Bankloch

  In my blog " The Missing Link in Fraud Prevention: Real-Time Customer Dialogue " ( https://bankloch.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-missing-link-in-fraud-prevention.html ) I argued for moving fraud checks earlier in the payment flow. Rather than waiting until a customer has signed and submitted a payment, banks should interact during the initiation phase. This not only allows for blocking fraudulent transactions sooner but also serves to educate customers in real time. With Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud on the rise, early-stage interaction is a step in the right direction. But what if we could go even further? To truly understand how we can intervene more effectively, we need to break down a typical scam into four distinct stages: Stage 1   – The scam is underway, but no financial transaction has been initiated. Stage 2   – A payment is being initiated but not yet confirmed by the customer. Stage 3   – The payment is signed and submitted but not yet fully processed....

At the end of August, Revolut launched a new savings product in Belgium —   a non-regulated account with daily interest payouts . As the first of its kind in Belgium, the news made headlines, and LinkedIn buzzed with speculation:   Is this the future of banking in Belgium, or just clever packaging? At first glance, it feels fresh and exciting. A savings account where your balance ticks upward daily. Visually and psychologically, it’s engaging. Revolut also promotes the   compounding effect   of daily payouts, since each day’s interest is calculated on a slightly higher balance, unlike traditional accounts that pay interest quarterly or annually. But look a little closer, and the added value appears limited. On a Standard Revolut plan with €10,000 saved, your net daily interest is around €0.29 - not even 30 cents. The compounding effect is real but negligible over time. Especially when you consider that non-regulated accounts like Revolut’s are taxed at   30% , w...

A quiet revolution is unfolding in our wallets. Cash - once king of payments - is steadily being pushed aside. In the UK, it now accounts for just 12% of all transactions. In the Netherlands, only one in five in-store payments are made with physical money. And in Sweden, just 10% of purchases involve cash. The message is clear:   digital is dominant . But should cash vanish entirely? The shift is happening fast. ATMs are disappearing from high streets. Lloyds, for instance, plans to close 292 branches in 2025 alone. At the same time, innovation is rising. Lloyds recently introduced a barcode-based deposit feature, enabling customers to add cash to their accounts at over 30,000 PayPoint stores (no ATM required). Just scan, hand over the money, and you’re done. This kind of hybrid innovation reveals an uncomfortable truth:   people still need cash, even as the infrastructure that supports it crumbles . While digital payments are more convenient, cash remains uniquely valuable. I...

Much has been said about how GenAI and Low Code platforms are set to replace software engineering as we know it. And while it’s true these technologies can already generate large volumes of code, the reality is far more nuanced. The 80/20 Reality of Code Complexity : Software engineers typically spend 80% of their time on just 20% of the codebase - the most complex, business-specific logic. This "last mile" of coding is highly tailored and nuanced, making it the hardest to automate. While GenAI can generate the more routine 80% of simple code, the actual time saved is modest because that portion represents just a fraction of the engineering effort. Coding Is Just 25% of the Job : Writing code is only a quarter of what developers actually do. The remaining 75% is consumed by meetings, debugging, waiting for requirements, updating tickets, reviewing PRs, handling Slack or Teams messages, explaining tech debt, managing deployments, and context-switching. Even if AI revolutionize...

For decades, experts have predicted a   seismic disruption   in the financial services industry. At the start of the Fintech revolution, the consensus was clear: Fintechs would render traditional banks and financial institutions obsolete. Nearly 20 years later, most   incumbent players are not only still standing - many are stronger than ever . Instead of displacing the old guard, most Fintechs have repositioned themselves as strategic partners to traditional institutions. This is not to say Fintechs have not had a significant impact. On the contrary, their emergence pushed incumbents to   accelerate digital transformation , particularly in mobile and online banking. But this progress came at a cost. Most banks were unable to fully modernize their legacy infrastructure and instead layered new systems on top. The result? A complex, costly, and fragile web of technology. Beyond Fintech, several major   external shocks   have also shaped the financial services...