This week’s main blog discussions include …
I wrote in April about debanking my bank before they debanked me, which is a theme regularly popping up in UK media. The debanking process is where, without notice, a bank decides that your account is suspicious and blocks it for no apparent reason. You cannot get it reopened and often find it difficult to…
Amazon and Apple: brothers in arms?
We’ve seen Microsoft absorb ChatGPT and the impact that has made on search. Google responded by integrating their Gemini AI into search. But search was just the start. AI is taking over every nook and cranny of the internet and life. A great example is how chatbots seem to have more empathy than human bots:…
Has Apple won the Wallet Wars?
Back in 2012 I argued that there would soon be mobile wallet wars. In 2014, I speculated that there would be mobile wallet wars but that it was early days. In 2020, I still noted that mobile wallets were pretty awful. Today, it is clear that the mobile wallet is the core of the customer relationship and competitive…
What is the secret sauce of #Revolut’s success?
I’ve been surprised recently by non-stop news update about well Revolut is doing. From getting its UK banking license, which was suspect for a while, to achieving the milestone of 50 million customers, 2024 has been a pretty phenomenal year for the company. Then they announce next years plans which include AI-driven finance, super ATMs…
Last week, a report was released by the UK’s Parliamentary committee saying that the UK regulatory body for financial conduct – the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) – is “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst” and that it has a “toxic culture”. This is based upon an investigation of the FCA which took almost three years…
As well as a series focused upon the jobs of the future …
Jobs of the Future, Part One: Guardians of Reality
This is the first in a series about Jobs of the Future. I believed for a while that there would be no way AI could create music, poetry, stories, art and ideas, but have now been proved wrong. AI can do all that and more. But can it create relationships and feel like a human?…
Jobs of the future, Part Two: the Counsellor
I wonder whether, tomorrow, we will find machines that advise us on our life decisions, our relationships and our thinking. It is obvious that AI machines will manage our health and deploy robotic healthcare services to ensure that we live our lives better, but what about what is inside our heart and mind? I used…
Jobs of the future, Part Three: the Life Coach
What is the meaning of life? A question asked many times from Monty Python to Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This will become an even more important question in the future as robots and AI control our world. Why are we here? What is the function of a human? Is there any meaning to our lives?…
Jobs of the future, Part Four: the Curator
Continuing Sophie Deen’s series around jobs of the future, we come to the Curator. I’ve talked about the Curator before – seven years ago in fact – and it’s a role that replaces the CIO. It is all about curating the multiverse of providers, platforms and possibilities in the ecosystem of the network we live…
Jobs of the future, Part Five: Identity Guard
There are two things that came up recently which made me stop and think. The first is the recreation of Elvis Presley through AI who will now perform every night in London in 2025, dead and on stage looking live; the second is a new podcast series created around Michael Parkinson, the legendary chat show…
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...