Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Future

FinTech, cryptocurrency and corporate change

I was recently recorded on Roger Edwards’ podcast talking about FinTech, cryptocurrency and corporate change. Roger is a marketing strategist focused upon the insurance industry, and produces regular podcasts about said subject.  You can checkout his website here, and here’s the low-down of our chat: On the show this week, I talk to leading commentator and…

The wealth divide is growing and threatening

A final reflection on the way of the world before getting back to FinTech and banking. Whilst on holiday, we became interested in buying a property in Dubai, and began making enquiries. It soon transpired that this would be a dream, as the average price of a villa on the Palm was over $4 million,…

Millennials: are you cool or history?

Another musing whilst on holiday is that it is difficult to get into the head of a twenty- or thirty- something millennial when you’re a Gen X or Baby Boomer. In my head, I still think I’m 20 but, when I look in the mirror, I know I’m not. This thought struck me as I…

Bitcoin: More electricity consumption than the entire planet?

I am tempted to predict the price of bitcoin for the end of 2018 but know I’d be wrong, so I’m not. It could be $1 or $1 million. I’m not going to forecast it, as there are over 1,000 digital currencies out there and who knows which will be the winner long-term. However, one…

Future bank products are like jobs for your children

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…

How will the world change in 2018?

I was asked by my speaker’s agency – Speakers Associates – to give some predictions for 2018. It was interesting to see that they did the same with six other speakers and so thought I would share all of our thoughts here today. How will the world change in 2018? Noreena Hertz Regarded as a…

The FinTech outlook for 2018

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…

The Top FinTech Trends of 2017 … were they?

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…

Did my 2017 predictions come true?

Back in January, I made 10 predictions for 2017. Let’s see how near or off the mark they were: The FinTech buzz continues, but not in the USA (look East) WRONG. According to KPMG’s Pulse of FinTech report, Q3 2017, I’m wrong. Asia was doing ok but nowhere near as strong as 2016, whilst America…

Look East for innovation

I often talk about faster horses and how banks think digital is doing banking cheaper and faster. It’s all about efficiency and effectiveness. So, I was asked the other day: where is the car? After all, it’s easy to call out banks for doing banking as usual but, if I cannot show them a car,…