Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

The Finanser’s Week: 13th April – 19th April 2026

This week’s main discussions include …

Did the regulator just admit that banking is a mess?

I’ve just read the regulatory roadmap that the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority released this week and realised that it is less a neat plan and more a recognition that the current system is broken and we’ve run out of road with Open Banking. For the past decade, Open Banking has been the poster child of…

Tokenization and AI are building a whole new world of money

I just had an interesting podcast conversation about stablecoins, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and tokenised deposits. Most people in finance think they understand the differences, but it’s worth pausing for a moment, because the distinctions really matter. At a very simple level: stablecoins are privately issued digital tokens (think USDC or Tether) backed by…

Is everyone scared of the AI threat? If not, you should be

It was interesting that, last week, US regulators called an urgent meeting with the CEOs of the largest banks last Thursday, after the emergence of a new AI model from Anthropic called Claude Mythos. The reason wasn’t hype – it was capability. This model appears able to identify deep vulnerabilities in widely used software and…

When will I pay for coffee with a stablecoin?

I’ve been inundated with reports about stablecoins lately, and they all say the same thing … but in very different ways. So let me try and cut through the noise. Stablecoins are for wholesale commercial banking and trading today. They are not for the likes of you and me. But that will change. Let’s narrow…

A chat with Wio Bank, a fully digital, platform-based bank

A chat with Wio Bank, a fully digital, platform-based bank – I recently had a nudge to talk to Wio Bank, who claim to be the Middle East’s first fully digital, platform-based bank launched in Abu Dhabi in 2022 (not sure about this as there are over 20 neobanks operating in the Middle East). Backed…

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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...