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I got a link to a bunch of Albert Einstein quotes the other day, one of which was: “Time does not exist. We invented it.” Some guy called Albert pic.twitter.com/JS9JMfEyJk — Chris Skinner (@Chris_Skinner) August 28, 2021 It made me think. Oh dear. Don’t make me think. Over the past year and a half, I…

I grew up with a belief that life should be simple. You get an education; you play sport; you get a job for life; you get a partner; you get married; you buy a house; you have kids; you retire; and then you die. Or something like that. These were the key life events. It’s…

As it is almost Christmas, I felt it necessary to rewrite the classic poem Twas the Night before Christmas. My version is Twas the Night before Cryptmas. Twas the Night before Cryptmas Twas the night before Cryptmas, when all through the net Not a dollar was stirring, not even a cent. The money was hung…

I tweeted the other day that my bank received a refund from a retailer but, due to the account being in GBP (UK) and the retailer trading in zł (Poland), the refund lost a lot of value. Over £170 to be exact on a purchase that was for over £2,500. Sure, the £170 is a…

I was watching Match of the Day the other day and realised how much football moves and changes. Teams of yesteryear are now champions of Europe, whilst teams that were my shining lights growing up are now shadows of their former selves. I wonder if that’s what we’re seeing today in banking and finance? In…

This week’s main blog discussions include … The end of the line I saw the news that landlines are due to be dead by 2025 in the UK. Shame? Nah, who uses a landline these days? Twenty years ago, we depended on dial-up lines for AOL. Today, with WiFi and mobile everywhere, we’ve moved on….

I saw the news that landlines are due to be dead by 2025 in the UK. Shame? Nah, who uses a landline these days? Twenty years ago, we depended on dial-up lines for AOL.  Today, with WiFi and mobile everywhere, we’ve moved on. It made me reflect on other technologies that are defunct and…

A long time ago, I predicted that telecoms and retailers would acquire and buy banks and vice versa. Hasn’t happened. Will it happen? I don’t think so. After so many years, I’ve realised something. Banking is difficult and does not have the same features as other industries. This is something that the naivety of youth…

I just picked up this chart from Systems Innovation … …. and it immeditately struck me how complicated the world is. Way back when I started out as a programmer – maybe I should go back there? – and most of my programming was greenfield. But I remember having to update a system with 30,000…

One of my regular rants is that, even with all of this innovation and disruption with technology, no one has really reinvented banking and finance. The nearest we get are companies like Ant Group, PayTM, NuBank and a few others who are offering truly differentiated financial services, but the majority are just sorting out what…