Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Payments

As banks cut lifeline, will remittance alternatives emerge?

The three blog entries on this subject so far: The African bank crisis and remittances More on Africa, Somalia, remittances, Barclays and HSBC Banks should not be political pawns has stirred up a lot of interest.  In particular, Mondata, an American consulting firm on mobile finance, has written a fascinating insight on the subject including…

Remittance

Banks should not be political pawns

I received an email on my recent blogs about remittances and Somalia from one reader, Knut Flottorp, and thought it worth posting on the blog to add to the debate.  The banks will have problems with Somalia no matter what they do, because the so called government is based upon the mandate of foreigners, including the…

Payments Council report states that mobile internet payments will quadruple by 2022

I just got a copy of the Payments Council’s UK Payments Markets 2013 Report, and it makes fascinating reading about a developed economy’s changing payments habits. Here are the headlines: Consumer card use will rise by 75% from nearly 10 billion payments in 2012 to nearly 17 billion in 2022, driven primarily by increased debit…

Internet buying habits

Payments Council report states that mobile internet payments will quadruple by 2022

I just got a copy of the Payments Council’s UK Payments Markets 2013 Report, and it makes fascinating reading about a developed economy’s changing payments habits. Here are the headlines: Consumer card use will rise by 75% from nearly 10 billion payments in 2012 to nearly 17 billion in 2022, driven primarily by increased debit…

Internet buying habits

More on Africa, Somalia, remittances, Barclays and HSBC

There have been some extraordinary activities of late, what with Barclays throwing money transmitters off their network and gaining the wrath of Mo Farah. HSBC has taken similar action, but went one step beyond and annoyed all the diplomatic embassies based here in London by shutting any they view as suspect accounts based upon five…

Mikelaven-currencycloud

61% of US internet users bank online

Pew Research is always producing interesting reports, but this one specifically caught my attention this week: 51% of US adults bank online. Over half of Americans are banking online or, if you translate that into those who use the internet (about 80% of US adults), then 61% of internet users bank online. More intriguingly is…

US online pew

61% of US internet users bank online

Pew Research is always producing interesting reports, but this one specifically caught my attention this week: 51% of US adults bank online. Over half of Americans are banking online or, if you translate that into those who use the internet (about 80% of US adults), then 61% of internet users bank online. More intriguingly is…

US online pew

Which country has the world’s best bank note?

Talking of banknotes and bank note designs, brings me to a final thought on this: which country has the world’s best bank note? Surprisingly, this is a debate that rages online by many commentators, newspapers and institutions.  There are books about it, and even an annual award for the world’s most beautiful banknote from the International Bank…

Cook Islands

Which country has the world’s best bank note?

Talking of banknotes and bank note designs, brings me to a final thought on this: which country has the world’s best bank note? Surprisingly, this is a debate that rages online by many commentators, newspapers and institutions.  There are books about it, and even an annual award for the world’s most beautiful banknote from the International Bank…

Cook Islands

The African bank crisis and remittances

I’m on holiday in Africa to get away from it all, but just to show that banking is a global business, there’s an ongoing banking crisis relating to Africa. I’ve been tracking the issue – that Barclays  is in the process of closing the accounts of a number of Authorised Payments Institutions, in the light…