All the talk of dealers and brokers giving up the ghost as a result of technology, regulation and margins is pure balderdash. They will take a leaf out of IFAs’ book by working harder to justify their existence and becoming more sought after.
By Chris Skinner.

The sky is the limit when it comes to the power of the chip – and size is certainly everything. Imagine a device as big as a flea that carries a complete biometric identity management system of your clients. By Chris Skinner.

The inexorable advances in storage capacity of simple-to-use USB devices makes bank databases increasingly vulnerable, and internal firewalls as well as devicewalls increasingly necessary.By Chris Skinner.

The drive for achieving ever-faster trade execution speeds in capital markets means that any glitch, gremlin or gulp will lead to serious consequences in terms of lost business and margin erosion. This makes the technologist’s role ever more vital. By Chris Skinner.

According to a report by the Pelorus Group, payment volumes for contactless, mobile and biometric payments will rise to $400bn by 2011 from today’s measly $27bn. This misses the real point, which is that traditional payment mechanisms are rapidly becoming obsolete.