IMO that's not alone a "Japanese" banking problem.
I hope this statement will sound for you not too stupid, however, I bring the idea and you can believe it or not.
I'm in business with a few banks, not alone in Germany, some of them high ranged international institutes. I think it's not unfair against banks to state these facts:
1. all banks government is overload
2. nearly all banks doesn't have a worldwide integrated data-management (so far I know CCI is the one and only)
3. traditional bank-business is typically managed on a "personal" base, not on rational and general valid rules
4. there's no personal responsibility for bad decisions
5. in a lot of branches there's no real advantage for the customer compared to alternate solutions
6. banks are unsafe places for your assets, mostly not insured
7. the business-focus is becoming more and more risky: unlimited gambling is usual with all banks
8. a "smart" strategy destroys the base on which customers can stay: it's newly usual for banks to abuse customers trust even violating contracts and laws (same problem like with insurance-companies)
Some highlights:
- So far I won every battle against banks because they were violating valid laws by far. In Germany, they brake laws even after a high-court-decisions force they to change their handling. They don't, calculation that a percentage of customers is not informed. OK, youngsters believe that was smart - I believe, that's destroying the base of every business in a longer view.
- I payed newly $200 for a cash-withdraw from my own account with "Credit Suisse". I think, a comment is not needed.
- Every of you knows that investment-services are ridiculous. In Germany we have hundreds of cases where banks musted pay losses back because they had informed customers unfair.
- Not alone Japanese banks brought wrong balance-statements and abused customer-money: it's usual. F.e. the last "merger" of "huge" swiss banks was just a covering of a ruin.
- Only 20k per customer are insured in Germany. That's not a lot - but most countries provide absolutely no insurance. If it's a government-warranty like in Swizzerland, it's IMO not more worth than a Russian warranty. No government has enough liquid assets when big banks plunge to ground. Japan is one of the richest countries and cannot enter in obligations of such dimensions.
- Show me a criminal business without a leading role of a bank. That will bring huge charges in the near future. Not alone nuklear power-plants - sooner or later every dirt business results in huge charges, and the "community of tax-payers" is getting smaller and smaller.
Facit: IMO the era of banks is over. Traditional functions like billing, credits and privat-investment can be handled better by automatic services like "internet-brokers" or "internet-banks".
Investment-banks will be limited and regulated after one or two worldwide crashes. "Discrete" banking will be obsolete when tax-rules are "harmonized".
The disappearing of traditional banks is a certain sign for a more advanced, more adult community.
A last thought: We should learn to accept that traditional structures are revolving. This is not a one-time-process but it's the rule, the normal. And it's not a regional effect, limited to f.e. Japan, it's global. Finally, it's not alone one branch, it's ongoing: what for do we need oil-companies without oil?
For investors it's a chance - if and only if a investor can forget "branches" and learn, that a Dell's success is the other side of a Digital's undergoing.
Hope I did not bother you too much with this brainshit.
Jury |
