The Finanser's Week: 9th November 2009 - 15th November 2009

The biggest news stories of the week include:

Gordon Brown: worldwide snub over tax plans (Telegraph)
EU draft council decision on sharing of banking data with the US and restructuring of SWIFT, 10 Nov 2009 (Wikileaks)
Banking sell-off to take up to seven years (Independent)
UK banks split into two tiers (Financial Times)
HSBC and Barclays suggest the ‘biggest jolt has passed’ (Times)
Goldman Sachs boss: 'bankers do God's work' (Guardian)
Microsoft, IBM And Yahoo Are Vying To Take Part In India’s Unique ID Project (Techcrunch)

And our biggest stories of the week include:

Sex and banks and rock and roll

It seems that all this blog is writing about these days is sex and banking, but the papers are full of sex, rock & roll and death in banking this week so it is unavoidable.  For example, here are three stories which illustrate how the rich vein of  real life runs through our banking lives.

Rogana: the Brangelina of Banking

After yesterday's discussions of London snobbery driving Barclays banker Roger Jenkins and his wife Diana, collectively known as Rogana (pronounced as Rog - Anna, like Regina but with a little East End twist), to Malibu ... it's worth noting how this interview looks as Bosnian-born Diana seems to have a wee chip on her shoulder.

Gordon Brown's Tobin Tax ... duh?

Many of us thought it a bit weird that Gordon Brown suggested bringing back the Tobin Tax last weekend during the G20 summit.  The reason it's a bit weird is that for the last ten years, right up until the day before the summit, he had rejected any such notion out of hand.

Does customer service in banking matter?

When talking with bankers, they refer to banking as "a utility".  It’s just something that’s there, like gas and electricity. It’s not valuable or differentiated and no-one wakes up wondering how their payment will take place. That’s why banks don't try to compete on customer service as they can make money regardless.

Time for the cheque to checkout

A cheque processing conference sounds pretty dull these days, especially as cheques are on their way out across most economies. However, a cheque processing conference celebrating 350 years since the oldest surviving cheque was written? No, not that boring.  In fact, as I’m a sucker for numbers and facts, the annual conference of the Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (CCCC), which took place this week was surprisingly interesting. 

Businesses demand we keep cheques

The Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (CCCC) released details of the latest research results into Britain’s attitudes towards cheques at their conference this week.  The survey was split into two parts and is released annually.The first part looks at consumer attitudes, and the second into business views.

Banking for good and bad

Wow!  As the debate rages on, it amazes me how the topic I chose in February for the Gresham lecture has just become so topical. For example, everyone in London and Wall Street are now talking about the social purpose of banks, whether God and banking is compatible, and whether they are good or bad. 

Bankers Good or Evil? The Full Monty

I gave a speech at Gresham College last week that started as a little white paper and ended up being a 30-page monolith.  The full speech can be found here.

Last chance to join the Club this year

If you haven’t yet attended the Financial Services Club, you may be interested in details of our final events of 2009.  Since our humble origins almost six years ago, we now have regular meetings in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Vienna.  Here are details of our final meetings for 2009:

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