Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Fintech

Stripe strikes serious success in Sessions

You may not have spotted it this week, but there has been a number of major strategic changes and moves by fintech leader Stripe. I’ve followed Stripe since their founding in 2010, and use them as a poster child of change in finance and technology, as demonstrated by their fast cycle growth from a company…

There is no next big thing in banking

I’ve been trying to think of the next big thing. Someone asked me on a conference call: what’s the next big thing? I’ve always been on top of the next big thing. Whether it’s the metaverse, AI, blockchain, cloud computing or whatever, there’s always the next big thing. So, what is the next big thing?…

A portal of knowledge for free from Mckinsey

I just discovered a portal of information from McKinsey. Now, now, now … I know you may love or hate McKinsey but bear in mind that all their staff have an Upper Second Grade or First Grade degree, OK?So, I start delving into their portal that answers questions like: What is inflation? What is quantum computing?…

The things that AI will never tell you

As a seasoned traveller, I know an awful lot about flying through Heathrow Airport, and it is always frustrating me about how the airport is structured. By way of example if you land at Heathrow terminal 4 and 5, the newer terminals, they have on-site hotels, the Hilton and Sofitel respectively. However, if you land…

How UK fintech can seize a £274 billion opportunity

As mentioned yesterday, I had the pleasure of moderating a fireside chat with Joanne (Jo) Dewar during IFGS last week. If you don’t know Jo, she’s a bit of a legend. You can find out all details here and, although she has achieved a lot in her career, her latest move is an interesting one:…

What happened at the Innovate Finance Global Summit?

I was at the Innovate Finance Global Summit last week and it was fantastic, as can be seen by the pic above of the CEO and Chair having a whale of a time on stage. The job I had to do was interview Jo Dewar on stage who just launched Project Nemo (more on that…

Am I financial marmite?

At a conference the other day, a banker came up to me and said “oh, you’re that fintech guy who throws rocks at us all the time”. A short while later, a fintech founder came up to me and said “oh, you’re the banking guy who thinks we will all fail”. Interestingly, a short time…

WTF … who the finanser are you?

The bank that wants to verify my identity but cannot accept the information … OMG, what’s going on? Under new UK government rules, there’s been a crackdown on money laundering and customer identity in the banking system. The response of the banks has been archaic to say the least. By way of example I blogged…

Stop talking about  “Open Banking”

Talking of sharing data, Salt Edge just sent me some interesting stats about Open Banking and Open Finance (there is a difference). They start by quoting that inconsistently reliable source Statista, who claim that the number of open banking users worldwide was expected to grow by an average of 50% per year between 2020 and…