Category Archives: Financial Stability

Scary Spear-Phishing Attack

On Wednesday, November 27, 2019 I experienced a scary spear-phishing cyber attack. Emotionally I was humiliated. I felt extremely vulnerable and violated. I felt helpless and deeply incapacitated. What is a spear-phishing attack? According to www.kaspersky.com, spear phishing is an email or electronic communication scam targeted towards a specific individual, organization or business. The purpose […]

The Beginning of the End for the Dollar?

The weakening of the dollar and the end of its dominance of the global financial system has alternately been predicted and appealed for over many years. Yet the fact that this is now being publicly called for by a member of the establishment, indeed by no less than the Governor of the Bank of England […]

Facebook’s Libra: Thoughts from a Regulatory Perspective

So, the white paper on Libra has finally been released, and it’s capturing headlines all around the world. The introduction to the concept paper states that the document is an outline for a new decentralised blockchain, a low volatility cryptocurrency and a smart contract platform that all create a new opportunity for responsible financial services […]

Emerging Cyber Threats to the Financial Sector

Technology has given birth to a new era in banking that brings efficiency gains for financial institutions, improved access to services by consumers and fosters financial inclusion. In the field of payments, services are increasingly instant, 24/7 and globally available. Non-bank participants, meanwhile, are disrupting traditional intermediation. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are just two of the innovations promising to revolutionise financial services.

What’s Done is Done: Economic Payment Finality in the Blockchain – Part 1

Ten years after the publication of the white paper of “Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer system electronic cash system” by Satoshi Nakamoto, perhaps its greatest contribution to society is that it has forced regulators, policymakers, bankers, academics and technologists to have deep-hearted and painful conversations on some very important issues and topics.