Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Future

The positive side of AI

Many movies, media and headlines portray AI as frightening. It’s going to take out jobs, bring robocop to the streets and take over our lives. It’s going to be Ex Machina, The Terminator or worse. Very few give context of the positive future with AI, but a headline caught my eye today: Meet the ‘AI…

Accenture’s six big trends in banking, 2026

As you do, I just stumbled upon another report that’s interesting. This one is Accenture’s view on six big trends that will change banking in 2026. You can download the whole report (81 pages) here but, if you don’t have time, here’s a brief summary: Accenture: Top Banking Trends for 2026 — Key Insights &…

Human needs for human service (why branches matter, part two)

I’ve recently joined the advisory board of a startup focused upon opening financial branches called banxlocal. Why the hell would anyone open branches? Well, it’s all about human needs for human services as that creates trust. I’m a big believer in banking and finance for consumers still providing High Street access in a store or branch….

Why bank branches still matter

Many have argued for years that branches are dead. Many in the fintech world believe that people don’t need branches. Some think that the pandemic proved that customers can bank fine without them and that many now prefer digital. Wrong. A bit like cash, the pandemic forced a change of behaviour. Less cash was being…

The Great Divergence, according to the White House

I just got a fascinating document sent over from the White House. Bearing in mind, the White House is the American civil service and not directly communicating Donald Trump’s opinions, thank goodness, their reports are often really insightful. This one really hooked me as it is all about AI and the Great Divergence. The Great…

AI was the biggest discussion @Davos

Many believe the big themes of Davos last week were around Donald Trump, his ambitions to take over Greenland and Canada, and Mark Carney’s speech. Stop “living within a lie”, Mark Carney #Davos They were the headline news but, underneath those headlines, the main theme of Davos was AI. AI featured in almost every session…

Elon Musk: “I am an alien” #Davos

I just watched The Life of Chuck based upon a story by Stephen King (strongly recommended). Throughout the film, it constantly references Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar. The Cosmic Calendar compresses the 13.8-billion-year history of the universe into a single calendar year, where January 1 is the Big Bang and December 31 is the present*. At…

Stop “living within a lie”, Mark Carney #Davos

Everyone has been hailing Mark Carney’s speech at Davos as one of the GOAT speeches of the 21st century. It forced me to take out 15 minutes to listen to it, and yes, it is a great speech. Well worth the time. Mark Carney is Prime Minister of Canada, and the former Governor of the…

Quantum computing: a threat or opportunity?

  I often talk about quantum computing and how it could break the encryption keys of our current financial system, including bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In fact, the first time was seven years ago, when I referred to The Quantum Resistant Ledger. Even way back then, there was a company working on ideas to avoid encryption…

How will we trade with aliens?

Waking up today, I am shocked to see the headlines about aliens wrecking the world’s financial markets. Apparently, various American politicians have kind of confirmed that aliens are real, admitting to an 80-year cover-up including Dulce Base in New Mexico and Area 51, Nevada. The reason this came up today is that, if confirmed true,…