Chris Skinner's blog Shaping the future of finance

My mate Ron Shevlin is on good form these days. He’s written quite a few columns on Forbes that are clickbait: Customers don’t want digital banking The FinTech fast follower fallacy (which I spotted just after writing this yesterday) His latest created quite a twitter …

Things we’re reading today include … MoneyGram shares more than double on Ripple deal Beware fake payment texts that claim to be from Green Star RBS picks Marieke Flament to head business-focused digital bank Facebook’s Libra launch will extend its global domination Is Facebook’s Libra …

I was having dinner with a friend the other night, when he asked me: “what do you think about the fast follower strategy?” I said it was stupid and doesn’t work. He then added that the major bank he’s working with are proud that this …

Things we’re reading today include … Why the Dutch Hate Bankers Lloyds launches a banking app to view current accounts, savings and credit cards all in one place The Bank of England’s biggest problem? The City of London Loot founder and 17 team members join …

In my presentations I regularly talk about legacy Europe and America and leapfrog countries from China to India to Kenya to Colombia. The reason the latter countries are leapfrogging Europe and America is that they didn’t have a large, ingrained existing infrastructure for payments and …

Things we’re reading today include … Challengers under fire from Bank Bank of England says new lenders could be ill-prepared for downturns Deutsche Bank to set up 50 billion euro bad bank: FT The Bank of England’s biggest problem? The City of London Crypto is …

The main blog headlines are … Challenger banks don’t matter as they’re not a primary account During Money 2020 Europe, I bumped into a chap from Monzo. No names mentioned, but he was buzzing and no wonder. The start-up has just boomed through two million …

I annoy a lot of people. I don’t mean to. But anyone with a description of ‘troublemaker’ is going to annoy someone. What’s interesting is the different reactions I get from start-ups, technology firms, banks and internet giants. In general, the ones who seem to …

Things we’re reading today include …. Britain’s wildly popular Monzo banking app is coming to America Meet the British Banks showing the US how it’s done Truist will soon be one of America’s biggest banks Digital technology will strengthen America’s biggest retail banks Facebook hires …

I just went through a conversation about my presentation for a forthcoming conference. They didn’t want to provide a prescriptive approach, and just asked what I talked about in general. That’s a challenge, as I once turned up at a conference and they said to …

Things we’re reading today include …. IBM, Hyperledger Blockchain ID System for Banks Launches in Brazil This branchless bank quadrupled its customer base to 4 million in a single year Square Wants You to Use Its Cash App Like a Bank Account Goldman Sachs offering …

I’m a technology lover. Always have been, always will be. To me, technology is like magic. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke Too damn right Arthur. I love technology. But then I got to thinking about what technology is doing …

Things we’re reading today include … Singapore’s Ride-Hailing App Grab Mulls Becoming a Bank JP Morgan’s 180 On Its Stand-Alone Digital Bank Underscores The Adoption Challenges Facing Crypto Banks Are Second, Or Third, Choice For IT Grads, So They Have To Work Harder The heavy …

During Money 2020 Europe, I bumped into a chap from Monzo. No names mentioned, but he was buzzing and no wonder. The start-up has just boomed through two million users and is growing at over 60,000 account openings a week or 10,000 per day. Some …

Things we’re reading today include … Deutsche Bank Acknowledges Lapse in Checks on Money Laundering Rewrite of Bank Rules Advances Slowly, Frustrating Republicans Ex-RBS executive Brown to become new Sainsbury’s Bank chief Britain on track for four-day working week by 2050, says Bank of England …

I recently started to worry that people might think I have some sort of arrangement with Ant Financial to publicly endorse them, as I’m such a fan-boy. I talk about what Alibaba, Ant Financial and Alipay is doing in every presentation, blog about them a …

Things we’re reading today include …. I knew the bank would spend any amount to crush me’ Deutsche Bank launches £3m-plus mortgages May I have a word about… the brave new world of banking and fintech | Jonathan Bouquet Sweeping reform needed after Brexit, says …

The main blog headlines are … M&A … Murder & Assassination I was having a breakfast meeting with a banking friend who had recently been through a tortuous experience. His start-up had been acquired by a major traditional bank, and it ended with blood on …

I write a lot about FinTech payments, lending, roboadvice and such like. But there’s been a strong bubbling trend underneath all this that has not gone unnoticed. I’ve just not blogged about it enough. SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE People talk a lot about finance for SMEs …

Things we’re reading today include … Did Deutsche Bank sweep possible money laundering by Trump under the rug? Step raising $22m led by Stripe Visualizing the Importance of Trust to the Banking Industry China’s ‘mini-Lehman’ moment to spur smaller bank consolidation Prosecutors suspect 70 Deutsche …

I’ve been finding it increasingly frustrating on my travels, thanks to one of my credit card companies. My travelling depends on two credit cards: a bank issued corporate MasterCard and American Express. The reason I carry these two is that the MasterCard works across Europe, …

Things we’re reading today include … Next Bank of England governor must serve the whole of society Standard Chartered shows it’s a bank of action against illegal poaching ‘Bad bank’ repays £50bn bailout loan ‘Bad bank’ repays £50bn bailout loan The green bank for kids …