Fintech

Name the company that strikes fear into everyone’s hearts in business? In the 1980s, it was IBM. You never get fired if you buy IBM, even though It’s a Bloody Mess. In the 1990s, it was Microsoft. Sure, Most Intelligent Creatures Realise Our Software Only Fools Teenagers, but yes, they …

I’ve had a lot of conversations with bankers and technologists, and realised something recently. That realisation is a simple but important one, and it is this: dealing with technology is very different to dealing with money; furthermore, dealing with money through technology is very different to dealing with technology through …

It’s not often that the Twittersphere I watch lights up in deep conversation, but a long one started last week thanks to JP Morgan’s announcement of the JPM Coin. Here’s a decent piece of coverage on CNBC: (JPM Coin) will be one of the first real-world applications for a cryptocurrency …

I spotted an article by Linus Beliunas on LinkedIn this week, and liked it so much that wanted to share. Enjoy! 39 FinTech Unicorns Valued at $147.37 billion 2018 was a phenomenal year for FinTech. Over a course of 12 months, Venture Capital-backed FinTech deals and funding set an annual …

Last week we had our first meetings of Nordic Finance Innovation, the largest networking group in the Nordic region for people involved in finance and technology which I happen to chair. The meeting focused upon data: data usage, data analytics, data leverage and data privacy. It was an interesting meet-up …

In another guest post related to industry versus digital banking Marko Wenthin, co-founder of solarisBank, sent this insight into my discussion of FinTech banks last week. Organisational behaviour – synchronised swimming versus football teams I read the post of my friend Chris today about how a FinTech bank embraces IT rather …

For years, I’ve been wondering why people in business operations couldn’t align their needs with the people delivering technology in the organisation. The CIO would sit outside the business, watching and responding to requests. The requests would get prioritisation and be delivered in sequence over time, sometimes a very long …

So, I’ve been summarising other people’s views of the year ahead from a variety of sources, but I also wrote two outline pieces for my friends at The Banker magazine and Jim Marous’s The Financial Brand. Just to finish off my week’s blogs about this year, here’s what I wrote. From The …

There has been a lot of thinking and rethinking during 2018 about blockchain, cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and everything digital currency related. I wrote about the challenges getting blockchains implemented for example, and was surprised to find myself enduing up as a network meme. The power of the pundit, ay? Last year …

There are many pundits predicting change in banking and FinTech this year. Here’s a review of a few of the ones that have some depth. American Banker published seven FinTech predictions for 2019 by Bob Legters, Chief Product Officer of Banking and Payments at FIS. The seven headlines are: We won’t …

I present regularly to retail, commercial and investment banks, wealth managers and fund managers, insurance companies and more about how technology is transforming everything. I often can feel a sense of cynicism in the room. We’ve heard all this before and yes, I’ve pointed this out several times: The boy …

I just gave a presentation on blockchain. I haven’t been asked to make a specific presentation on blockchain for over a year, so it meant dusting off some rusty notes and slides and thinking about where we are today. I know that last year, I spent most of the year …

I haven’t given away my slides and presentation for a while, as it’s part of my unique armoury, but I’m bored with my latest slide deck so here it is.  Open Banking Strategy and Business Model from Chris Skinner And just in case it doesn’t make sense, here’s a …

Wired are really good at writing long, wordy essays on things they find of interest. I enjoy them, but not everyone has half an hour to read their musings. Therefore, as it covers my favourite FinTech firm Stripe, here’s a 1,500 abridged version of their 16 page, 5,000 word original …

I remember years ago hearing the story of a start-up that wanted to be acquired by the big incumbent institutions. The founder was struggling to succeed, and felt that an easy exit through acquisition was the best way to go. The young CEO went to the big old incumbent company …