The technological problems at the Ulster Bank, RBS's Northern Irish subsidiary, are still causing problems for its customers. The bank's CEO appeared before the N.I. Assembly today (click here) and David Cameron spoke in Parliament yesterday about the crisis (click here). My concern is that the technological problem is symptomatic of a deeper problem with mismanagement at our major banks, where they no longer care about providing a quality service to their customers. My advice to Ulster Bank customers - transfer your account to another bank! You can read the FSA's advice on moving accounts here.
According to Robert Shiller , speaking at Davos, Bitcoin is a perfect example of a bubble - story here . Shiller sees Bitcoin as a backwards step in the evolution of money. George Selgin , a free banker, takes an opposing view - click here . Although he doesn't believe that Bitcoin is money, he sees its development as a fascinating turn in the evolution of money. In particular, he lauds the fact that Bitcoin production is constrained and cannot be infinite. There is a short video below where Bitcoin explain how it works.