Fintech

Finally, just over a week ago, Open Banking came into the UK and Open APIs into the European Union. I am sure you all know what this is all about by now but, just in case, it is the regulations that force banks to share data through APIs – plug and play software – with…

I visited Tallinn towards the end of last year. If you’re not familiar it’s the capital of Estonia, a country that is the most advanced digital economy in Europe. This all began due to a hack ten years ago, when intrepid Russians were commissioned to destabilise the country’s economy. This hack led to Estonia rapidly…

I’m often talking about digital identity and struggle with the subject. This is because the meeting of ID2020 I attended at the United Nations 18 months ago, talked about the issues of digital identity and poverty, and how the poorest are the most susceptible to human trafficking and slavery: How the system crushes the poor Most…

Banks need to make money on new products and services, from things that don’t exist yet, in the same way that children will need to find jobs that don’t exist yet. You may not have seen it, but it is estimated that two-thirds of the jobs of the future are yet to be created, and…

I really liked this article by John Kennedy over at Silicon Republic, and decided to reproduce it here as it’s fitting for the kickoff of 2018. Who are the fintech start-ups in Europe worth banking on in the year ahead? Europe is in the grip of a fintech revolution and 2018 is set to be a…

I usually start the new year by making some predictions, but so many others have been writing about 2018 trends that I’m not going to. There are four big things for 2018 from a FinTech viewpoint that are obvious to me however, which are: Getting down to business with Artificial Intelligence (AI): several of the…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone. That’s 2017’s blogging over for me. Back on January 2, 2018, with more news about my new book coming out in March, Digital Human. A few comments: “Skinner presents a compelling vision of the future of financial services expertly set in ten-thousand years of historical context” Jesse McWaters, World…

The other forecasting I made at start of year concerned the big FinTech trends of 2017. Again, I thought it might be of interest to revisit them. Removing friction from the customer journey I guess this is a given, and wasn’t a big trend of 2017 … just a big trend of FinTech per se. Rise…

I was moderating a panel discussion about Open Banking and the panel’s opening was some research presented by Steve Ogborn and Benedict Ireland of the Unlimited Group. The guys said that only 9% of consumers had heard of Open Banking. That means 91% had no idea what it was. Even when it was explained to…