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Shaping the future of finance

Digital Bank

To branch or not to branch: that is the question

The two perennial debates we have in banking are a future that is cashless and branchless. Cash is going down, but is not eradicated; branches are closing fast, but still here. Are they necessary? I raise this as I got two reports from strong and trusted sources in the past week, one that said branches…

NFTs show why banks must focus upon digital asset management

A lot of our history in the future will be digital Our future is digital. Just as we look back today and enjoy our physical inheritances of books, music and art, we will look back tomorrow at our digital inheritances of books, music and art. The only difference is today it is digital, not physical….

Wal*Mart’s new FinTech will be like Marcus on Steroids … or will it?

I’ve noticed that Wal*Mart has recently been hiring bankers. Goldman Sachs’ bankers to be exact. Goldman Sachs Marcus’s bankers to be more specific. Bloomberg Omer Ismail, the head of Goldman’s consumer bank [Marcus], is making a surprise exit to the fintech, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The world’s largest retailer made a…

Is there life on Mars?

Twenty years ago, I remember being impressed when the late, great David Bowie launched a bank. Admittedly it was backed by USA Bankshares, a proper bank, but the idea of celebrity-branded banks was expected to become a thing. Funnily enough, it hasn’t (unless you count Will.i.am and Atom) yet, nevertheless, what has become a thing…

Would you believe they put a man on the moon?

… “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. Clarke This quote has stayed with me throughout my life. Every time there is a new technology, we start with seeing it with awe and wonder then, within a few months, we view it as part of the fabric of our lives. We take…

Rip it up and start again

I spotted two updates recently. The first is the half a billion dollar mistake at Citigroup. The second is how Amazon created Amazon Web Services (AWS). The two pieces go hand-in-hand. First, how could Citigroup make a billion dollar mistake? User Interface. The mistake was made by a worker in their offshore service centre, who…

Banking on digital growth

I recently joined The Digital Growth podcast …   powered by Sounder … and they kindly transcribed the conversation, so I thought I would share it here. Chris Skinner: Traditional banks tend to push products through channels to get greater share of wallet and cross sell. Whereas, digital banks start with the customer journey and…

Banks waste billions on digital

How much money is wasted by banks on digital? I wonder whether, one day, anyone will work out how much money has been wasted by banks on digital technologies. Various reports reckon that banks spend anything from half a trillion dollars a year on tech to over a trillion. Two years ago, Accenture found that only…

Is the Crypto revolution finally underway?

I haven’t commented much on bitcoin’s (BTC) recent surge, as I’ve been watching and waiting, but it is something. Just in case you didn’t notice, the value has moved from a low of under $5,000 per BTC in March 2020 to around $50,000 per BTC today. But it’s not just BTC: it’s Ether, Bitcoin Cash,…

Intelligent Money - Chris Skinner Keynote @ Pay 360 conference 2024

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Chris Skinner
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