Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Digital Bank

We are in a Strategic Inflection Point … have you got that?

I’m sure you’ve all noticed that artificial intelligence (AI) is the big news of the last year, but have you been watching Nvidia, the chip maker that drives AI? It’s now bigger than Intel and about to exceed Microsoft and Apple in market valuation. Here’s an analyst’s view from Barrons: Nvidia Has More Than Doubled…

Every country in the world is being transformed by fintech

I travel the world a lot and am amazed about the wave of changes technology has introduced into banking. In almost every country I visit, fintech has grown from an ember to a burner, and almost every country is being transformed. From Taiwan to Timbuktu, everything is changing. Therefore, just to give one more example…

I bet you’re not dismissing challenger banks now

I remember ten years ago when fintech was emerging from under the hood and challenger banks become a new phrase. Most of the bankers I spoke to back then said they would never be really challenging. Ten years later, the situation is rather different. Revolut has over 40 million customers and is profitable; Monzo has…

Evolve Bank & Trust + Synapse = a perfect storm

I got an email the other day about a data breach at Evolve Bank. Who? I don’t deal with Evolve Bank. What’s going on? The email came from Wise and reads as follows: There’s been a data breach at Evolve Bank & Trust. Evolve Bank & Trust is a regulated bank that we worked with…

Why women get a raw deal from banks

Being debanked is pretty awful … just ask Nigel Farage or Chris Skinner … but what about if you’re a woman? As money controls life, do women get a good deal? Not really. Everywhere around the world, women have less access and use of banking, and yet women are the global influencers of finance. What’s…

So you think digital banking is done?

I was thinking about whether we need another digital bank in Britain the other day. I know that’s UK-focused and am very aware of digital banking developments in other countries, but the UK kind of led the way with the launch of Monzo, Starling, Wise and Revolut a decade ago. They may be the headline…

A financial offer to die for

I attended a meeting this week presenting a variety of startups and their ideas. All of them were great, but one stood out for me: Fairwill. Obviously playing on the word farewell, Fairwill provides an exit policy for humans … as in death specialists. It sounds morbid but there’s only two certainties in life: death…

AI is a huge mistake (if you don’t understand what it’s for)

It does amaze me how many people in banks and technology firms talk about Cloud, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, Blockchain, Apps, 5G, Analytics, APIs and more as though they are all buckets. They are buckets of technology, but in each bucket is a use case and, in many, hundreds or even thousands of use…

Banking 2034: where will you be?

Thinking about banking conferences over the years, there are three main messages that are presented by people on stage: Banks won’t exist in ten years Banks will exist, but it’s all going to be very different Banks will exist, and it’s going to be a lot like today Let’s take #1: Banks won’t exist in…