A diverse market of payment providers is healthy competition but it comes at a cost April 26, 2022 Today, companies whose raison d’etre is far from fintech find themselves needing to process payments transactions in very large quantities. Yet the historical payments infrastructure, which only supported financial institutions with payments, is increasingly unfit for purpose. What’s happening is that consumer businesses are being forced to become fintechs. This evolution is causing the entire [...]
As house prices hit another all-time high, we need to cut bureaucracy burdening sales April 26, 2022 Yesterday, average house prices in England hit a record high for the third consecutive month, according to RightMove. They reached an average of £360,100. High buyer demand and a limited number of homes available are likely to send prices even higher. Against this backdrop, it’s about time we reconsider the way we buy and sell [...]
Letters: Chatbots to the rescue? April 25, 2022 [Re: Chatbot matrixes are an outdated betrayal of our tech capabilities, April 22] Russ Shaw is right to point out that chatbots, once held up as the next big thing for communication, must be under-pinned by excellent technology and good quality data. Only a well-engineered chatbot will provide a delightful customer experience, but when it [...]
Priti Patel’s single minded focus on the Channel has let talent leave our shores April 25, 2022 Immigration is an issue which cuts through. We have seen this with the firestorm following the announcement about how future migrants crossing the Channel will be diverted to Rwanda. The Home Office has pursued it with distinctive single-mindedness, precisely because of its political pull. One of the most powerful slogans of the Brexit referendum campaign [...]
The Square Mile’s efforts on sustainability must be grounded in real action – not claims April 25, 2022 Earlier this month, the City saw the familiar banners and heard the recognisable chanting of Extinction Rebellion, who made their way across the Square Mile. Protests like theirs have become commonplace globally. Whether you agree with their tactics or not, it is impossible to deny that their actions reflect a shift in the public mood. [...]
Red Wall Conservative voters will abandon Johnson if he backs down on net zero April 25, 2022 Barely two years have passed since Parliament unanimously introduced the world’s first legal commitment to deliver net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But with energy prices rising and cost of living pressures tightening, some on the right wing of politics – from Nigel Farage to Steve Baker – are leading a rearguard action to overturn [...]
Explainer-in-brief: fintechs face-off with the watchdog for legitimacy April 23, 2022 New challenges have arisen for the fintech world, as the Financial Conduct Authority warned of the inadequacy of some of the online banks’ securities against financial crimes. The financial watchdog stressed the importance of striking the right balance between providing effortless and speedy banking services with strong guarantees against fraud. The FCA is worried that [...]
Letters: A five star review – if it’s true April 22, 2022 [Re: Fake reviews and ‘subscription traps’ could be illegal under new proposals, April 20] The watchdog is finally baring its teeth on a hugely important issue for consumers that has not been properly addressed for years: fake reviews. A fine of 10 per cent of global turnover for those that fall foul is a big [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Boris Johnson’s partygate purgatory April 22, 2022 As Boris Johnson was in India yesterday, MPs were busy debating whether he should be referred to the Privileges Committee for having allegedly misled Parliament on partygate. The opposition claims that Johnson lied to MPs when he said no rules had been broken. The government initially tried to stop the Labour motion, putting an amendment [...]
As we’re pushed towards supply chains of isolation, we must protect openness April 22, 2022 Globalisation is dead. So declared Chip Bergh, the chief executive officer of Levi’s, the maker of the iconic 501 jeans, at this year’s World Retail Congress. That doesn’t mean globalisation is going away; but it will need to take a very different form from the one we once knew. The principle of comparative advantage is [...]