Chris Skinner's blog Shaping the future of finance

Although most businesses fail in their first year, it is quite incredible just how many start-ups there are around the world doing something interesting with technology. According to Embroker: In 2016, 69% of U.S. entrepreneurs started their business at home. In 2018, there were 145 “active …

Things we’re reading today include … Executive at Portuguese bank co-owned by Isabel dos Santos is found dead JPMorgan board raises CEO Dimon’s pay to $31.5 million Andrew Bailey to be quizzed on regulator’s role in LC&F scandal John Stumpf: Ex-Wells Fargo boss pays $17.5m …

I’ve just been reading Jim Marous’s Digital Banking Report which ties in nicely with my new book Doing Digital, as the themes are similar. In Jim’s 70+ page report, Jim concludes that: “While there is an almost universal awareness of what needs to be done to …

Things we’re reading today include … Swiss Banks enter the age of bitcoin Executive claims HSBC ‘shut down’ her complaints of sex harassment Fear EU deal puts City of London at risk of ‘rule-taking’ ECB to launch review that will redefine its mission and tools …

Another useful person in my online network is Steve McLaughlin of @FTPartners, who I spotted sent a tweet last week saying they had produced a challenger bank report. FT Partners’ in-depth report, “The Rise of Challenger Banks” now features an exclusive interview with Brandon Krieg, …

Things we’re reading today include … Boss of RBS start-up bank Bó quits, plunging its future into chaos NAB faces class action lawsuit for delaying moving $6.3bn of super to low-fee accounts Bank executive accuses HSBC of tolerating “culture of sexism” Vodafone quits Facebook’s Libra …

Varun Mittal, Associate Partner with EY, recently posted a couple of interesting slides about the launch of virtual banking licences to encourage challenger banks in Asia. If you’re not aware, there’s a great deal of digital banking activity across Asia. It’s not just in China, …

Things we’re reading today include … Monzo problems: bank ‘freezing accounts for no apparent reason’ Greenpeace hits out at Davos banks for $1.4tn climate hypocrisy Deutsche Bank’s guide to the worst banking jobs at the start of 2020 Bank cyberattack could hit whole financial system …

When The Financial Times does what they’re good at – covering financial markets and not technology – then they do produce some fascinating content. Case in point is the latest coverage of JPMorgan Chase’s (JPMC) 2019 results. The bank’s latest results are stunning, with the …

Things we’re reading today include … Monzo bank ‘freezing accounts for no apparent reason’ JPMorgan to buy Paris building to bring euro teams from London CEO says Bank of America aims to ‘double’ its U.S. consumer market share: FT FCA blindsided by investment fund suspensions  …

The main blog headlines are … Bye-bye FinTech I just spent time with a bank talking about Doing Digital. The host had read a preview copy of my new book and was asking a few questions about it. What had surprised me the most in …

Just before Christmas I heard of a new European payments initiative called PEPSI, short for Pan European Payment System Initiative. Nice acronym although I prefer Coca-Cola, the Co-ordinated Car Co-operative Association. Or something like that. Anyways, whichever Cola you prefer, this new initiative is interesting. …

Things we’re reading today include … Why Goldman Sachs is playing catch-up with JPMorgan BlackRock says it wants to do more for the climate Former Barclays boss accused of ‘funnelling funds’ to Qatar Economists explore the consequences of steering technological progress Santander heir gets £44m …

It’s a simple question: what is the purpose of a bank? However, the answers I get are often missing the mark, imho. I get answers like to fund business, to finance progress, to support government, to keep economies stable, to manage risk, to build communities, …

Things we’re reading today include … Spain’s Banco Sabadell hires IBM for 1 billion euro IT upgrade The fallacy behind passive fund management Chinese financial institutions can cope with foreign competition: central bank Goldman profits slump on 1MDB legal woes US says ‘flash crash’ trader …

I just spent time with a bank talking about Doing Digital. The host had read a preview copy of my new book and was asking a few questions about it. What had surprised me the most in my talks with five banks? What lesson was …

Things we’re reading today include … JPMorgan: built to scale Citigroup beats estimates on credit card, trading revenue growth Santander latest bank to set 40% overdraft rate ECB should be more open and democratic under Christine Lagarde | Barry Eichengreen TSB to invest £120m in …

I sometimes write a reflective blog post or two and realised that the vision of the West Asian nations – some call this The Middle East, but that’s not right – is quite stunning. The aim is to move from their dependency on oil, and …

Things we’re reading today include … Visa to pay $5.3 billion to buy fintech startup Plaid Travelex: Travel money services still down after cyber-attack Banks go big in the hunt for fintech success Trump to drop labeling China a currency manipulator, report says EU trade …

I have often written about how the developing world is leap-frogging the developed world. The reason is that the developing world had no infrastructure in place whilst the developed world implemented their infrastructure in the last century. The developed world has become a legacy world. …

Things we’re reading today include … Lloyds warns staff to expect first bonus cut in four years Bank of England’s Sam Woods warns of crackdown on the City LSE set to send $27bn Refinitiv deal to EU watchdog May I have a word about… nudniks …

The main blog headlines are … Welcome to 2020: What’s new? Welcome to 2020. It’s a new day. It’s a new year. It’s a new decade. And yes, I’m feeling good. 2020. This is a year all of us futurists have looked forward to for …

Looking beyond 2020, there has been a rise of quite a number of folks looking to the longer-term future. Here’s the key ones I’ve picked up on so far. First is Royal Bank of Canada with their Imagine 2025 series. Quite an investment and lots …

Things we’re reading today include … Indigenous man and girl handcuffed for opening bank account Singapore receives 21 applications for five digital bank licences Customers threaten to leave Tandem Bank after announcement of new £6 monthly charge Goldman Sachs answers investor demands on consumer bank …

As a regular BA traveller, I’m always pleased to pick up their magazine Business Life as it often has some interesting articles. This year, the magazine has a great write up of forecasts for things that will happen in the 2020s by Tim Hulse. Here …

Things we’re reading today include … Pension funds urge Barclays to stop lending to fossil fuel firms World Bank warns on global growth World Bank warns of global debt crisis amid borrowing buildup What’s at the heart of a credit score that can ruin a …

I was going to write stuff about this but The Financial Stability Board did it for me. Here’s where the regulator will focus in 2020: The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its work programme for 2020. The FSB’s work priorities for 2020 reflect the evolving …

Things we’re reading today include … Barclays £322m Qatar deal ‘could be seen as way to hide payments’ Ignoring climate risk costs more than tackling it Former Goldman banker pleads guilty to insider trading Bitcoin: Should cryptocurrency owners make a will? Travelex customers ‘thousands of …