Invested: How is the FinTech 100 doing in social media?

American Banker released the list of top 100 FinTech companies last week and it makes for an interesting read. Head on over to AB’s site to view the full list.

As I perused the list, I couldn’t help wondering how different it would look if the companies were ranked by Twitter followers instead of revenue. I’m not suggesting that your number of followers is a direct indication of how well you are executing your social media strategy – far from it – but it is a nice simple way to gauge a firm’s reach. Is there a corrolation between size and following?

Instructive: What do chairmen and chief executives expect of their communications directors?

Headhunters Ellwood and Atfield recently published the results of a survey they undertook with chairmen and chief executives designed to see how the role of communications director is evolving. The report is interesting reading as much for the people who responded – they include Sir Win Bischoff of Lloyds, Sir Christopher Gent of GSK, Dennis Holt of the Bank of Ireland and Hector Sants of the FSA – as what they said.

In summary, chief executives and chairmen clearly recognise the value the communication function provides, whether through managing investor, media, government, employee or other stakeholder relations. However, when it comes to rating the relative importance of the individual disciplines within the function, views vary considerably depending on the organisation’s particular circumstances.

Involving: Social media in financial services

Delegates arriving at Sibos 2010 in Amsterdam

I got back from Sibos 2010 last week. For those of you who don’t know the event, it’s a financial services conference and exhibition that SWIFT runs on an annual basis. We’re proud to say that it continues to attract record numbers of people – nearly 9,000 last week in Amsterdam. The main reason – and we know this from our post-event surveys – that people come is “networking”. “Doing business” and “learning” come a close 2nd and 3rd but “networking” consistently tops the list.

So, given that so many people in financial services are willing to spend a week of their time – and a not inconsiderable sum on travel and attendance – each year to be part of the “networking” of Sibos, I was left wondering why the use of social media in financial services is still so relatively low?

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“My name’s Andrew and I’m in marketing.”

From large networking events to small dinner parties, I’ve uttered that line more times than I care to remember. It’s normally met with a smile and a swift transition to another topic.