Bankloch

  Every now and then, I see posts on LinkedIn complaining about the platform’s shift from a strictly professional space to something that increasingly resembles a general social media feed like Facebook or X. Vacation photos, emotional milestones, and personal reflections now sit alongside company updates and career moves. While I understand the sentiment - I too prefer to maintain a certain boundary between my personal and professional life - the reality is more complex. The line between these worlds is no longer clear-cut. In fact, they’re more intertwined than ever. So the real question isn’t whether LinkedIn should “go back” to being purely professional. It’s whether this blurring of boundaries is a problem or a natural, perhaps even necessary, evolution. Ask any great communicator, and they’ll tell you:   the best presentations are stories, not slide decks . Humans have always passed down knowledge through storytelling - not because it’s efficient, but because it’s memora...

  Stablecoins are everywhere in the news and not just in crypto circles. Around the world, governments, financial institutions, and fintech innovators are actively exploring their use in payments. Just in the past few weeks, we’ve seen multiple announcements: Stripe & Paradigm   launching a new blockchain project for stablecoin payments. Ripple & BNY Mellon   securing custody for stablecoin reserves. Finastra & Circle   enabling stablecoin settlement in cross-border payments. Citi   exploring stablecoin payments. Visa   expanding support for stablecoin rails. Paxos and AllUnity   respectively deploying new USD- and Euro-backed tokens. US state of Wyoming   introducing its own USD-pegged stablecoin. JPYC Inc.   preparing to issue Japan’s first stablecoin. Hong Kong   announcing plans to issue its first stablecoin licenses in early 2026. The   Genius Act   offering a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the US. Thi...

  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...