Fintech

I’m starting to worry about FinTech as they seem to have fallen foul of regulatory compliance and, as a consequence, customer trust. The biggest challenge for a challenger is to keep customer trust AND regulatory compliance. This is what we are seeing having consequences today. The fact I’m starting to …

Building on yesterday’s blog where I mentioned Monzo’s issues of client onboarding, I mentioned that, for the past few months, I’ve noticed many tweets from Monzo customers about accounts being closed suddenly, with no explanation. Each time, I’ve shared the information and copied Monzo and asked them to explain. Hey …

It’s a bank holiday weekend, and I would normally switch off. But no. Like so many of us, I’m still watching the news, keeping up-to-speed on twitter and facebook, scanning my emails and getting links. One link led me to a documentary on YouTube. It hooked me because someone mentioned …

The Cryptowolf is here … or is it a cryptodog? April 20 was Dogecoin day. Did you notice? Retweet if you are ready for #DogeDay pic.twitter.com/z00Wm7pE96 — DogeCoinResearch (@dogeresearch) April 19, 2021 Probably not and it’s why I’m feeling there is a seismic change taking place in the last year. …

I just rang my pension fund. I realised that I’ve paid £1000’s into the fund, but hadn’t had a statement recently. I also realised I couldn’t login online, as I’d forgotten the details. Once someone picked up the phone, which took a while, they took me through the security sign-in. …

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, …

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 …

Welcome to the World of Next A few years ago, a friend of mine had an idea. It was to create a digital exchange between anything that anyone believed was of value. You may value USD, €, CN¥ or other currencies. Equally you may value BTC, ETH, XRP or other …

Last year, I blogged about the view of Deutsche Bank regarding the future of payments. They produced three reports: Part I: Cash: The Dinosaur Will Survive… For Now Part II: Moving To Digital Wallets And The Extinction Of Plastic Cards Part III: Digital Currencies: The Ultimate Hard Power Tool … …

I joined a Clubhouse discussion the other day – Clubhouse? What? – and discussed Chinese FinTech and its impact on the rest of the world. I really enjoyed the conversation and it was nice that my friend Sophie Guibaud summarised it afterwards. I asked her if she would let me …

I’d just written my two pieces last week about non fungible tokens (NFTs) … WTF is an NFT? NFTs show why banks must focus upon digital asset management … when I spotted a fellow blogger and colleague who I respect, Sebastien Meunier, had written about them too. In Sebastien’s case, …

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 …

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, …

I blogged the other day about Singapore-on-the-Thames in anticipation of the Kalifa Review of UK FinTech. Today, the review is released so, here it is:  Executive Summary Over the past decade, the UK has been quietly undergoing a fintech revolution – in jobs, innovation, improvements to people’s lives and …

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 …