Quotes of the month

“We are not flip-flopping on strategy. We are building core levels of expertise in certain areas where we feel we can compete”

Steve Ashley, head of wholesale and global markets at Nomura, is bullish after the international arm of the Japanese securities house delivered a profit

“For a retail bank like us, technology is completely reshaping the way we serve customers”

But José Antonio Álvarez, CEO of Santander, realizes his bank has been slower than some competitors to grasp the digital nettle

“There’s no over-arching vision of what the world should look like. We’re focused on the individuals in the organization seeing that opportunity and wanting to develop their business to go after it”

Nicholas Moore, chief executive of Australia’s Macquarie Bank, won’t get drawn into the big-picture strategy discussion – his nimble model seems to be working

“The credibility of the Caixa brand is critical, because even during the crisis, the bank continued to function as a refuge for deposits”

As the new CEO of Portugal’s Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Paulo Macedo’s own credibility depends on delivering big cost savings