Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Digital Bank

Oh no! It’s Bankenstein …

For years, we’ve talked about banks having a spaghetti systems structure aligned to a line of business product-centric organisation, that focuses upon the internal sales process rather than the customer. It’s true, but it’s due to the longevity of many banks. Some banks are over 500 years old and most countries have banks that are…

Data is the key

I’ve recently contributed to an Oracle report, providing the foreword – the report can be downloaded here – and highlights how data is changing the financial services landscape, and how banks can: thrive in the face of ravenous competition from digital banks, fintechs and tech players build an open banking infrastructure to take the lead…

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google … Coinbase?

I was reflecting, which is dangerous. I was reflecting on my antipathy towards bitcoin as, like most bankers, it appeared to be a bit of a scam with no asset behind it. Then I woke up to what the libertarians have been saying to me all along: any currency is a scam. The US dollar…

Why I hate the term ’embedded’

OK, I’m a Victor Meldrew and have several pet hates. In particular, people who use corporate-speak … Source: Forbes In banking, there are two terms I hate: channel (and all of its derivatives like omnichannel and mulitchannel) and, more recently, embedded. Folks who regularly read the blog know that I hate anyone and any article that…

Smaller banks have the happiest customers

Following on from why startups will fail if they compete head-to-head with a bank, I got this headline the other day saying that smaller banks have the happiest customers. The latest analysis of feedback and complaints data conducted by consumer website Fairer Finance shows that big brands such as Halifax, Nationwide, HSBC and NatWest have struggled…

Another view: any start-up that challenges a bank will fail

We talk a lot these days about neobanks, challenger banks, bank disrupters, bank disintermediation, banks will fail and such like. I have a contrarian view, for a change, and believe that any start-up that challenges a bank will fail. As I say, it’s a contrarian view. Why would you start-up Monzo, Starling, Chime, NuBank or…

The view from 2050

After discussing 2030 and beyond yesterday, I got into an interesting discussion about 2050 and beyond the other day. It started with looking back 25 years and looking forward 25. Looking back 25 years, I realised that discussions of modular, object-oriented, service-based banking is now really old. I was having those discussions back in the…

The view from 2030

I was recently asked to deliver a presentation set in the year 2030. It was challenging, but interesting. The session was recorded, you can watch it here … … or, if you don’t want or cannot watch it, then here’s the transcript. A 2030 retrospective [transcript] Hi, I’m Chris Skinner and I have known BAI…

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About Chris Skinner

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Chris Skinner
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