The First Banking Disruptor?
The episode examines Midland Bank's 1984 decision to eliminate fees for cheques, statements, and standing orders, effectively making personal banking free in the UK. It explores how this bold move reshaped the competitive landscape, prompting other banks to adopt similar fee-free models and accelerating the shift toward credit‑driven banking. The discussion highlights the strategic thinking behind the disruption and its lasting impact on consumer expectations and banking business models.
Debevoise Discusses Third Circuit Decision on the Limits of the Best Price Rule
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed that the Best Price Rule applies only to shares actually taken up and paid for in a tender offer, not to shares the offeror cannot lawfully acquire. The ruling arose...
How Federal Reserve’s Decentralised Structure Produced New Ideas on Banking Policy
Recent research by Michael Bordo and Edward Prescott shows that the Federal Reserve’s decentralized structure generated fresh banking‑policy ideas in the 1950s and 1960s. In response to industry consolidation and legal reforms, the Board and regional Reserve Banks hired industrial‑organization...
Banks, Stablecoins, and Base by Coinbase: Fighting for Open Money Without Gatekeepers
The article argues that the U.S. legislative debate over stablecoins will decide whether digital dollars become bank‑like deposits or remain programmable assets that spur competition. It highlights how stablecoins now serve as payment rails, collateral, and yield sources, prompting banks...
Revisiting the Nature of Regulation
The article argues that regulator‑regulatee agreements are not merely a peripheral tool but the dominant paradigm shaping modern regulation. Across sectors—from automobile safety to artificial intelligence and data‑privacy settlements—agreements precede, accompany, or replace traditional command‑and‑control rules. This perspective blurs the...
Gibson Dunn Discusses SEC Corporate-Finance Division’s Helpful Updates to Guidance
On January 23, 2026 the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance released a suite of updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations covering proxy filings, executive compensation in spin‑offs, tender‑offer mechanics, lock‑up agreements, and securities‑offering integration. The revisions eliminate voluntary PX14A6G filings for...
U.S. Treasury Rates Weekly Update for February 6, 2026
U.S. Treasury yields slipped across the board for the week ending February 6, 2026. The benchmark 30‑year rate fell 0.02 percentage points, while the 10‑year yield dropped 0.04 points to 4.22 %. The 3‑year Treasury rate settled at 3.57 %, reflecting a modest broad‑based decline. These...
Gradual End of Bank Dominance in India
India’s household financial portfolio is shifting away from traditional safe assets toward equities and managed funds. Between March 2021 and March 2025, bank deposits fell from roughly 47.5% to 43.5% of total financial assets, while mutual‑fund and pension holdings rose...
How the U.S. Treasury Engineered a Dollar Squeeze in Iran
The U.S. Treasury, through OFAC, reclassified key Iranian banks and instituted secondary sanctions that block dollar‑clearing for Iran’s oil trade. By cutting off access to the SWIFT network and threatening non‑U.S. firms that facilitate dollar transactions, the Treasury forced a...
U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index: Late‑Cycle Freight Contraction, Early‑Cycle Pricing Power
The episode reviews the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index, showing that the U.S. truck freight market is in a late‑cycle contraction where capacity constraints, not demand, are driving higher rates. While Q4 2025 shipments rose modestly, they remain down year‑over‑year,...
Their Role Wasn’t to Question Customers, Just as a Sewage Company Doesn’t Ask What You Ate for Dinner
The episode examines how U.S. Congressman Wright Patman reshaped banking regulation, turning banks from passive cash conduits into active gatekeepers tasked with monitoring and reporting suspicious activity. It contrasts the pre‑Patman view of banks as mere plumbing with the post‑Patman...
Unpacking PayPal’s Missed Moment: 7 Takeaways
Former PayPal president David Marcus posted a candid post‑mortem outlining why the company’s silent turnaround lost steam. He argues that a shift from product‑led conviction to pure financial optimization eroded PayPal’s core checkout moat. The analysis distills seven actionable takeaways,...
Tom Ilube CBE Appointed Chair of LINK
The episode announces Tom Ilube CBE as the new Chair of LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, highlighting his extensive background in technology, finance, education, and philanthropy. Ilube emphasizes the importance of maintaining cash access for millions as...
Regulators at the Heart of the National Payments Vision
In his keynote at the Payments Regulation and Innovation Summit, David Geale, MD of the Payment Systems Regulator, outlined how the FCA and PSR are steering the National Payments Vision by focusing on system trust, resilience through choice, and upcoming...
Scarce Reserves
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Warsh is pushing to restart quantitative tightening, signaling a shift toward shrinking the central bank’s balance sheet. This move comes even as the Fed recently expanded its holdings to ease strains in the funding market. Warsh’s...
What Does 2026 Hold for Fintech?
Founders and investors see 2026 as a turning point for fintech, with stablecoins poised to become core infrastructure for cross‑border payments. AI is rapidly moving from theory to production, driving faster product launches and embedding agentic capabilities in financial workflows....
From Electrum to Sterling: A Brief History of Money
The episode traces the evolution of money from the first electrum coins minted in Lydia around 640 BC, through the early experiments with paper money in China and Sweden, to the rise of national central banks that backed notes with government...
Xero’s Jolly on Building a Tech Roadmap to Level Playing Field for Small Businesses
Xero has launched an AI‑powered analytics suite aimed at small‑business owners, a move driven by chief product and technology officer Diya Jolly. After acquiring Syft and Melio, Xero now offers customizable dashboards, cash‑flow managers, health scorecards and instant AI‑generated insights....