This week’s main discussions include …
Two headlines really struck me this morning. The first is that Stripe is now valued at over $150 billion – I’ve been following Stripe’s valuations for over a decade (it was just over $9 billion in 2016) … … and the second is that they are thinking about buying PayPal, which would be immense imho….
JPMorgan’s $20 billion bet on AI and digital transformation
There’s been a lot of talk this week about JPMorgan spending $20 billion on technology in 2026. It sounds huge, and it is, and it’s slightly more than their peer group spend but, bear in mind, this is a bank worth over $800 billion and with revenues of $185 billion, so you need to…
Branches aren’t needed for advice or transactions … it’s all about trust
Returning to the branch discussions, I picked up on Jim Marous’s recent podcast with Bank of America (BoA) which is headlined: BofA is Building 150 New Financial Centres at $5 Million Each. Here’s Why The podcast focuses on the fact that BoA is opening new branches focused upon advisory services having almost halved its branch…
Is AI all it’s cracked up to be?
Reading an interesting research report by Deutsche Bank about AI, where they are saying that we are entering the trough of disillusionment. The hype is over and reality is hitting hard. They enjoy playing with the idea of AI though, and call it: Disillusionment: beauty is in the AI of the beholder Dislocation: AI of the storm Distrust: AI…
How do we regulate the future?
I was thinking of the move from the rotary telephone to the touchtone phone to the mobile phone. Similarly, the upgrade from gramophone to record player to CD and streaming. These things have changed our lives over decades so that we now take them for granted today. But, when watching movies from the past century,…
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...