Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

The top ten trends in banking innovation

We had two Financial Services Club meetings on the same night this week: one in London where Chief Executive of the Payments Council Maurice Cleaves talked about the landscape future for UK payments markets; and one in Warsaw where Lukas Dzuroska presented the top ten trends tracked in research by EFMA over the past year. …

Digital Bank in one picture

I spent a day working on a bank’s digital strategies the other day.  It was a fascinating day and, as is the norm with some of these offsites, a scribe artiste was scribbling my ramblings on a chart.  The summary I like so much that I thought it was worth sharing here. So what this…

The Finanser’s Week: 15th February – 21st February 2016

Our main stories of this week includes … The natural order of society is that the system dictates the system Building on yesterday’s discussion of how Fintech firms will eventually become banks, I think a lot of people overlook the humanity in the network.  What I mean by this is that there is a natural biological…

The natural order of society is that the system dictates the system

Building on yesterday’s discussion of how Fintech firms will eventually become banks, I think a lot of people overlook the humanity in the network.  What I mean by this is that there is a natural biological function that takes place with innovation, and it reflects how humans relate to each other.  Humans need order to…

JP Morgan’s commitment to #blockchain

A friend of mine at JPM received an internal email the other day.  It was broadcast to all staff and, as it’s all about blockchain, thought I would share with y’all.  It goes like this … Innovative blockchain technology may provide links to improve client experience (Feb. 09, 2016) J.P. Morgan is pursuing a three-pronged approach…

Eventually everything will become a bank

I just had an interesting discussion with a banking colleague who has been investing in start-ups.  He said that many of the firms begin with a belief that they will succeed because they are not a bank. A business strategy based upon attracting consumers by not being a bank, is not sustainable. Once they find…

Banks bet Brexit brings Britain down

As David Cameron negotiates a new EU contract in Brussels today, the UK referendum on a Brexit takes place during the summer, with some saying as early as June 23rd.  There’s a YES campaign to stay in the Union and a NO campaign to get out., with the question being: ‘Should the United Kingdom remain a…

The best free research papers on #Fintech and #Blockchain

There’s been a large number of white papers produced recently about Fintech and Blockchain, so I decided to collate the most notable ones here.  All links are to file downloads and if I’ve missed any, please let me know. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System (9 pages, October 2008) The origins of the whole thing in…

A Kaleidoscope of #Fintech [Infographic]

I don’t get to use the word Kaleidoscope often, so finding this excellent Infographic that includes me and a few friends, gives me the chance to throw it into the blog for a change.  After all, this Infographic provides a veritable Kaleidoscope of Fintech. As we all know, Fintech is everywhere. Spanning everything from payments,…

The Finanser’s Week: 8th February – 14th February 2016

Our main stories of this week includes … Is it Fintech or Techfin (Part One) In conversation with bankers and start-ups, it is clear that there is a differing view of the world.  It is not as clear-cut as nimble innovator versus dinosaur incumbent, which is how many portray this chasm of difference of thinking, but…