Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

AI will augment, not destroy humanity

I’ve spent years talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Source: Europa Bearing in mind that we always talk about AI in the context of the Turing Test – a test that Alan Turing created back in 1950 – it’s not surprising. That test is that we will have achieved the true opportunities for technological  development when…

Digital Banking for the Poor

I have a few friends around the world that I pick up on, and The World Bank and CGAP are amongst that crew. Therefore, when I saw that Peter Zetterli, senior financial sector specialist with CGAP, was blogging about financial inclusion I couldn’t but help reach out to him and ask him to write a…

Chris Skinner’s FinTech Rap

This could be a serious mistake, as I’m an old guy who wasn’t born for rapping, but I can’t help myself. I woke up today and thought: you should make a rap video. Stupid, I know, but can’t help myself. My wife actually wandered into the office as I recorded this and said: are you ok?…

The Finanser’s Week: 6th July 2020 – 12th July 2020

The main blog headlines are … HSBC and Standard Chartered are wrong to kowtow to China over Hong Kong I keep saying that I don’t want to be political on this blog – I’m not qualified and it’s not why you read it – but, as a human being, I cannot ignore things like Black…

Neobanks: are they really challenging?

In surfing this week, I found a great article on my friend Amit Goel‘s website GoMedici.com. The company has just completed a deep dive into the world of challenger banks or, as they term them, neobanks. The time for neobanks is now. Here’s their summary of thinking: Neobanking 2.0: Global Deep Dive 2020 Just like…

Should we gamify banking?

OK, no more politics … unless it’s important to banking, technology and fintech … and back to my usual boring diatribes. There’s been a discussion a while ago about making banking fun, gamifying finance and giving rewards for smart spending and saving. I was an advocate of such ideas, but now I’m not so sure. I’m…

The real reason HSBC and Standard Chartered aren’t talking

OK, OK, OK. I said this blog is not political, but it’s got a bit that way this week after my comments on HSBC and Standard Chartered, China and Hong Kong. In fact, I feel I’ve opened a bag of hornets and therefore I’m not going to continue this theme further … but do feel…

Am I wrong about Hong Kong?

I got an amazing reply to my post yesterday. I cannot say from whom – that’s part of the thing – but it’s such a good reply, I’m sharing it here. For me, it shows how the internet has changed the world – I can write a blog from Poland, get a reply from Hong…

HSBC and Standard Chartered are wrong to kowtow to China over Hong Kong

I keep saying that I don’t want to be political on this blog – I’m not qualified and it’s not why you read it – but, as a human being, I cannot ignore things like Black Lives Matter, the lockdown approaches of different countries, the suppression of religious groups, the wars that continue (especially in…

The Finanser’s Week: 29th June 2020 – 5th July 2020

The main blog headlines are … The Wirecard fiasco: Wirecard or Weirdcard? Another day and another headline about Wirecard: ‘The money’s gone’: Wirecard collapses owing $4 billion Wirecard’s Missing Billions Forces Out CEO, Panics Lenders Wirecard: Former boss arrested over €1.9bn scandal How Wirecard fooled most of the people all of the time Inside Wirecard…