Future

After discussing 2030 and beyond yesterday, I got into an interesting discussion about 2050 and beyond the other day. It started with looking back 25 years and looking forward 25. Looking back 25 years, I realised that discussions of modular, object-oriented, service-based banking is now really old. I was having those discussions back in the…

I was recently asked to deliver a presentation set in the year 2030. It was challenging, but interesting. The session was recorded, you can watch it here … … or, if you don’t want or cannot watch it, then here’s the transcript. A 2030 retrospective [transcript] Hi, I’m Chris Skinner and I have known BAI…

I was told that living purely digitally was a “generational thing” and this was followed more recently by another person saying that my view about video is also a “generational thing”. Getting more and more irritated with the peer pressure to switch video on #Zoom, when I'd rather just talk like a normal conference call…

Three years ago, I blogged about Ant Group’s strategy for AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity and more. At the time, I noted: Ant Financial have more blockchain patents than any other company in the world and they have the most live blockchain-based production systems. That was in 2018. By the end of 2020, the situation is even…

I’ve been amazed at the rise of superapps in China. Alibaba and WeChat allow you to socialise, ship and buy anywhere, anytime. It came home to me when I was shopping in a Chinese store and my Chinese friend said: let me just check the price of this on Taobao. She found it was a…

I’m watching the news. We’re all locked down. Britain just introduced £5,000 fines for unnecessary travel whilst the TV correspondents interview their counterparts in Dubai who say that they get massive fines for not wearing face masks. What is going on? It’s a really weird world where you are punished for going outside. In some…

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 share it here on the…

The two perennial debates we have in banking are a future that is cashless and branchless. Cash is going down, but is not eradicated; branches are closing fast, but still here. Are they necessary? I raise this as I got two reports from strong and trusted sources in the past week, one that said branches…

Building on this discussion, I got into an online argument with someone who accused my views of being generational, e.g. old people want face-to-face, young people don’t care. They argued that sex will be better in virtual worlds and no one needs to go out anymore. They believe we can live in a purely digital…

Arriving at the venue, I spot a good friend. We shake hands and hug. Then I see another friend I’ve missed. We hug and kiss. 1999? 2019? 2022? The conference network disappeared in 2020, and it’s now trying to come back. How I miss those networked days. Some say we don’t need them. Some say…