Chris Skinner's blog Shaping the future of finance

I just had a nice interview with EFMA (now Qorus) about the new book Digital for Good (available here), and thought I would share the interview here. Hope you like it. Qorus- It is not always easy to distinguish genuine leaders from clever communicators. How …

Things we’re reading today include … Deutsche Bank Sees Bitcoin Returning to $28,000 by Year-End Crypto Loves Its Shadow Banks Volt, Australia’s first online-only bank, shuts down due to fund-raising woes Investment bank fees fall by $24bn as deal boom loses steam Scams up 40 …

I hadn’t heard of the campaign make my money matter, until the other day. It’s all about igniting consumers to consider what their pension fund is funding. Every $10 you put into a pension allows $2 to be invested in deforestation, destroying biodiversity and raping …

Things we’re reading today include… Goldman Sachs reportedly warns of $1.2B loss from consumer banking unit WorldRemit becomes latest fintech to slash jobs as outlook darkens Fintech Amount, which was valued at $1B last year, lays off 18% of staff Europe’s banks are priced for …

I did a presentation in Helsinki the other day about the importance of owning my data. It made me realise as I prepared for this presentation that we have three data systems, and financial systems, developing. The first is centralised; the second is distributed; and …

Things we’re reading today include … A $2 Trillion Free-Fall Rattles Crypto to the Core What will the Bank of the Metaverse look like? Raisin Bank acquires payments division from Bankhaus August Lenz Inside the Bank’s battle to save Britain from a plunging pound Credit …

Good friend Ron Shevlin sparked off a great debate about neobanks with his snarky column on Forbes the other day. His basic argument is that neobanks are over. A few choice passages: The 10 leading neobanks in the US grew by a little more than 10 million accounts …

Things we’re reading today include … Prince Charles took ‘bags stuffed with money’ from Qatari Sheikh After a golden decade, fintech faces its first true test The pain of KYC in fintech Central banks must act decisively as stagflation risks loom Trillion-dollar crypto collapse sparks …

This week’s blog discussions include: Six years since #Brexit, where are we? I don’t talk about Brexit much. As a Remainer, I was gutted Britain voted to leave. That was six years ago. Today is the sixth anniversary of that 2016 vote. In 2018, I …

I launched the new book Digital for Good in London the other day, and was joined by many friends in my network. The main highlight of the event was a panel discussion on where we are going with four panellists: Gail Bradbrook, Co-founder, Extinction Rebellion …

Things we’re reading today include … Xi Jinping himself weighs in on how Big Tech should deploy FinTech After a golden decade, fintech faces its first true test London fintech SumUp raises £507m at a £6.8bn valuation Crypto industry fears EU crackdown on NFTs Cristiano …

I don’t talk about Brexit much. As a Remainer, I was gutted Britain voted to leave. That was six years ago. Today is the sixth anniversary of that 2016 vote. In 2018, I left Britain to live in Europe. My sympathies lie in Europe and …

Things we’re reading today include … Cryptocurrency fallout delivers sharp kick to decentralised finance dreams Once-Dull Crypto Strategies Are Now Shining in the Bear Market Crypto giant Tether targets UK investors with sterling ‘stablecoin’ Crypto Crash Survivors Could Become Tomorrow’s Amazons, BOE Says Bank of …

Benju Shah, Head of the Nordic BIS Innovation Hub for the Bank of International Settlements, followed up Sveinn’s session with a discussion defining money. When defining money, Benju started by saying it is for the public good. Hmmm … not so sure about this although …

Things we’re reading today include … Crypto fears now materialising, central bank body BIS says The fintech funding market is not dead The Myth of the Central Bank ‘Soft Landing’ When Customers Say Their Money Was Stolen on Zelle, Banks Often Refuse to Pay Info …

We had a great session in Oslo last week focused upon: what is money? The question comes up more and more in my thinking, especially when you look at cryptocurrencies, CBDCs, stablecoins and such like. We had many good presentations from MasterCard, the Norwegian Central …

Things we’re reading today include … The rise of API-first companies Stripe unveils global infrastructure for bank transfers Brazil’s Nubank plots consolidation in Latin America’s booming fintech sector This fintech identity was inspired by YouTube videos of slicing Spam Inflation is the ‘biggest poison’ for …

The belief in crypto has fallen through the floor in second quarter 2022, mainly due to factors from stablecoins that became unstable to exchanges that locked customers in (Celsius, Binance). So, I found it interesting when one cryptopunk asked the question on twitter: what do …

Things we’re reading today include … The phoney ‘fintech revolution’ is eating itself Facing Slowing Growth And Worker Discontent, High-Flying Fintech Unicorn Socure Lays Off 13% Of Staff The Covid loans, the billionaire … and Starling, the very fast-growing bank Starling Bank: questions over volume …

The main blog discussions this week included … Welcome to (another) crypto meltdown As a guy who has invested a little in cryptocurrencies, I sat back a year ago in a warm glow. The investment had risen phantasmagorically, and was now worth a good pension. …

Things we’re reading today include … Fintech Giant Klarna Slashes Fundraising Ambition Wealthsimple, valued at $4B last year, joins the fintech layoffs list US Treasury Secretary Talks Crypto With Bank Chiefs Banks are playing catch-up, says Carney Bank group accused of exploiting loopholes and ‘greenwashing’ …

I am regularly asked: what’s the next big thing? Answer: there isn’t one. There are just all the things we can see today that are building to the next big thing. What’s out there today? Web3; the metaverse; cryptocurrencies, digital currencies and CBDCs; artificial intelligence …

Things we’re reading today include: Wealthsimple, valued at $4B last year, joins the fintech layoffs list Bitcoin falls to fresh 18-month low as crypto meltdown deepens Bitcoin came close to falling below $20,000 as investors continue to flee cryptocurrencies Bank group accused of exploiting loopholes …

Some years ago, as an April Fool, a firm offered a free download of a game as long as, in the terms and conditions, you agreed that they could now own your soul. It was silly, but most people agreed to the download with that …

Things we’re reading today include … The Celsius meltdown is an old-fashioned bank run–except there’s no bank Is the global economic downturn threatening Fintech growth? How Emmanuel Macron pulled off a French fintech boom Revolut is now the fastest-growing fintech in Spain Wirecard: A cautionary …

As a guy who has invested a little in cryptocurrencies, I sat back a year ago in a warm glow. The investment had risen phantasmagorically, and was now worth a good pension. Today? It’s worth almost nothing. Source: Daily Mail What’s gone wrong? Well, it …

Things we’re reading today include … Bank Australia sees climate action as key to customer growth Victims of one of UK’s biggest banking frauds ‘to be offered £3m compensation’ Carnage at Major Crypto ‘Bank’ Celsius Tanks Market. It Could Get Worse Bank of England’s Bailey …

There’s a regular debate about whether BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) is a good or bad thing. There’s a big call for it to be regulated and comparisons with payday loans are made often. Nevertheless, it makes sense as many companies are now grabbing a slice …