Digital Bank

Buzzwords. We have a lot of them. Artificial, autonomous, augmented. Big data, blockchain, bilateral. Crypto, currency, consensus. Distributed, decentralised, democratised. I’m tempted to write the ABC of technology buzzwords, but know there cannot be any that start with X or Z*. However, I’m writing this one today because the word …

I bumped into a real API marketplace the other day. Just what I’ve been looking for … … but not sure why they’re opening physical stores pic.twitter.com/NaUUiyQ4lK — Chris Skinner (@Chris_Skinner) February 17, 2020 It gained a few nice comments like: “So people could stock up on spaghetti code and …

Over the years, a few people have likened me to the Yoda of banking. Yoda is one of the most likable characters in the Star Wars franchise, but I’m not sure if I like the comparison. Yoda is seriously old, speaks in riddles and is tiny and wrinkled. Nevertheless, I …

A decade ago, we talked about the financial crisis, technology, regulations and compliance. A decade later, we still talk about regulations and compliance, but the discussion has changed thanks to the explosion of thousands of start-up firms around the world, in every constituency, doing things differently with technology that is …

Just spent a day chairing a payments stream at a conference. We talked about AI, biometrics, central bank digital currencies or CBDCs as everyone calls them, infrastructure, pipes, plumbing … you name it … but the bit that intrigued me was the views of Kristian Luoma from OP Bank, a …

Anyone who’s read this blog since 2007 or my books since 2014 will know that I have a regular rallying call: replace core systems; refresh the bank’s technology stack to an open architecture; embrace APIs, apps and analytics; deep dive on data; transform to be digital and not industrial; rethink …

I recently spotted a great write-up on Open Banking by Alex Johnson, who has kindly agreed I can republish it. So, here we go … The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Open Banking Distinguishing between what’s true and what we want to be true. Alex Johnson  Source: FicoFinTech The trouble …

I said you’re probably sick of Davos but one last update. On Friday a major announcement affecting all of banking and finance globally seeped out under the radar. I spotted it. Did you? Here it is … World Economic Forum Announces Global Consortium for Digital Currency Governance Today, the World …

I’ve just been reading Jim Marous’s Digital Banking Report which ties in nicely with my new book Doing Digital, as the themes are similar. In Jim’s 70+ page report, Jim concludes that: “While there is an almost universal awareness of what needs to be done to digitally transform financial institutions, the …

Another useful person in my online network is Steve McLaughlin of @FTPartners, who I spotted sent a tweet last week saying they had produced a challenger bank report. FT Partners’ in-depth report, “The Rise of Challenger Banks” now features an exclusive interview with Brandon Krieg, Co-Founder and CEO of @Stash …

Varun Mittal, Associate Partner with EY, recently posted a couple of interesting slides about the launch of virtual banking licences to encourage challenger banks in Asia. If you’re not aware, there’s a great deal of digital banking activity across Asia. It’s not just in China, but there are notable things …

When The Financial Times does what they’re good at – covering financial markets and not technology – then they do produce some fascinating content. Case in point is the latest coverage of JPMorgan Chase’s (JPMC) 2019 results. The bank’s latest results are stunning, with the fourth-quarter profit soaring to $8.52 …

I write about a lot of things. Around three-quarters is focused on finance and technology, but the rest meanders around life, taxes, government, the economy, global trade, regulatory matters and more. All of these latter areas can probably be summed up right now as: INTERNET ANGER No, I’m not angry …

The UK implemented Open Banking in January 2018 and now, almost two years later, you would think it’s doing really well. This is why the momentum is building. The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) shared figures that show there are 49 million data sharing requests monthly, doubling in just seven …

As it’s Friday the Thirteenth I thought I’d cheer you up with yet another core systems renewal story. There’s a great article that resonated with me in the Financial Times the other day, talking about ‘technical debt‘. The line that has stayed with me is this one: “Stripe estimates that …