The Anonymous Widower

The Scottish Currency Question

If I could have ten pence for every politician, who’s put forward his view on the question of what currency Scotland has if they vote for independence, i wouldn’t be just a rich man, but a very rich man.

Surely, the amount of energy expended by politicians, would power a reasonably-sized city like Glasgow.

All of these politicians are flying in the face of the new reality, which is starting to sweep the world.  Just read this article on the web site; SmallBusiness.co.uk about the future of banking. Here’s the first paragraph.

I was recently invited onto Evan Davis’ BBC radio and TV show ‘The Bottom Line’ for a discussion on alternative finance. Alongside me was Zopa founder Giles Andrews, the founder of Zopa – a UK peer-to-peer lending platform, and Michael Joseph, the former CEO of Safaricom, which set up M-Pesa, a mobile payment system, in Kenya. 

It is the last bit that is the most significant. It also says this about banking and particularly M-Pesa.

The day-to-day of banking is changing world-wide and banks are not the ones driving the innovation. For instance, by some measures, Starbucks is among the 200 largest banks by deposits in the US, having $3 billion on their in-store card in 2012. Both Google and Amazon are also talking about providing finance to users of their marketplaces. At the other end of the economic spectrum, 31 per cent of Kenyan GDP now flows through M-Pesa, which is so simple it can be operated on a very modest Nokia phone and has no physical bank branch presence.

So does it matter about whether an individual or a company has their bank account in pounds, dollars, euros, thistles or beans? It only matters to the individual concerned.  As someone living in and spending most of his money in the UK, I would probably keep my account in pounds! Although switching to euros, should be just a choice on the account.

Unfortunately, this transparent and convenient system would be unacceptable to the banks, as they make so much money on currency conversion.

I do wonder, if my new-found liking for cash, may be a personal reaction to the greed of the banks.  If I pay by cash in Carluccio’s, I can leave a tip easily. It also seems to get good service, as the staff in many restaurants know me and have the gluten-free menu ready immediately I walk in.  It’s also faster to settle up and there is nothing worse than waiting to get away, whilst a dim waitress struggles with a credit card terminal.

So to me, in a few years time, the Scottish currency question will be irrelevant to most people and companies in Scotland.  They will pay their taxes in whatever currency the Scottish government uses or is forced to use and keep their bank account in whatever is convenient for their lifestyle or business.

So let’s get going on research to capture all that hot air being spoken to generate lots of electricity.

April 23, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | Business, Finance, News, World | Banks, Europe, Money, Politics, Scotland