In a few days from now, on 15th September, we will remember the demise of the investment bank Lehman Brothers.
Option trading is an art. It requires sharp skills to make money. Most traders loose out while trying to make money. It looks easy at times but it is not that simple. Investing with options— an advanced trader will tell you— is all about customisation. Rewards can be high — but so can the risk— and your choices are plenty. But getting started isn’t easy, and there is potential for costly mistakes. Option traders speak their own lingo.
If you think we’re done with the whole “when is a mobile payment a payment” argument, think again. The reality is that the biggest evolution in payments is not about Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Square or faster payments, but it is about context and simplicity, and that’s where the mobile and other technologies are leading us.
Mobile use is exploding in the banking scene. If you are a retail bank today in the developed world and you don’t have an app for your customers, you are increasingly becoming an exception. Certainly almost every bank in the world today has some form of Internet website and Internet banking capability. However, for most banks, the web and mobile are considered costs – platforms that certainly improve service levels, and lower costs of servicing customers, but that are a net cost to the business. Where’s the revenue going to come from?
In a recent UN/ICAO commissioned survey on the use of signatures in passports, a number of countries including the UK recommended phasing out the long held practice because it was no longer deemed of practical use. More significantly, however, is the emerging trend that has some parents, educators and lawmakers espousing their concern – when asked to sign most kids these days are simply writing their name – the art of the signature may soon be a lost art. A recent report in Gulf News disclosed that this is a global problem with kids in Canada, Tokyo, Hong Kong and elsewhere moving away from written signatures because they live their life through technology, but without the need to sign.
Whether it is Bank of Queensland with their Hipster Branch launch, Citi’s famed Apple Store Branches NAB’s Crowd concept, Unicredit “Branch of the Future” in Italy and Bulgaria, PNC’s Tellerless Branches, smaller regional players like South Shore Bank and Conestoga Bank Werx, or the launch of Video Interactive Teller’s for TEB, Ion Bank, Banca Popolare and others, we seem to be hearing about new ‘Branches of the Future’ constantly. However, with declining branch activity across the board in developed markets, is the very term branch of the future part of the problem? When BankWerx launched their new ‘branch of the future’ the press reported that they were offering free Wifi, phone charging stations and free coffee to engage prospective customers. Then other banks opened up next door.