Editor's Blog

The new Payment Systems Regulator has set up a Strategy Forum, aimed at suggesting payment system innovation in the non-competitive arena. An obvious innovation which has been consistently blocked is the creation of a bank account numbering system which allows customers to keep the same account number, as and when they choose to move their account from one bank to another. The term " ....

Last week saw yet more hype from those trying to tell us - the British Public - that Contactless Cards were soon going to replace cash as the preferred means of payment for small retail purchases. This is, of course,total nonsense. In July 2015, 3% more cash was dispensed from UK ATMs than in July 2014. This year-on-year growth has been achieved against a backdrop of over £180 Billion in cas....

Greece is in a mess. With a population of around 11 Million and a national debt of roughly 320 Billion Euros, every Greek (man, woman & child) would have to give their exchequer 30,000 Euros to pay back the country's creditors. Now the UK's national debt per person is broadly similar to that of Greece. The difference is that the UK's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person is about twice that....

So often, those who are seemingly well on the road to winning, throw it all away by over-stretching in an attempt to cross the line early. Mostly, the result is that they seize defeat from the jaws of victory and NEVER end up breaking the tape. Take Iceland's anti-cash lobby. For a long time, the noises emanating from Iceland were telling the world " Clever Iceland doesn't need cash. Hardly a....

Kevin Jenkins runs the Visa Card Scheme in the UK.  Kevin is a very honest man. He honestly wants Visa to become bigger and bigger each year. For Visa to grow, use of cash must decline. Therefore Kevin has predicted that cards will account for 95% of all transactions in the UK within 10 years, up from a current more healthy 50%. Since over 90% of all cards in the UK carry the Visa brand....

More disturbing news yesterday that charities trying to provide international aid to the needy are finding it difficult to transfer funds abroad or, in some cases, even to accept donations. Banks are apparently concerned they might face fines for assisting money laundering or acting as a conduit of funds to terrorists. The same issue is putting many legitimate money transfer organizations out of ....

There was a surprise news item on Christmas Day to the effect that " charging ATMs at corner stores and petrol stations are to be phased out". The same news report indicated that  retailers would be offered Business Rate incentives to persuade them to switch ATMs from Pay-To-Use to Free-To-Use. Giving gifts at this time of year is, of course, traditional. However, unwrapping this particu....

The world has been held to ransom by OPEC since the 1970's. 50 years of having to be nice to countries which often have despicable human rights records. NO MORE. The power of the oil producers has been broken forever ( by which I mean, at least 50 years). From now on, the oil price will be low. If OPEC ( or any other vested interest) attempts to increase the price, the "taps" will simply be tur....

George Osborne is clearly very bright. You don't get to where he is today without having a good sized brain, along with a massive amount of political astuteness. In his time at Number 11, Mr Osborne has persuaded UK workers to accept a 10% decline in real wages. Employment is up ( there are more people working in our country today than ever before); inflation is low; interest rates are low. Most ....

The fuss about the 2 Billion Euro extra payment to the EU is all about political positioning. Does anyone really believe that the UK Government was surprised by the bill? The same formula has been used to calculate such payments for years. George Osborne claims to have a good grasp of our countries finances - and who are we to disbelieve him? - so it seems highly unlikely he would have failed to....

Politicians of all parties in the UK refer constantly ( unless they forget when making speeches) to "reducing the budget deficit". The budget deficit is the difference between the governments expenditure and revenue. The UK government currently spend around £730 to £750 Billion each year. Meantime, it has revenue of around £610 to £630 Billion annually. So there is a budget defici....

Amidst all the angst about the over-stated profits at Tesco, at least it can be said that Whistleblowing finally worked. A middle manager in the Tesco Finance Department  reported concerns to the company General Counsel. He appreciated the gravity of the issues raised and immediately brought the matter to the attention of the new CEO, Dave Lewis. Lewis, in turn, made public announcements as so....

Emirates NBD Bank has just upgraded the software on their ATMs to allow customers to purchase shares. In Spain, Portugal and Italy, ATM users can carry out up to 70 transactions, including buying tickets for football matches and paying taxes.( The latter facility is apparently used in some countries more than others). La Caixa Bank, despite already having some of the most sophisticated ATMs o....

The completely manipulative and cynical advertising by Visa in connection with the launch of "contactless" on all Transport for London services almost takes one's breath away. Four pages of hype in the London Evening Standard, though costing tens of thousands of £'s, is small beer to the mighty Visa. This is, of course, a total sell out by those responsible for London's transport ....

Some people feel the Scottish Independence Referendum has been a wonderful example of democracy in action. However, a legitimate question to ask is " independent to do what?" Are any countries truly independent today? I would venture to suggest that the answer is a resounding "NO".  Most significant countries are enmeshed in multiple alliances. EC, Nato, UN, WHO, G10 and IMF are jus....

John Carney ( no relation, it seems, to Mark Carney, the very wise Governor of the Bank of England), writing in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, produced a very ill-informed article in which he trumpeted that ATMs are soon to become "museum pieces" and that cash is a dying payment method. Now the WSJ often gets things wrong - more of that soon, perhaps - BUT this piece of idle specu....

I was listening to Farming Today this morning on BBC Radio 4. I usually do. It is the next best thing to waking up on a farm, with the bonus that there is no milking to be done. Part of this mornings coverage featured 150 farmers demonstrating outside a supermarket, protesting at the fact that the market price of an average lamb has gone down by £25 in the last few months. I must be a real....

So much rubbish is being talked about the EC authorities forcing Google  to implement a "right to forget". It seems still not to be widely appreciated how much of the so-called "news" we are exposed to has actually been put out by  vested interests seeking to further their own ends. Of course, we all know that the likes of Hello Magazine pay people to allow gain access to their house....

In the United States, cheque deposit at ATMs was made simple years ago with the passing of Check 21 in 2003. This law removed the need for millions of paper cheques to be freighted around the country. Instead,an electronic image of the cheque can be processed at ATMs. When Bank of America introduced ATM cheque imaging, their customers voted it the most important customer service improvement t....

The UK Payments Council clearly dislikes choice. For years, they tried to end Cheque Clearing in the UK, spending a small fortune striving to take the choice of using cheques away from the UK Public. Luckily, the Treasury Select Committee noticed what the PC was up to. Richard North, the lumbering Chair of the Council, got his bottom smacked and was told to stop being a silly boy. Cheques were....

In the final quarter of 2014, the editorial team of Cash Is Cool will be investigating the manipulation of the Media by vested interests in Financial Services. Too often, stories are printed in support of vested interests, not the Public Interest. We will be examining why this happens and, especially, whose hands are on the purse strings. Readers who have stories to tell of their own experien....

The  media, lead by the Daily Telegraph, have decided that Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, must be removed from her post. Is this about honesty, integrity, decency, any of those good things? NO, IT IS ABOUT WINNING. There is a war on between the media and politicians concerning press regulation. Elements of the press, fearful that they cannot win the debate fairly, are prepared to do an....

The UK Payments Council has rushed out an announcement about "Paym" to create a monument to the departing Chair Richard North. Of course,with the role of the Payments Council about to be rendered redundant by the advent of the Payment Systems Regulator,the monument has been constructed in a graveyard - but ,never mind, don't let the facts get in the way of a good press release. Paym allows peo....

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is following in the footsteps of the Crown Prosecution Service. Instead of seeking results which are genuinely in the public interest, it is chasing headlines. On BBC Radio 4 this morning some expert for KPMG said the FCA is showing courage in trying to deal with issues.I beg to differ. The FCA is in reality mostly training its guns on easy targets. Take....

Politicians of all colours are offering their support to decriminalising the non-payment of  TV Licence Fees. This is completely wrong-headed. Not paying for a TV Licence is theft. Those who fail to pay are criminals and must be treated as such.It really is as simple as that. Many of those suggesting that decriminalising is appropriate appear to have a hidden agenda. Their real motive is ....

There has been extensive media coverage of George Osborne "cleverly" saving £1 Billion from public sector pension contributions to fund infrastructure development aimed at pleasing his political supporters. However clever Mr Osborne might be, the saddest part of the story is that all pension & National Insurance receipts in the UK simply drain into the same septic tank that houses taxation ....

Good to see Royal Bank of Scotland partnering more closely with the Post Office. Of course, it was already possible for most bank customers to withdraw cash at a Post Office counter, using a LINK card. Now,Royal Bank customers will also be able to deposit cash and cheques at their local Post Office. This is a very significant service improvement for customers of the bank.There are over 11,00....

Last year, Transport for London (TfL),who mess up virtually all Public Transport in London,announced that they were going to conduct a consultation process regarding their idea to stop Londoners using cash on the buses. Of course,the so-called consultation was a farce. TfL received many objections to their daft proposal BUT these have all been ignored. The ban on cash payments for bus fares wi....

It is quite astonishing how much publicity Bitcoin has been getting recently. Just in case you don't know what Bitcoin is,I will recite the Wikipedia definition."Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency.It is a cryptocurrency,so-called because it uses cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money". So now you know! Since Bitcoin was created in 2009,the va....

The Times Newspaper gave over almost a whole page on 23rd December to promoting a device which attaches to a mobile phone and allows traders to accept cards. The main example quoted of a company benefiting from this thrilling innovation sells Christmas trees.The owner imports them from Denmark (hard to find trees in the UK,no doubt?) and says they are too expensive to buy using cash! Well,....