Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Open Banking has arrived, whether you like it or not

Ten years ago, I was presenting the concept of Banking-as-a-Service, with the idea that I could find a wide range of plug-and-play software in a cloud-based marketplace, and build my own bank by bringing these pieces of code together into an easy-to-use banking service. A decade later, that vision has come true as more and…

It’s all about the data

Just continuing on the theme of how different industries can learn from each other, I used to work for NCR. NCR had several major industries they served: retailers, airlines, telcos and banks. The common thread across all of these industries was high frequency customer contact, and the challenge for all of these industries was how…

Banks can learn from airlines

The CEO of Australian bank Westpac says that we could all learn something from the airline industry. I agree, so here’s a learning story from United Airlines. Last week, I was having a moan on twitter about them. It’s an experience that I’m going to share, but this is not whining. It is how to…

Why P2P lending works in some markets and not in others

Someone asked me about getting return on investment in fintech. The discussion is about how many firms are actually delivering on their promise. So many unicorns are loss-making firms, and billion-dollar valuations on million-dollar revenues seems like a lot of hype. One article typified this feeling: High-society fintech under pressure to perform for billionaire backers in…

Getting the Infrastructure Right for Financial Inclusion

I was recently asked to write an essay for the Center for Financial Inclusion, as part of a series looking at the ingredients to get this right. They gave me the topic of getting the infrastructure right. Here’s what I wrote: Getting the Infrastructure Right for Financial Inclusion The world is being dramatically transformed by…

Are challenger banks challenging?

I keep seeing headlines about Amazon opening a bank, challenger banks pulling the crown off the incumbent banks heads, the end of old banks, the disruption of the system and the end of all traditional financial services. I guess some would say that I fall into this camp and, on occasion, I do write things…

From sandbox to sandcastle

Another lively discussion followed my meeting with the FinTech communities in Asia. It was interesting as we had a chat about all aspects of what was happening in South-East Asia, and the overwhelming message that came back to me was that the regulatory sandboxes had become sandcastles. What I mean by this is that the…

The Finanser’s Week: 1st October – 7th October 2018

The main blog headlines are … If you think it’s evolution and not revolution, think again Another regular argument I’m having is whether digital is a revolution or evolution. I firmly believe it is revolutionary. When industries are being rebuilt from the ground-up with new technologies and new business models, then it is a revolution….

Ten years of payments changes: a lookback

I was recently asked by TSYS to write a piece celebrating ten years of payments changes, as they are celebrating their ten year birthday of ngenuity, TSYS’s payments magazine. So I wrote something. Here’s your starter for ten: To commemorate the past 10 years of ngenuity, we wanted to look back at how the landscape…