Author Archives: Clive

About Clive

Survivor of nearly 30 years in a TBTF bank. Also had the privilege of working in Japan, which was great, selling real estate, which was an experience bordering on the psychedelic.

Old Toryism, Risen from the Crypt

A deeper explanation of Brexit, contemporary UK events and how it inherits an old tradition of conventional Toryism.

Mark Carney’s Trojan Unicorn — Are Central Banks Considering Stealth Nationalization in Sovereign Digital Currencies?

Mark Carney talks about digital soverign currencies. But is he really describing nationalization? And if so, whither the commercial banks?

Libra – Freedom for Whom, from What?

What is Libra supposed to bring to us that we don’t have already? Freedom from legacy currencies will have a high price to pay.

Private Equity and “Institutional” Investor Owned U.K. Utility Engaged in Massive Fraud, Regulatory Evasions, Worker Coercion, Caused “Catastrophic” Environmental Damage

Abuses like raw sewage on beaches and faking regulatory filings make a U.K. water utility a new low in privatization scandals.

Facebook’s Finance Fantasy Island Dreams

Facebook wants to become a big payments system player. Good luck with that.

FIS and Worldpay’s Merger – Why Its “Bank in a Box” Tech Fantasy Will Go Nowhere

FIS and Worldpay are merging, hyping that they’ll be a bank in a box. Clive looks under the hood and doen’t like what he sees.

The Intercept’s David Dayen Intercepts the Wrong SCOTUS Message

How David Dayen misinterpreted and overstated the significance of a recent Supreme Court decision on credit card rules.

Will TSB Ever Be Completely Fixed?

TSB’s IT meltdown has dissappeared from mainstream media headlines. But is that the end of the story?

TSB Are Using Their Own Customers to Alpha Test Their New IT Platform

The mess at TSB is even worse that the press would have you believe.

Disruptive Finance Huffing and Puffing Won’t Blow Big Bank Houses Down

Why newfangled finance will not have much impact on the banking industry.

Crash Out Brexit Now the Defender Position

Brace yourselves! Why a “crash out” Brexit is now the most likely outcome.

PayPal Demonstrates What Happens to Former Tech Unicorns Which Get Lame

PayPal is no longer getting away with the sort of things it could as a payment processor newbie.

Too Big To Fail Banks: “The Robotics Are Coming!” Really?

More and more bank CEOs tout robotics as the answer for the industry’s precarious cost position. But will it promise more than it delivers?

The Bad Things That Happen When Alternative Views Go Mainstream

Ill-informed, poorly-researched and frankly sloppy writing creates the potential for the progressive anti-neoliberal cause to undermine itself

UK Bank IT Train Wreck Demonstrates Why Algos Can Be a Terrible Idea

Not only are algos not magic bullets, but there are times they can only make things worse, as UK subprime lender Provident shows.