Recently in a German magazine was again an article about the blockchain. Again it was stated how great the technology is and how awesome the new future will be. And of course a prediction of big banking extinction was stated. I have to admit, there is something wrong with the current banking systems. We read nearly daily about some data leaks in Fintechs as well as banks, we have not the products, people wish for financing their houses or to save money. But to blame the Banks is one thing, but to forecast a peer to peer world is from my point of view to far reaching.
Colorful landscape of alternatives
But lets see what we have! As an experienced and well informed investor in Germany you can find a lot of new investment opportunities or investment places. We have credit broker like smava or investment broker like ayondo. We have also some investment facilitators like wikifolio and of course we have the big swarm funding communities like Kickstarter or startnetxt , just to name two of the most prominent platforms, to finance products, ideas or people with some profit expectation. So if a savings account at the local bank or savings bank is not enough for you or shares from the DAX or Dow Jones companies and funds from the big asset manager are not appropriate enough, one can find a lot of material to start its own investment world.
Really without banks?
But does that mean that we are already living in a peer to peer world without banking? Actually no. we just do not see the banks but they are still there and do the whole ground work that the broker are working. And this is the problem banks have. They are more or less pushed back in the second row. Banks have no cool products, they did not create wikifolio or something similar. And the reason for this is in my opinion the main obstacle for banks in the future. It is a little like the problem of Volkswagen. There is a clear mainstream focusing on the Diesel for certain reasons. As it becomes more and more harder to fit with this concept into new times, a more creative solution
was found. But no one did the turn into something really promising like hydrogen
or electric vehicles. The outcome for Volkswagen is a disaster.
Is old school ready for change?
But behind this stands a certain thinking from people, socialized in an outdated environment. And that’s the same with banks. There are not new school people deciding. And I am not talking about the upper most senior management. This hits all the people in a certain age and certain working history. These people are grown up in their banks within the last 30 years and have seen a complete different picture not only of banking but of work style, technology, needs and procedures. These people think like the engineers at Volkswagen and the results are easily traceable. Unfortunately people always pull people from their own into positions. So we will see, when and if the first bank will turn around or one of the big banks will fail again.
Stay tuned
Yours K-Street6 team