Tag: Banks

On bank architecture, now and then

Bank architecture is not random. As this critical look at bank architecture explains:

“Bank architecture has conveyed a grandeur and stability essential to an industry that relies as much on public trust and confidence as hard-earned dollars,” says Barry Bergdoll, who has coordinated and installed the exhibition at Columbia. While architecture has played a fundamental role in establishing banks as “august and trusted guardians of wealth,” said Professor Bergdoll, the exhibition also reveals “the complex range of attitudes we hold as individuals and as a society to money.”

Banks used to look like this:

Very grand. Very stable looking.

The TD bank above does the same thing, but it reflects how we expect to see that now: modern, innovative, friendly, but still grand and stable looking.  Their architecture needs to convey qualities you expect in a bank before you invest in their products or take out a loan. Then they did that with concrete pillars and fortress like doors: now it’s with neon and glass. 

 

Is this new Wealthsimple app Canada’s answer to Venmo?

Americans might find it unbelievable, but here in Canada we don’t have Venmo. We have other means of transferring cash digitally, but none of them are great, in my humble opinion. I’ve longed for something better.

Perhaps others have too because Wealthsimple has come out with an app, now in beta, that reminds me of what Venmo does. You can read about it here. It looks promising. I will definitely be looking at this over the year to come. I imagine the big Canadian banks will as well.

What companies mean when they say money is offshore

When you hear of companies like Apple having their money offshore, you might imagine piles of gold bullion or paper bills sitting in a physical bank somewhere in Switzerland or Ireland. More likely that money is residing in one of the big banks head-quartered somewhere in the United States. (For that matter, it is likely residing as so many numbers in a computer run by one of these banks and not piles of paper or gold.)

The Times and Slate explain it here: For U.S. Companies, Money ‘Offshore’ Means Manhattan – The New York Times and Offshore accounts not actually offshore.

Why Bankers Want Rate Hikes

It looks like the Fed in the US is going to raise rates. It is highly arguable whether it is a good idea. For a long time, it was a bad idea. Despite that, commercial banks recently have been arguing for the Fed to raise rates.  Now whatever reasons they have been given, the true and underlying reason is mentioned here:  Why Bankers Want Rate Hikes – The New York Times.

It is more difficult for banks to make money with lower rates. Higher rates make it easier for them to make money. Hence the push by some of them to raise the rates.

Banks aren’t stupid: they don’t want the economy to tank: they don’t make money that way either. But the sooner rates rise, the easier it is for them. Here’s hoping the US Fed continues to be smart enough to resist the pressure and do the right thing for the American economy.

 

Friday night music: Banks doing the Tiny Desk Concert for NPR

I’ve tweeted this before, but here it is again: Banks: Tiny Desk Concert : NPR.

I think the Tiny Desk Concerts are good, and Banks does a good job here of simplifying her sound without making it uninteresting.

Search around for other such concerts. Lots of musicians have done these gigs, and many of them are good if not great.