Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

The failure of banks (#coronavirus)

The other day, I blogged about the failure of government in this crisis. Today, I’m blogging about the failure of banks. I am aware that in some countries – the Netherlands seems to be one – there has been great continuance of bank service. Unfortunately, the UK is proving to be one of the worst…

The Finanser’s Week: 4th May 2020 – 10th May 2020

The main blog headlines are … Where was the digital backup to our physical structure? The coronavirus crisis has hit everyone sudden and hard. We originally thought it was a Chinese crisis and now it’s a global one. It’s shut down economies worldwide and the banking system has been asked to step in fast and…

Where was the digital backup to our physical structure?

The coronavirus crisis has hit everyone sudden and hard. We originally thought it was a Chinese crisis and now it’s a global one. It’s shut down economies worldwide and the banking system has been asked to step in fast and address the crisis. Governments worldwide have asked banks to give out loans to large and…

Revolut: over-hyped and immature? Yes and no …

Last October I wrote a piece on Revolut, questioning its valuation which, at that time, was estimated to be anything up to $10 billion: They claim to have 8M customers. Let’s assume *all* of them are active. If they are “valued” at $10Bn that’s a per customer lifetime value of $1,250 or £1,000. Their premium…

Build, Buy or Transform the Bank?

I was recently watching an online poll that asked the best way for a traditional bank to compete with the new digital banks. Should they build a new bank, buy a digital bank competitor, or transform the old bank? The vote was split fairly equally between all three choices after over 1,000 votes. #FinTech poll….

Wirecard versus The Financial Times: a FinTech poster child on trial

I’ve tracked Wirecard for some years, as they were the bank partner that allowed Ollie Purdue to drop out of university at 21 years old to launch a bank called Loot. Wirecard basically offer the platform of many other firms to offer full banking services across Europe. Based in Germany, their clients include many FinTech…

The Finanser’s Week: 27th April 2020 – 3rd May 2020

The main blog headlines are … What will the world be like when #coronavirus ends? (Part One) Most of the people around the world have savings that can last them less than a month. In the USA, 29% of households have less than $1,000 in savings; in the UK, 15% of Brits have no savings…

What will the world be like when #coronavirus ends? (Part Two)

I hesitate to write that headline – after all, none of knows when or even if this pandemic will end – but what I do know is that, in this time of crisis, there are lots of things changing: our beliefs, our priorities, our views, our relationships. I sat down and thought about what’s good…

What will the world be like when #coronavirus ends? (Part One)

Most of the people around the world have savings that can last them less than a month. In the USA, 29% of households have less than $1,000 in savings; in the UK, 15% of Brits have no savings at all; and in most economies worldwide, a large tranche of society have only got enough to live…