Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Case Studies

Mobile payments gorillas are already out there

It’s getting crowded out there in the mobile payments space. After years of inactivity, everyone’s woken up to the opportunities out there, not the least PayPal. PayPal did nothing in mobile through the 2000s, and I worried they were missing a huge opportunity to grow their business.  In fact, being close to the UK PayPal…

Mobile payments gorillas are already out there

It’s getting crowded out there in the mobile payments space. After years of inactivity, everyone’s woken up to the opportunities out there, not the least PayPal. PayPal did nothing in mobile through the 2000s, and I worried they were missing a huge opportunity to grow their business.  In fact, being close to the UK PayPal…

mBank: the world’s first mobile social bank within a bank

I mentioned that BRE Bank is dropping their branding later this year and replacing it with mBank, the brand they launched last decade to support their online activities. What is this all about? Here’s an analysis. BRE Bank launched in the 1980s as a division of Commerzbank, and is Poland’s fourth largest bank. In 2000, with…

MBank

Why insurance is so boring (and why it needn’t be)

I began life in finance in insurance, taking the insurance exams and gaining a professional qualification.  I’m still a Chartered Insurance Practitioner today, even though the sector leaves me cold. Why? Because it’s run by Actuaries who are just plain boring. There was an old joke: When do you know you’ve met an extroverted Actuary? …

Proof that mobile banking is killing the branch

A final presentation from EFMA week that I need to reference before moving on came from Eric Mackor, Head of Channel Development at the Netherlands Retail Bank ABN AMRO (as opposed to the transaction bank part of ABN AMRO that was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland). He talked about the changing dynamics of…

ABN1

Facebook banking and virility

Before moving off Facebook banking, there were many other mentions of Facebook Banking during the conference. For example DenizBank, the Turkish subsidiary of Moscow-based Sberbank, believe that they were the first to offer full service Facebook banking in January 2012, and here’s the video to prove it: With full online banking functionality, the platform enables…

DenizBank

Facebook banking and virility

Before moving off Facebook banking, there were many other mentions of Facebook Banking during the conference. For example DenizBank, the Turkish subsidiary of Moscow-based Sberbank, believe that they were the first to offer full service Facebook banking in January 2012, and here’s the video to prove it: With full online banking functionality, the platform enables…

DenizBank

Facebook banking comes of age (at last!)

As some of you will have gathered, I spent most of last week in Brussels at the EFMA Distribution Week, a grand affair with almost 100 speakers on the hot topics in retail financial services over a three day period. I was there to join a panel discussion at the starting plenary on how to…

38 years

Facebook banking comes of age (at last!)

As some of you will have gathered, I spent most of last week in Brussels at the EFMA Distribution Week, a grand affair with almost 100 speakers on the hot topics in retail financial services over a three day period. I was there to join a panel discussion at the starting plenary on how to…

38 years

Some fintech firms’ marketing stinks

There’s an old saying that cropped up the other day in respect of Margaret Thatcher’s son, Mark. It was a joking reference by Margaret that her son was so clever he could sell “snow to eskimos or sand to Arabs” or, as one wag put it, arms to anyone. Anyways, it’s a message worth remembering as…

Sun headline