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2 out of 3 bank workers are not needed

Building on my AML – or is that MAL? – blog, I was thinking about the cost of compliance and all of those 1000’s of people working in such functions. Then I was thinking that they are completely ineffective. I always remember presenting to a big conference of risk managers at a major European bank…

Data is the key

I’ve recently contributed to an Oracle report, providing the foreword – the report can be downloaded here – and highlights how data is changing the financial services landscape, and how banks can: thrive in the face of ravenous competition from digital banks, fintechs and tech players build an open banking infrastructure to take the lead…

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google … Coinbase?

I was reflecting, which is dangerous. I was reflecting on my antipathy towards bitcoin as, like most bankers, it appeared to be a bit of a scam with no asset behind it. Then I woke up to what the libertarians have been saying to me all along: any currency is a scam. The US dollar…

Why I hate the term ’embedded’

OK, I’m a Victor Meldrew and have several pet hates. In particular, people who use corporate-speak … Source: Forbes In banking, there are two terms I hate: channel (and all of its derivatives like omnichannel and mulitchannel) and, more recently, embedded. Folks who regularly read the blog know that I hate anyone and any article that…

Smaller banks have the happiest customers

Following on from why startups will fail if they compete head-to-head with a bank, I got this headline the other day saying that smaller banks have the happiest customers. The latest analysis of feedback and complaints data conducted by consumer website Fairer Finance shows that big brands such as Halifax, Nationwide, HSBC and NatWest have struggled…

A billion excluded women is a disgrace

WARNING: THIS IS WOKE (whatever that is) We talk a lot about diversity and LBTG+ and equality, but it’s still a long way off. In fact, I get annoyed when I see online forms with gender and title choices designed for the last century. Why is this irritating? Specifically, why is it irritating to an…

bitcoin is dead, long live bitcoin!

I’ve not talked much about bitcoin on the blog lately*, but I have tweeted a lot about it. The key take-away? It’s not going away. People have said bitcoin is dead thousands of times. In fact, there’s a website dedicated to the subject, tracking and tracing the death of bitcoin: Most Recent Death: Cryptocurrencies –…

The world according to Jamie Dimon

I read Jamie Dimon’s shareholder letter with interest this week. His message does not read like a shareholder letter from a banker …   Banks “are facing extensive competition from Silicon Valley, both in the form of fintechs and Big Tech companies (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and now Walmart), that is here to stay. As…

The Roaring 2020s

I blogged the other day about a $3 trillion spending spree, that I just didn’t see happening. The points I made were: it is the higher income families who have been most comfortable during this lockdown, along with essential workers who have seen no change in pay; but who has savings? most people have had…

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Chris Skinner
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