

Most people believe their most precious bit of financial data is their PIN number, but four in ten have already shared their PIN with partners, friends and family. On the whole, 68 percent said the financial services is the “most trusted” sector when it comes to personal information, while retail and charity got 15 and 9 percent respectively.

The most trusted peer to share personal information is the partner, at 51 percent. Best friends come in second with 39 percent, while parents rank third with 26 percent.

As for ethics, 11 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds say they would happily sell off their passport details for £5,000.

Drug czar thinks coke loving bankers caused financial crash

Posted on April 16, 2013 by - News

scarfaceThe 2008 financial crash was caused by overleveraged banks, the collapse of the US housing market and a range of other factors. One of those factors might have been cocaine, which is rather popular in banking circles, or so we are told.

Professor David Nutt, the former government drugs czar who lost his job after he famously stated that taking an ecstasy tablet was as safe as riding a horse, believes cocaine contributed to the crash and also led to the 1995 collapse of Barings bank.

Nutt believes cocaine helped take bankers over the edge, as cocaine users tend to be overconfident and take more risks. It can also make people quite boring at parties.

“Bankers use cocaine and got us into this terrible mess. It is a “more” drug;” he told the Sunday Times. He added that cocaine is well suited for the culture of excitement and drive, which is prevalent in the banking world.

On the other hand, who would you rather leave in charge of your personal finances? An alcoholic, a pothead, or an overly confident coked-up loudmouth with a Scarface fetish?