Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

For Whom The Tweet Chimes: the problems of being cloud native and open

Banks are control freaks. I’ve blogged about that often. I’ve also blogged often about how they need to move to be open and partnering. That’s not easy. It’s obviously easier to launch a brand new bank, fresh with no legacy and open to everything, isn’t it? Not necessarily so. The issue with launching a new…

Google versus Government

I’ve been noticing that there are more and more issues arising with the big internet giants. Unlike in China, where the companies are working with governments, the big Western giants work outside government control. That creates issues, particularly in Europe where government does not like to be out of control. Hence the reason why American…

The Finanser’s Week: 14th October – 20th October 2019

The main blog headlines are … Talking ’bout my generation I was reflecting on things again. Dangerous. My reflection was on when I grew up. My mum and dad went through the second world war. They feared for their lives and for our future. There was no Europe, just a fear of Germans and Nazis,…

Talking ’bout my generation

I was reflecting on things again. Dangerous. My reflection was on when I grew up. My mum and dad went through the second world war. They feared for their lives and for our future. There was no Europe, just a fear of Germans and Nazis, of fascism and communism, of extreme lefts and extreme rights….

Some challengers really are challenging … but not where you’re looking

You’ve got to love all these challenger banks (née neobanks née digital banks née mobile banks née whatever banks) appearing. There’s lots of chat about the British ones led by Monzo and closely followed by Starling, Atom and Tandem, but there are many more. In the UK there’s Revolut, Zopa, Aldermore, Oaknorth, OneSavings and more,…

Mister Bó Jangles: the story of yet another new UK challenger bank

Like quite a few big banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has been messing about with doing digital by launching a number of new initiatives. The two of most note are Bó, a new retail bank, and Mettle, a service for small to medium enterprises (SMEs).* What fascinates me here, however, is the headline…

Is Revolut leading a FinTech revolution … or destroying it?

We are regularly being bombarded with unicorn news. Some rise and some fail. We hear about toxic corporate cultures and ousted CEOs on some occasions, with WeWork being the latest to get caught in the pre-IPO crossfire. In case you’re not aware, their CEO and founder has gone and now they’re scrapping their plans for…

Why dumb old banks can’t compete

Now that’s a contentious title for a blog, but purposefully so. Old banks can compete in the new world if they’re smart … it’s just that so many of them are dumb. Dumb with data, as I’ve blogged before. To illustrate this, I have three examples. The first is that my old bank talks about…

The Finanser’s Week: 7th October – 13th October 2019

The main blog headlines are … What does “innovation” mean in finance? I recently was invited to be the keynote at some innovation awards in Ireland. It got me thinking about what innovation means in finance, so here are the notes from my speech. I trust it’s useful …   Thank you for inviting me…

Innovation? Humbug!

Bill Gates said in the early 1990s that “we need banking but we don’t need banks anymore”. He was wrong. I hosted a banking seminar in the late 1990s where David Llewellyn, a Professor of Money, stood up and stated that “there will be more change in the next five years in banking than we’ve…

Intelligent Money: Our Future Is Where We Do Not Think About Money, As Our Money Thinks For Us

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