Non-banks have become systemically important, and so regulating these institutions needs to become a priority for policy-makers.

A new work by Thomas Piketty, chronicling the rise of income inequality, has become an unlikely best seller. But, while the French economist's observations about the uneven distribution of wealth certainly ring true, the solutions he offers to this growing problem are not nearly radical enough.

New rules based on the old banking system are at odds with a newly globalised world, in which innovation takes precedent over regulation, and technology and society are the principle axes of change.

Many younger customers feel let down by their bank's digital offering, specifically the lack of a social media element. And most banks do not seem to know how to placate this growing market segment.

Regulating specific risky activities in the financial sector is more useful than trying to identify systemic non-bank, non-insurance institutions.

A novice European parliament will be scrutinising how untested European regulators implement far-reaching new rules for the financial sector

Customers trust banks with their money, but should they trust banks with their data?

Data security is big business, as evidenced by the impact of the 'Heartbleed' bug, and it is an area that banks should be instinctively moving towards.