Chris Skinner's blog Shaping the future of finance

Over the years, a few people have likened me to the Yoda of banking. Yoda is one of the most likable characters in the Star Wars franchise, but I’m not sure if I like the comparison. Yoda is seriously old, speaks in riddles and is …

Things we’re reading today include …. China disinfects banknotes and quarantines them for 14 days Brexit: Britain and EU ‘will rip each other apart’ in trade talks Former Morgan Stanley president slams Europe’s capital markets Climate change could make premiums unaffordable: QBE Insurance UK digital …

The main blog headlines are … Banking is what we do and technology is how we do it A decade ago, we talked about the financial crisis, technology, regulations and compliance. A decade later, we still talk about regulations and compliance, but the discussion has …

A decade ago, we talked about the financial crisis, technology, regulations and compliance. A decade later, we still talk about regulations and compliance, but the discussion has changed thanks to the explosion of thousands of start-up firms around the world, in every constituency, doing things …

Things we’re reading today include … UK drug barons ditch banks for money service businesses Five things to look out for in HSBC’s new strategy Looking at the world through the eyes of options traders Australia investigator met other regulators before Citi, Deutsche charges Barclays …

Just spent a day chairing a payments stream at a conference. We talked about AI, biometrics, central bank digital currencies or CBDCs as everyone calls them, infrastructure, pipes, plumbing … you name it … but the bit that intrigued me was the views of Kristian …

Things we’re reading today include … Banking in the new decade – profitability will remain a challenge: EY Barclays to be first big British bank to report since Brexit Barclays online banking down Metro Bank Chief Risk Officer exits following latest shakeup at the top …

Anyone who’s read this blog since 2007 or my books since 2014 will know that I have a regular rallying call: replace core systems; refresh the bank’s technology stack to an open architecture; embrace APIs, apps and analytics; deep dive on data; transform to be …

Things we’re reading today include … Wells Fargo CEO Scharf shakes up management at scandal-hit bank ABN Amro’s fourth-quarter net profit misses on low interest and rising impairments German digital bank N26 pulls out of UK, blaming Brexit Blockchain: The revolution that hasn’t quite happened …

I recently spotted a great write-up on Open Banking by Alex Johnson, who has kindly agreed I can republish it. So, here we go … The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Open Banking Distinguishing between what’s true and what we want to be true. Alex …

Things we’re reading today include … Australia plans new bank stress tests to assess climate change impact 2 in 5 would consider digital banks but only once they are ‘popular and successful’ Starling Bank raises £60m from existing investors Deutsche Bank’s revamp plans win support …

One report you may have missed was this one: CyberRisk and the U.S. Financial System: A Pre-Mortem Analysis from The New York Fed and released in January. The paper focuses upon a co-ordinated cyberattack on the wholesale payment systems of America and can be summarised …

Things we’re reading today include … Santander fintech guru trades punk rock for asset management Cryptocurrency specialist to push for UK banking licence Bank of England gold: Rare look inside the vaults How far will Alison Rose go to take RBS into the 21st century? …

The main blog headlines are … RegTech versus TechReg I often talk about how banks have five times more regulation than technology firms. That stat comes from Bank of America Merrill Lynch who published this chart a while ago: This is confirmed by similar charts, …

I often talk about how banks have five times more regulation than technology firms. That stat comes from Bank of America Merrill Lynch who published this chart a while ago: This is confirmed by similar charts, such as this one from Benedict Evans, a Partner …

Things we’re reading today include … AMP fined $5m for allowing financial advisers to rip off clients Overdrafts: A guide to your changing bank fees Exclusive: Goldman Sachs to raise $8 billion for new buyout fund – sources What the coronavirus means for financial markets …

Following yesterday’s discussion of Brexit and it’s implications on financial services, there’s a little more to be said on this. For example, every year at The Financial Services Club, we are delighted to host our friend David Doyle who, with precision-based analysis, talks us through the …

Things we’re reading today include … RBS’s digital bank Bo tells customers to shred their cards Starling hits 100,000 business customers as SME banking hots up UniCredit cuts further its stake in Turkey’s Yapi Kredi Barclays faces fresh investor revolt over fossil fuels What the …

I was going to give up writing anything further on Brexit as it’s now done and dusted. Britain’s out of Europe. There was no major celebration however. I was in London last Friday night, and this is what I saw out of my hotel window …

Things we’re reading today include … City banker suspended for ‘stealing food from canteen’ Jeffrey Epstein’s Mystery Bank Came Alive After His Death Is modern banking too complex for challenger banks? China May Ease Shadow-Bank Crackdown to Bolster Slowing Economy N26 is building a better …

I was taken in by an article on the BBC yesterday due to the headline: ‘I wasn’t allowed to buy my burrito with cash’ The article recounts the story of Nicholas Duggan, a construction worker, who tried to buy his lunch with cash, but the …

Things we’re reading today include … Goldman Sachs in Amazon talks over small business loans FCA: credit card firms must stop suspending all users in debt spiral Travelex: Bank currency services still offline after hack Only two women applied for Bank of England governor role …

I write a lot about purpose-driven banking, and many folks came back to me saying that what I had written sounded a lot like community banking. Community banks stand for something, they have a purpose and much of it is directed towards their members’ interests …

Things we’re reading today include … Credit Suisse espionage scandal deepens as report suggests bank spied on Greenpeace Credit Suisse proposes Richard Meddings for election to the board ‘I wasn’t allowed to buy my burrito with cash’ EU states look in poor health to withstand …

The main blog headlines are … A Davos Day I’ve watched Davos from afar for years now and often wondered what it would be like to be there so, when I got an invite this year, I took it straight away. The United Nations Media …

FinTech investment numbers are variable dependent upon how they are counted. The number I’ve been using for most of last year is that headline amount of $111.8 billion invested worldwide in over 12,000 start-ups. That number came from KPMG in 2019, who noted that most …

Things we’re reading today include … US banks placed on Hong Kong ‘list of shame’ over IPO date error What ancient Rome may teach on post-Brexit tourism Goldman Sachs bets the firm on a new identity U.S. SEC Commissioner defends proposal on shareholder voting rules …

I recently posted a whine about HSBC charging 40 percent on overdrafts: Treating Customers Unfairly The fact I wrote this about HSBC gave the impression it was they who were the target. They are, but so are any banks who treat customers unfairly and the …