The AWS of Finance
Plus: Russian Fintech, Fintech and Big Tech Credit, Abraham Wald and the FinCEN Files
Welcome to another issue of Net Interest, my newsletter on financial sector themes. Every Friday I distil 25 years experience of looking at financial institutions into an email that explores key themes trending in the industry. I’m grateful to all of you who have signed up, but don’t keep it to yourselves! Tell your co-workers, friends, family, neighbours. And do get in touch by hitting reply.
The AWS of Finance
We all love a good origin story. Steve Jobs assembling kit in his parents’ garage; Mark Zuckerberg coding in his dorm room; Reed Hastings returning his overdue video rental to Blockbuster. These stories help animate the companies they underpin.
In finance, such stories are, sadly, scarce.
One exception is Blackrock.
In 1986, Larry Fink led the mortgage department at First Boston, a large investment bank, now part of Credit Suisse. He’d joined as a graduate trainee and worked his way up to become tipped as an eventual CEO. But he made a bet that interest rates would rise and they d…