Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Reflections on money: a powerful servant, but a terrible master

I’m not big on theology but did stumble across Mammon the other day and am surprised I didn’t know more about this ancient character. He appears in the Bible quite often, and Jesus makes clear that ‘you cannot serve both God and Mammon (Matt 6.24 as well as Luke 16.9, 11 and 13). Mammon promotes the ‘deceitfulness of wealth’…

It’s the AI’s fault … urmm, no it’s not

I was wondering today what would happen if my AI tool sent money to a third party and it was fraudulent. Who would be liable? So, I did a bit of research to find the answer and here it is. The general rule is that it’s your fault, as it’s not the AI that made…

The Finanser’s Week: 4th May – 10th May 2026

This week’s blog discussions included … Let’s be honest: retail banking is broken Over the past decade, the industry has aggressively optimised for cost and digital efficiency and, in doing so, it has quietly dismantled the human infrastructure that made banking work for millions of people. Start with the facts. In the UK alone, more…

The CIO is no longer running IT … they’re running the bank

In a new report by Boston Consulting Group, they conclude that the CIO is now the most important role in a bank. Not long ago, the CIO was the person who kept the lights on and kept core systems stable, costs controlled, projects delivered (eventually). That world is gone. According to BCG, the CIO now…

Let’s be honest: retail banking is broken

Over the past decade, the industry has aggressively optimised for cost and digital efficiency and, in doing so, it has quietly dismantled the human infrastructure that made banking work for millions of people. Start with the facts. In the UK alone, more than 6,000 bank branches have closed since 2015, according to consumer groups and…

What will our children do?

I gave a TEDx talk last year about the jobs our children will have in the future … … and it is a theme I keep returning to because I have twin boys who are ten years old now. The school they go to are now looking for a new Board member, so I wrote…

AI is the force for change in banking

I’ve just been reading McKinsey’s latest piece about the AI-powered bank. It reads like a polite consulting report, but underneath it is a fairly brutal critique of the entire banking industry because what they’re really saying – without saying it – is that most banks are structurally incapable of benefiting from AI. It not because…

The rebuilding of banking

I was recently working with WNS, part of Capgemini, on a few blogs. The posts are interesting so I’m sharing them here. Click on the headline links to read the full articles: Can AI Turn Regulatory Overload into Competitive Advantage in Banking? Regulation in banking is exploding, and most banks are handling it badly –…

The Finanser’s Week: 27th April – 3rd May 2026

This week’s main discussions include … If people do not trust the system, they will not use it I just got the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) Risk Intelligence report which makes clear that we have crossed a line. Fraud is no longer something that happens at the edges of the financial system. It has…

If people do not trust the system, they will not use it

I just got the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) Risk Intelligence report which makes clear that we have crossed a line. Fraud is no longer something that happens at the edges of the financial system. It has become the system’s shadow twin, growing in lockstep with digital banking, instant payments and AI. The 2026 LSEG…