I'm about to head out the door to keynote a leadership team, business analysts and IT staff for a leading multinational bank. The theme of my luncheon talk is, of course, innovation in the high velocity financial sector.
There's been a tremendous amount of new research undertaken in the last day, so that I can add to the insight that I've already accumulated through the years as to the innovations occuring in this sector.

There are a couple of key observations that I'll share with the crowd. I start out with a list of pretty scary headlines. American banks face financial meltdown if their reforms fail. Mortage Meltdown! Bloody and Bowed --- Money Managers Remain Badly Shaken by the Meltdown. Market Cap Meltdown --- Billions in Blue Chip Stock Values Have Been Blown Away.Congress caught in a bind over bank crisis. Crisis Looming As Realty Slump Becomes Global

Most of these headlines are from 1989-1990.

Key point being, we've been here before. Whenever there is market turmoil, there is also opportunity for growth through innovation.

And that's what I'll concentrate on the talk. How banks are transitioning staff from tactical to strategic roles so that they can provide the consultative services customers are demanding. How bank branches are becoming the "new Internet" as financial institutions rediscover the power of rejuvenated bricks-and-mortar networks. How the new era of Web 2.0 is going to have to drive a new form of "social wealth management," particularly as we witness a massive intergenerational transfer of wealth from baby-boomers to the Twitter generation. And how maintaining brand relevance is critical when products and customer service expectations continue to increase at a furious pace.

Several months ago, I wrote a Memo to the CEO of banks worldwide, imploring that they don't kill innovation it's tracks as they scramble to deal with the subprime mess. It drew quite a bit of attention: and the comments and sentiment are still critical today. It's worth a read.

• Read the Memo to the CEO