The main blog headlines are …
Customer intelligent marketing is not a scary thing
I grew up as a marketing guy. My first career roles were in marketing. I was trained by Kotler and Drucker, and still hold true to first principles of marketing: the 4 P’s or, if you’re not a marketing person, product, price, place and promotion. …
11:FS launches Banking-as-a-Service
I don’t normally share press releases or advertorial, because this is my blog and it’s meant to be neutral and independent, but I have a stake in 11:FS and so this is different. 11:FS, for those who are unaware, are a challenger consulting firm, focused …
Open Banking has arrived, whether you like it or not
Ten years ago, I was presenting the concept of Banking-as-a-Service, with the idea that I could find a wide range of plug-and-play software in a cloud-based marketplace, and build my own bank by bringing these pieces of code together into an easy-to-use banking service. A …
Just continuing on the theme of how different industries can learn from each other, I used to work for NCR. NCR had several major industries they served: retailers, airlines, telcos and banks. The common thread across all of these industries was high frequency customer contact, …
The CEO of Australian bank Westpac says that we could all learn something from the airline industry. I agree, so here’s a learning story from United Airlines. Last week, I was having a moan on twitter about them. It’s an experience that I’m going to …
Do we really believe financial markets would continue smoothly with a no-deal #Brexit?
There’s more and more dialogue about a no-deal Brexit these days, even though Jean-Claude Junker and Michel Barnier are clearly trying to avoid it as they have said a deal is now 85% agreed. It’s just not the Chequers deal. Whether a deal is agreed …
Why P2P lending works in some markets and not in others
Someone asked me about getting return on investment in fintech. The discussion is about how many firms are actually delivering on their promise. So many unicorns are loss-making firms, and billion-dollar valuations on million-dollar revenues seems like a lot of hype. One article typified this …
Getting the Infrastructure Right for Financial Inclusion
I was recently asked to write an essay for the Center for Financial Inclusion, as part of a series looking at the ingredients to get this right. They gave me the topic of getting the infrastructure right. Here’s what I wrote: Getting the Infrastructure Right …
Are challenger banks challenging?
I keep seeing headlines about Amazon opening a bank, challenger banks pulling the crown off the incumbent banks heads, the end of old banks, the disruption of the system and the end of all traditional financial services. I guess some would say that I fall …
Another lively discussion followed my meeting with the FinTech communities in Asia. It was interesting as we had a chat about all aspects of what was happening in South-East Asia, and the overwhelming message that came back to me was that the regulatory sandboxes had …
This week’s top news headlines are …
Top Morgan Stanley banker moonlighted as an Uber driver to try to win role on IPO - The Telegraph
Why your fraudster could be getting better customer service at the bank than you are - The Telegraph
Fraudsters may be clogging up banks’ phone lines and preventing legitimate customers from getting through, Telegraph Money has learned.
"World's first design-led bank" Anna aims to attract creative businesses - Dezeeen
A new business-banking service called Anna has launched with a design-first strategy aimed at reducing admin hassle for small UK firms.
Blockchain isn't about democracy and decentralisation – it's about greed | Nouriel Roubini - Guardian
Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin result in the concentration of wealth, not greater equality With the value of bitcoin having fallen by about 70% since its peak late last year, the mother of all bubbles has now gone bust. More generally, cryptocurrencies have entered a not-so-cryptic apocalypse. The value of leading
Terrifying moment giant PYTHON crashes through bank ceiling and scares staff - The Sun
CCTV footage shows the terrified staff running away as the snake slithers off under some sofas in the bank.
Card clash: Mastercard is gaining market share in the UK payments market - City AM
The likelihood is that, reading this, you have a Visa debit card somewhere on your person. Only two per cent of Britons currently have a Mastercard debit card, but that will change shortly after a string of wins for the US giant which will see its market share increase by 10 times.
Millennials and apps are shaking up asset management - Financial Times
Tools such as ‘round-ups’ are posing a significant threat to the traditional sales strategies
Barclays to challenge Goldman in digital-only bank market: FT - Reuters
Barclays Plc is launching a retail account that will offer U.S. consumers a low-cost, digital-only bank with the backing of a major financial institution, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Don't believe the World Bank – robots will steal our wages - Guardian
Automation will bring growth, but history tells us labour’s share of national income will decline The World Bank has a reassuring message for those fearful of being made obsolete by automation. The robot age is nothing to be worried about. Just like all previous waves of technological advance, the fourth
How will Brexit affect house prices and mortgages? - Financial Times
Uncertainties over EU exit weigh down property market as outlook hits two-year low
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
