Forget about Fintechs and Innovation, they aren’t the point – Part 1: It’s all about competition This is the first instalment of a few articles to share my perspective on innovation, retail banking, Fintechs and competition. If you see some value in my perspective please do let me know. As they say on youtube “like it, share it, comment on it!” In this first piece I would like to challenge the usual narrative around Fintech discussions. I would like more focus on the end goal and whether it’s achieved (i.e. winning the competition war) rather than the means (Innovation, Fintech, etc). That will set the scene for my second piece around how we should evaluate emerging banking propositions. It’s a question of competition That’s a fairly simple point, but I think one that is far too often forgotten. All the discussions around…

What disruptive banking might really look like… So far, not much disruption… There is much talk about disruption and challenger banks. But there is currently little evidence of anything disruptive in the pipeline. Obviously, most haven’t even got their banking licenses yet and haven’t launched, hence it is hard to provide a final opinion on the matter. And by its very nature disruption tends to take industries by surprise. But judging challenger banks by what they promise to offer and solely on publicly available information, none bar one, promises anything that qualifies as being disruptive proposition-wise. None seem to plan to offer anything truly different from what existing banks provide. For most, based on their current PR, positioning and promises, they  sound very similar to what established banks are doing or are in the process of doing. Why does being disruptive matter for challenger banks?…