Chris Skinner's blog Shaping the future of finance

I saw a write-up in The Financial Times the other day on how Silicon Valley is eating the banker’s lunch. The article was written by Tom Braithwaite. Tom Braithwaite is the companies editor, managing the FT’s business coverage. Based in London, he was previously a …

Things we’re reading today include … Monzo customers to receive salaries a day early under new feature from app-only bank Bank branches could fall below 800 after cuts 300 in three years JPMorgan metals trader pleads guilty to spoofing, resigns from bank FDIC approves Volcker …

As I walk around The City, I’m often finding new buildings, new developments and major erections rising around the Square Mile. On that latter note, I don’t mean Boris Johnston, but major new office blocks. Obviously, with Brexit, a lot of people would think that …

Things we’re reading today include … ECB Says the Next European Bank Hack Is Just a Matter of Time Bank of America Applies for Multi-Tiered Crypto Wallet Patent Is mobile banking app Monzo too good to be true? Banking bodies look at shorter trading day …

I just picked up a Financial Times article talking about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will change the way you deal with money. It’s actually more about the Chinese internet giant Ping An, and how they’re changing finance using AI. If you are a customer of …

Things we’re reading today include … HSBC: Chinese headwinds threaten to blow bank off course Bank of England boss Mark Carney pulls out of UK-China dinner ‘Workaholic’ Alison Rose poised to take on the ‘toughest role in banking’ to become the first female boss of …

The main blog headlines are … Chris Skinner’s TEDx Talk I am honoured and privileged to list on my profile that I have been an advisor to the White House, World Bank, World Economic Forum and United Nations. Now I can add TEDx Speaker. I …

There are lies, darned lies and statistics. I often quote numbers in my presentations and get pretty annoyed if they’re wrong. I also prefer to take official sources rather than estimates. So I quote that last year China processed USD$40 trillion (277 trillion yuan) of …

Things we’re reading today include … Microfinance is driving many Sri Lankan borrowers to despair Malaysia charges 17 Goldman Sachs executives The chilling economic effects of Brexit uncertainty are intensifying Metro top and RBS bottom in banks’ customer ratings Countries most exposed to climate change …

Who wants transparency when you can have magic? Do you watch The Crown? If not, maybe you should as Series 3 is about to begin with Olivia Coleman, a great actress. The first two series weren’t bad either, with Netflix spending $130 million on the …

Things we’re reading today include: Barclays ends partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase BCR awards £10m to Atom bank ECB tells UK banks to speed up staff moves to EU as Brexit looms German economy slips back into negative growth German fintech N26 appeases regulators as …

I recently attended a FinTech conference where Henry Ma, Vice President & Chief Information Officer of WeBank, presented an update of how the bank is faring in China. For those unaware, WeBank is the offshoot of WeChat Pay, WeChat and Tencent, and focuses upon financial …

Things we’re reading today include … Danish bank launches world’s first negative interest rate mortgage Apple/Goldman Sachs: pay pals U.S. SEC to consider new guidance on investor use of proxy advisors What comes after Bretton Woods II? U.S. FTC chief says regulator is prepared to …

I am honoured and privileged to list on my profile that I have been an advisor to the White House, World Bank, World Economic Forum and United Nations. Now I can add TEDx Speaker. I was invited to TEDx Athens this year and delivered a …

Things we’re reading today include … German financial sector ‘expects No Deal’ and wants no more concessions from EU Could devaluation of China’s yuan trigger the next financial crisis? | Larry Elliott Investment bank job cuts are now a one-way street Digital challenger banks stockpile …

I received a long and lengthy article last week from Taylor Ryan, CMO at Valuer.ai (tryan@valuer.ai). The link provides a comprehensive article on European FinTech developments. It’s so good that I am happy to share it with y’all. Enjoy.   THE BEST FINTECH STARTUPS IN EUROPE …

Things we’re reading today include … Mexican banks report failures in processing card payments RBS ‘set to appoint Rose as next boss’ Sustainable funds more likely to be top performers, study shows And the next Bank of England governor will be … The bank that …

The main blog headlines are … Eyes wide open I sat through a soul-destroying meeting the other day. The meeting was with a C-level decision maker in a bank, and we were brainstorming. Ideas were flowing and, at the end of the ideation process, we …

There’s a regular itch that I feel in the back of my neck. I scratch it, but it won’t go away. The itch is an alarm call really, and it’s asking whether all this FinTech investment is worth it. Last year, $111.8 billion was invested …

Things we’re reading today include: Investec hit by shareholder protest over auditors Core elements of the global banking industry are moving to India HSBC sticks by US strategy despite missing targets Should we worry about a currency war? The trade war escalates, and the fog …

The big news yesterday is that Klarna is now Europe’s largest FinTech unicorn, valued at $5.5 billion, and the sixth largest FinTech unicorn worldwide (discounting Ant Financial, Ping An and co). According to CB Insights, Stripe is the largest FinTech unicorn (USA, $22.5 billion), followed …

Things we’re reading today include … Banker drowns himself in private swimming pool after becoming convinced he was going to prison Gold rises to $1,500 an ounce for first time in six years Can $5bn Klarna avoid the fate of other Swedish unicorns? Dollar will …