Influx

While the “local” trend has been around for a while, it’s mostly been focused around the “soft” things like farmer’s markets and some large corporations acknowledged the trend’s presence by trying harder to appear more “local” and to be more...

While we are being told by the likes of The Futures Company that American corporations are disconnected and distrusted by consumers, outside of oil companies, banks seem to be the category in the most trouble. The latest foreclosure crisis is a case in point. Something appears really rotten in the...

Edelman has just released it's annual survey and to prove it seems to be measuring the right things, the data it uncovered on banks is astonishing- their trust rating has plummeted like a stone- from the 3rd ranked sector in the US to the 9th and a rating drop in excess of 30 points. Looking at...

It looks like Americans are becoming allergic to debt, the numbers had been accelerating upwards every single year, The Fed started records in 1979, now it looks like they are tumbling downwards. What defines a country when new homes, new cars and the debt financing of those material possessions...

It's hard to keep track of the economic news these days with various divergent perspectives and points of view, but it pays to listen to the experts and in this case, Tim Geithner , who heads up the US Treasury.Here's a quote from a testimony he gave to congress yesterday."However, the financial...

Everyone knows that many banks are still in trouble and most people have a clear idea where the blame lies, with the banks themselves. Quite simply, there's no love lost between bank customers and the executives who are seen as part of a financial establishment that's taken advantage of exploitable...

Of course, the time is right to launch a new bank complete with a new set of values, but importantly, a new way of doing things. Banks have been masters of trying to tell a story of change and doing very little about it. Ally Bank is a new entity that's arisen out of the former GMAC. It should have...

If you want to understand why we are in the mess we are in, you can do worse than read or listen to Gillian Tett. Gillian studied Social Anthropology at Cambridge and then went into journalism with the Financial Times. Most books on finance are pretty dull affairs, but her book Fool's Gold, which...

Nice visual from JP Morgan on current market caps for banks around the world.Via Paul Kedrosky Posted by Ed Cotton

Obviously, it's critical to make sure your brand and products are relevant to current consumer needs. The financial downturn has given banks and investment houses the opportunity to re-connect and show how they can be useful in challenging times. Wells Fargo has responded to this need by creating...

Top Gear presenter, Jeremy Clarkson- a wealth man made rich by celebrity vents his frustration at the banking system and the current crisis. "As I sat there on that horrible Monday, watching the whole financial world on the brink of collapse, I thought back to all the midnight oil I’d...

Since "Who Killed the Electric Car" and "The Inconvenient Truth" green has been top of mind; so it's not surprising to see a recent trend of corporations following the money and jumping onto the green band wagon. Recent commitments to green initiatives by the financial sector are creating talk...