Digital Bank

There are regular forecasts of the end of banking as we know it … “Digital wallets are the Kodak moment of banking” – @BrettKing, renowned banking futurist began our Financial Services Horizons webinar today with discussions on the future of banks and financial services in the region. Stay tuned for more insights over the next…

Thanks to David Birch, I just watched this one hour episode about the history and development of bank cards, hosted by Professor Hannah Fry on the BBC.   I’m well aware of how cards started which dates back to when Frank McNamara forgot his cash and check book and created Diners Club back in the…

It’s interesting how often I see the word disruption, or things like incumbent and old. And yet, after almost twenty years of such discussion, has the old incumbent been disrupted? It doesn’t seem that way, as borne out by two articles I picked up on this week: JP Morgan remains world’s biggest systemically important bank;…

I tried to make a payment … but it doesn’t work. Oh no ☹ So I called the bank. I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited … I waited ……

I’ve recently been dealing with a company that has historically been a good provider of service. I’ve used them for years. Suddenly, things broke down. The main issue is that they only provide a digital service now. There is no call centre – there used to be one; there’s now just an online service –…

FedNow is a new faster payments service for America. It’s been developing for years, and will go live in 2023 and yet, in conversation with an American friend, only 1 in 10 banks are ready for this. Why? Well, the issue lies in change. Fast change or slow change? In fact, a friend recently resigned…

I just started a Digital Transformation Course in partnership with CFTE. It’s a course all about Digital Transformation of financial firms. You can sign up here: https://courses.cfte.education/digital-transformation-with-chris-skinner/, and here’s what you get: Week 1: What is a bank? This week discusses the history of banking and finance, how it is formed, why it is regulated…

I recently had a chat with Kjeld Herreman, Head of Strategy Advisory at RedCompass Labs, about the increasing impact of Authorised Push Payments (APP) on the financial industry and its customers. In case you’re not aware of APP, it’s where a customer authorises a payment to a criminal, typically due to being fooled into thinking…

I was called out by Nick Kerigan, Head of Innovation at SWIFT, when I accused SWIFT of becoming a sloth a year ago. So, I was interested in the latest announcement that shows the aim of SWIFT to be the arbitrator of CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies): SWIFT has successfully shown that Central Bank Digital Currencies…

Two big consulting firms just released interesting reports about technology trends: McKinsey and Bain. McKinsey’s report focuses upon the technologies that matter most, and found 14! As usual, being consultants, they had to put them into a complex chart. And then they assess the impact of these 14 technologies by industry. For financial services, the…